Thinking and Decision Making Essay -- Critical Thinking

Thinking and Decision Making When it comes to the reasoning and problem solving of any issue there are various ways to come to a decision; thinking is the mental process that allows the people in the world to deal with it effectively, according to set goals, plans, ideas, and desires. Thinking involves the gathering of information that forms concepts and engages in problem solving, reasoning, and making precise decisions for the benefit of whom is concerned. Thinking according to Kirby and Goodpaster (2007),"is an internal mental process that uses information as input, integrates that information into previous learned material and the result may be knowledge or may be nothing". Creative thinking, logical thinking, and persuasive thinking are three types of thinking. Each of these types of thinking affects the critical thinking process in various ways. The three thinking types will be compared and contrasted, as well as applied to affects they have in the critical thinking process. Every person has a primary style of thinking that is used most to help in his or her decisions. Finally, critical thinking will be applied to the decision making process by using workplace examples. Creative Thinking This is one of the types of thinking styles. Creative thinking involves creating something new or original. It involves the skills of flexibility, originality, fluency, elaboration, brainstorming, modification, imagery, associative thinking, attribute listing, metaphorical thinking, and forced relationships. The aim of creative thinking is to stimulate curiosity and promote divergence. When an individual learns to expand their way of thinking to incorporate metaphorical ideas, they will spark the creative thinking process... ... way. The important thing is that we become more aware of which learning style and thinking style works best for us. Once we know our own style, we can then analyse the others. This will help us understand other people better. It will make us more flexible. And perhaps we can all pick up tips from each other on how to be more effective. References Kirby, G.R. & Goodpaster, J.R. (2007) Creative Thinking. Fourth Edition Thinking. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Albrecht, K. (1984) Brain Building: Easy Games to develop your problem solving skills. Prentice Hall. Audiblox. (n.d.). Logical thinking: Helping children to become smarter. Web. 23 Mar. 2015. http://www.audiblox.com/logical_thinking.htm Schafersman, S. D. (1991). Critical thinking: Introduction to Critical Thinking. Web. 23 Mar. 2015. http://www.freeinquiry.com/critical-thinking.html