Productive thinking		133
Domains addressed:		Presentation:		Contexts:
•	cognitive	•	available only	•	education
			on microfiche	• work
		•	original has	•	citizenship
			text plus flowchart	•	recreation
Broad categories covered:		Theory base:		Pedagogical stance:
•	reflective thinking	•	Toulmin’s work on	•	not elaborated
•	productive thinking		informal argument

•building understanding

•information-gathering

Classification by:	Values:		Practical illustrations
• broadly	•	belief in reason	for teachers:
sequential processes	•	pragmatism	• enough to explain
leading to judgment			core concepts

De Bono’s lateral and parallel thinking tools

Description and intended use

Edward de Bono is well known for his work on lateral thinking through the CoRT (Cognitive Research Trust) programme and his Six Thinking Hats approach to parallel thinking. His emphasis is on problem-solving techniques which promote generative, or productive thinking:

Critical thinking, scholarly thinking and generative thinking all have their place. I don’t mind in what order of importance they are placed. I am only concerned that education should take notice of generative thinking. Generative thinking is messy, imperfect, impure and perhaps difficult to teach. But it is important and we should try to teach it. (de Bono, 1976, p. 16)

He suggests that improved thinking is more likely to result from better perception than improved critical thinking:

In practical life very few errors in thinking are logical errors . . . The errors are not so much errors as inadequacies of perception . . . perceptions are not complicated – they don’t need working out – it is simply a matter of being aware of them. And that is one of the functions of thinking: to direct attention across the perceptual field. (de Bono, 1976, pp. 62 and 72)

De Bono argues that we tend to follow conventional patterns of thought unless we are encouraged to think about things in different

134 Frameworks for Thinking

ways by suspending instant judgment or by requiring the thinker to direct attention to all the relevant and interesting points in the situation. This ‘lateral’ thinking is a cognate of creative thinking and the antidote to the ‘vertical’ thinking that, according to de Bono, has epitomised the Western philosophical and scientific tradition since Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

In order to direct or focus attention de Bono claims that a framework is needed which we can use deliberately in everyday life as well as in the classroom. His programmes consist of ‘thinking tools’, the use of which enable cross-situational problem-solving in order to avoid being trapped by semantic thinking and content knowledge:

The dilemma is that it is usually possible to teach only situation-centred skills. You train a person to behave in a certain way in a certain situation. The way out of the dilemma is to create situations that are themselves transferable. We call such situations tools. (de Bono, 1976, p. 50)

The CoRT programme is a systematic scheme for teaching a range of tools identified by acronyms such as CAP (consider all possibilities). CoRT introduces 12 thinking tools (see table 4.1) and culminates in a protocol for tackling problems (PISCO - Purpose, Input, Solutions, Choice, Operation). The programme consists of 60 lessons organised into 6 blocks of 10 lessons.

Table 4.1. The CoRT thinking tools

PMI	Plus, Minus, Interesting points
CAF	Consider All Factors
C&S	Consequence and Sequence
APC	Alternatives, Possibilities, Choices
OPV	Other Points of View
AGO	Aims, Goals and Objectives
TEC	Target, Expand, Contract
FOW	Find Other Ways
ADI	Agreement, Disagreement, Irrelevance
EBS	Examine Both Sides
Yes, No, Po	Po (from hypothesis/proposal) ideas used creatively and
	without any judgments
FIP	First Important Priorities

Productive thinking	135

In CoRT lessons the emphasis is on developing the fluent use of the tools through practice, and discussion is not considered to be central to developing skill in thinking and so is curtailed. He outlines four levels of achievement in the acquisition of thinking skills through the use of the CoRT programme:

Level 1 General awareness of thinking as a skill. A willingness to ‘think’ about something, explore a subject and to listen to others. No recollection of any specific thinking tool.

Level 2 A more structured approach to thinking, including better balance, looking at the consequences of an action or choice (taking other people’s views into account), and a search for alternatives. Perhaps a mention of a few of the CoRT tools.

Level 3 Focused and deliberate use of some of the CoRT tools. The organisation of thinking as a series of steps. A sense of purpose in thinking.

Level 4 Fluent and appropriate use of many CoRT tools. Definite consciousness of the metacognitive level of thinking. Observation and comment on the thinker’s own thinking. (de Bono, 1983, p. 708)

In the 1980s de Bono turned his attention to parallel thinking and developed the tool of Six Thinking Hats (de Bono, 1985). Parallel thinking emphasises allowing different ways of thinking to co-exist (rather than compete and cancel each other out), so that they can lead to solutions beyond the limits set by the problem rather than rushing to a judgment. It is productive as opposed to reductive and aims to enrich and increase the complexity of a situation so that a creative solution can be designed.

This programme is organised around six kinds of thinking (see table 4.2). The idea that the thinker can put on or take off one of these hats is essential, as this reflects the emphasis on flexibility and changing ways of thinking about an issue or problem. Two key ideas underpin the design of the programme:

•reduction of the complexity and confusion that results from trying to do everything at once when thinking about a problem, by paying attention to different modes of thinking individually whilst allowing parallel streams of thought to co-exist;

136	Frameworks for Thinking

Table 4.2. De Bono’s six types of thinking

White Hat thinking	This covers facts, figures, information needs and
	gaps. ‘I think we need some white hat thinking at
	this point’ means ‘Let’s drop the arguments
	and proposals, and look at the data.’
Red Hat thinking	This covers intuition, feelings and emotions. ‘Putting
	on my red hat, I think this is a terrible proposal.’
	The thinker has full permission to put forward his
	or her feelings on the subject without any need to
	justify them.
Black Hat thinking	This is the hat of judgment and caution. It is a most
	valuable hat and not in any sense inferior or
	negative. The black hat thinking identifies
	logically why a suggestion does not fit the facts,
	the available experience, the system in use, or the
	policy that is being followed.
Yellow Hat	This covers positive thinking or why something will
thinking	work and offer benefits. It can look forward to the
	results of proposed action, but can also find value
	in what has already happened.
Green Hat thinking	This is the hat of creativity, alternatives, proposals,
	what is interesting, provocations and changes.
Blue Hat thinking	This is the overview or process control hat which
	looks not at the subject itself but at the
	‘thinking’ about the subject or a metacognitive
	perspective. ‘Putting on my blue hat, I feel we
	should do some more green hat thinking at this
	point.’

•provision of the opportunity to role-play different modes of thinking, so that you avoid the premature closing down of options because only habitual modes of thinking are employed.

Six Thinking Hats is used extensively in industry and management training in order to reduce conflict in meetings and to stimulate innovation. There is overlap between the Interaction stage of the CoRT programme (CoRT 3) and Six Thinking Hats and both reflect