By Michael Ireland, adapted by Marc Chao and Muhamad Alif Bin Ibrahim

Creativity versus critical thinking is a fascinating topic that often goes unexamined. You might wonder, “What does creativity have to do with critical thinking?”. However, these two concepts are closely linked and even interdependent.

Robert E. Franken (1994, p. 396) offers a popular definition of creativity, emphasising that the acts of creating and recognising ideas, alternatives, and possibilities are inherently creative. This definition highlights that recognising novelty is as much a part of creativity as generating it. Creativity is crucial in problem-solving, communication, and entertainment. While we often associate creativity with producing entertainment (such as music, film, art, and dance), it is equally vital in our daily activities of communication and problem-solving.

Another insightful definition comes from Ghuman and Aswathappa (2010, p. 540), who explain that creativity involves generating new ideas, challenging assumptions, and viewing things from alternate perspectives. These activities are integral to critical thinking. Many people may not realise that challenging assumptions, seeing things from different viewpoints, and developing new ideas are creative acts.

From these definitions, it is clear that creativity extends beyond painting a picture or writing a song. It is a commonplace, day-to-day activity. Creativity is not a mystical power possessed by a few geniuses; it is a skill we all have to varying degrees. Our level of creativity depends on our interests, experiences, and training. Without creativity, we would be immobilised in life, unable to overcome the first hurdle we encounter.

The misconception that critical and creative thinking are unrelated or even incompatible stems from outdated stereotypes. The myth of ‘right brain versus left brain’ suggests that the left hemisphere is for analytical, rational functions, while the right is for creativity. Some believe individuals are exclusively ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’. These claims are unfounded. Both hemispheres work together to produce critical and creative thinking, and we all use both sides of our brains.

Creativity is indispensable to many steps in critical thinking. The ability to think imaginatively about a situation, come up with new ideas, hypotheses, perspectives, and insights is essential to critical thinking. Creativity allows us to see problems in a new light and generate new solutions or use old solutions in new ways. Good critical thinking depends on mental flexibility and innovation, which are hallmarks of creativity. Critical thinking is a goal-directed activity used to achieve specific outcomes, such as interpretations, evaluations, decisions, explanations, actions, or problem-solving. Success in these areas depends on how creatively we can generate a range of options.

Consider a songwriter in a band arranging guitar riffs. As they choose notes, perfect the tempo, rhythm, and structure, they must constantly appraise their work, critically evaluating each step. This process of analysis, reasoning, and problem-solving is active critical thinking.

Similarly, imagine an investigative journalist uncovering political corruption. They gather information, evaluate its credibility and usefulness, and generate alternative explanations for events. They use imagination to view information and people from different perspectives, innovate in their investigative approaches, and find hidden patterns. This process relies heavily on creativity to be successful.

Now, consider a researcher designing a psychology experiment to study the effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance. The researcher must first develop a hypothesis and design an experiment that accurately tests this hypothesis. This involves selecting appropriate tasks to measure cognitive performance, determining the duration and conditions of sleep deprivation, and ensuring that the experiment controls for external factors (i.e., confounding variables) that can influence the experimental outcomes.

As the researcher plans the experiment, they must think creatively to devise innovative methods for measuring cognitive performance. For instance, they might design a new cognitive task that is both engaging and challenging, ensuring it effectively captures the nuances of cognitive decline due to sleep deprivation. They also need to consider ethical implications and find creative solutions to minimise any potential harm to participants.

During the experiment, the researcher must critically evaluate the data collected, looking for patterns and anomalies. They might notice that participants perform differently on cognitive tasks depending on the time of day, prompting them to consider additional variables such as circadian rhythms. This requires creative thinking to generate new hypotheses and design follow-up experiments to explore these observations further.

In this way, the process of designing and conducting a psychology experiment relies heavily on both creative and critical thinking. Creativity is essential for developing innovative experimental designs and solutions, while critical thinking is crucial for analysing data, identifying patterns, and drawing valid conclusions.

Hence, critical thinking and creativity are highly interdependent and similar skill sets. Creativity enhances critical thinking, and critical thinking enhances creativity. Both can be learned and developed through self-reflection and practice. Like a weightlifter building muscles, repetition and dedication are key.

Enhancing Creative Thinking

Enhancing creative thinking begins with heightened awareness and exposure. It involves paying close attention to how you think, create, tackle problems, generate ideas, and expose yourself to new concepts. A monotonous environment stifles creativity. Reflect on whether you live in an echo chamber of ideas and input. An echo chamber is an environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own. For example, if you only follow social media accounts that share your views, you might miss out on diverse perspectives and new ideas. Creativity thrives on new and challenging ideas, viewpoints, and perspectives. If you only echo the opinions of your favourite thought leaders, you are not an independent thinker. Instead, your voice and thinking may have been co-opted by others. Evaluate whether your opinions align entirely with any major political or ideological stance. If so, you might be ideologically captivated. For example, if knowing your stance on gun control allows me to predict your views on abortion or immigration, you may not be as independent a thinker as you believe.

To foster creativity, expose yourself to unfamiliar or even disagreeable input. Genuinely try to understand and inhabit the worlds of new and different people, including those you dislike or disagree with, and even fictional characters. Notice the limits you place on yourself and your influences. Read, listen, watch, and converse widely with others outside your usual genres, and expose yourself to diverse viewpoints. Challenge yourself to regularly try something new. It does not have to be extreme like skydiving; it could be as simple as driving down an unfamiliar road or cooking a new dish.

After introspection and raising your awareness, scrutinise your ‘environment of ideas’ and start practising the art of creation. This step involves rehearsing the generation of new ideas, perspectives, and solutions in a playful manner. Apply this to anything:

• How many uses of a kitchen item can you think of?
• How many activities can you list that you would like to engage in if time and money were not an issue?
• How many solutions can you come up with for a fictitious problem?

This method helps release creativity from the confines of conventional thinking. The goal is to practice loosening up your thinking and learning about yourself. Aim to produce long lists, not necessarily good ones – prioritise diverse quantity over quality. During this practice, notice the automatic tendency to evaluate and belittle certain ideas. You might find yourself thinking, ‘That’s dumb!’, ‘That’s impractical!’, ‘That won’t work!’, or ‘That’s too similar to other options!’. Recognising this internal monologue is crucial. It is natural and part of how we evolved to survive by making instantaneous evaluative decisions. Everyone has an internal ‘voice of criticism’ that provides negative commentary, hindering creative pursuits. This exercise aims to minimise the influence of this critical voice during the creation stage. Recognising and relaxing this knee-jerk criticism is essential for becoming more creative. Suspend all judgement and be outlandish in your ideas. Evaluation can come later, but there is no place for condemnation when generating ideas. Evaluation throttles creativity. Repetition is key. The more you practice generating options, ideas, pathways, uses, activities, and solutions, the better a critical thinker you will become.

References

Franken, R. (1994). Human motivation (3rd ed.). Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.

Ghuman, K., & Aswathappa, K. (2010). Management: Concept, practice and cases. Tata McGraw Hill.