The difference between critical and creative thinking

The difference between critical and creative thinking

Critical and creative thinking is one of the types of thinking that a person uses during his life, and the difference between critical and creative thinking is as follows: 

• Creative thinking is the generation of purposes, while critical thinking is the analysis of purpose.
• Critical thinking is selective thinking, while creative thinking is not selective.
• In creative thinking the mind is free, but in critical thinking it is not.

What is critical thinking

Critical thinking is thinking that adopts a more rigorous stance, which is what is used in organizations, business fields, etc.,  and it is also thinking that is characterized by the following:

• Critical thinking selective thinking.
• Critical thinking is not broad.
• The mind is limited to thinking in a state of critical thinking.
• It could be said that critical thinking is by its very nature judgmental.
• Critical thinking analyzes the factors that govern the process of managing a company.
• This attention includes the pros and cons, which are in critical thinking.
• Critical thinking aims to improve and develop the quality of products produced in the company, customer care service, and others.
• When a person's thinking is critical, it will often be employed in the evaluation process rather than imaginatively, as they will be analytical and break down a specific concept into different parts and analyze it.

What is creative thinking

Creative thinking is a process that revolves around imagination and visualization,  which is used in schools and universities, and requires students to become creative in their ideas and actions, and that highlights the requirements, for a person's thinking to be original and to think outside the box, and if the person is interested Constantly with restrictions and limitations, it is very difficult to be creative.

It is worth noting that creative thinking has no end, and in fact it can be said that the sky is the limit of creative thinking, and that is the specialty of creative thinking, in the sense that it allows a person to move away from the usual barriers and imagine the unimaginable, in addition to that creative thinking is not selective , and in which the mind is free to think about anything creative, that is, unlike the process of critical thinking in which a person is obligated to make certain choices, but in creative thinking the matter is different, so that various types of choices are not taken, but creative thinking aims to generate ideas New and thought-provoking, which is why creative thinking is said to be a process that revolves around imagination and visualization.

critical thinking skills

Critical thinking is distinguished by its five common and influential skills, which make it different from other types of thinking. The following is an explanation of them: 

• Note.
• analysis.
• inference.
• communication.
• Problem Solving.

Observation:  This skill is considered the starting point for critical thinking, and it is possible for people who adopt critical thinking to sense the imminence of a new problem and identify it quickly, and they are the most skilled in observation and are able to understand the reasons for the existence of a particular problem, so that they may have the ability to predict when problems will occur before they occur based on their experiences.

Analysis:  Once the problem is identified, the skill of analysis becomes very important, as it includes the ability to analyze and evaluate situations effectively to find out the important facts and information related to the problem, and this includes many times the collection of unbiased research, and asking relevant questions about the data from In order to ensure its accuracy and evaluate the results with the utmost objectivity.

Inference:  It is a skill that includes extracting conclusions related to the information that is collected, and you may need to have expertise and technical knowledge specific to the industries, and when the conclusion is made, this indicates the development of answers according to limited information.

Communication:  Communication skills are important when it comes time to explain and discuss issues and possible solutions to them with colleagues and other stakeholders.

Problem Solving:  After identifying and analyzing the problems and then choosing the solution, it is time to take the final step, which is to implement the solution, as solving problems often requires critical thinking in order to implement the best solutions and understand whether that solution works or not in terms of its relevance to the goal.

How to improve critical thinking skills

In order to improve and develop critical thinking skills, some important steps must be followed, which are as follows:

• openness.
• analysis.
• interpretation.
• Problem Solving.
• Decision making.
• effective communication.

Openness:  The critical thinker should work towards obtaining unbiased thinking processes, as well as remaining open to more than one point of view, and that openness to identifying information is the basis of critical thinking.

Analysis:  Analyzing information is a general process of determining its reliability and understanding it well enough to draw further conclusions. This is one of the most important aspects of critical thinking.

Interpretation:  Here, plenty of time must be taken in interpreting, analyzing, synthesizing, and decoding the symbols to reach the meaning of the relevant information.

Problem Solving:  Once the problem has been analyzed and explained, it becomes possible to come up with one or more possible solutions.

Decision making:   By making a critical decision, he comes to a conclusion based on the data that has been interpreted.

Effective Communication:   The critical thinker must be able to explain their conclusions convincingly, and explain how their reasoning led to this decision.

Characteristics of creative thinking

The characteristics of creative thinking are what make it different from other types of thinking, which are as follows:

• The creator must have the ability to adapt to any situation.
• Creative thinking involves continuity, flexibility and originality.
• The creative person has the ability to transcend all immediate circumstances and show modernity in behavior and thinking.
• A person should be aware of the problems in their circumstances, and do their best to find new solutions to that problem.
• There must be flexibility in thinking and behaviour, as the creator is always ready to adopt new attitudes, thought or behaviour.
• Originality is one of the basic features of creative thinking, so that the creator is not limited to experiments or ideas, but rather uses new ideas and methods.
• The creator should have enough curiosity, creative thinking because of curiosity because the person is eager to know new things in any field.
• In order to come up with new solutions, it is important to look at problems from a new point of view, and here the subject of thinking should be new and valuable.