There are poor thinkers, and there are smart ones. Fortunately, "Good thinking" can be learned. Dr. Edward de Bono says that the way we think, just like our other skills, can be improved--thinking is a skill.
Ajan Raghunathan of psychology4all.com cites de Bono with the following list of most important misconceptions regarding thinking:
Misconception No.1: The present education system develops and enhances thinking and so the more educated you are the better thinker you are.
Fact:
Actually, education suppresses free thinking. Creative thinking has almost no place in current education. Moreover, education even destroys creative thinking abilities by its over emphasis on logical thinking and critical thinking which are relatively lower types of human thinking.
Since argument, reasoning, and problem solving are given over importance, students develop a need to become correct and successful all the time. Again, because our present education system is so information oriented that it gives ready-made answers, this kills the student's natural tendency to explore, experiment and to experience. Thus, the highly educated person ends up having lesser ability to think creatively although he/she may have a lot of information at his/her disposal, and also have admirable abilities in logical and critical thinking.
Misconception No.2: Less Educated or Uneducated can never become good thinkers.
Fact:
Actually, those with less education, display higher abilities in creative thinking. This is because they do not have an inflated ego that demands correct answers or success in all endeavors. Again, they do not have ready-made-answers (i.e., book-answers) and so are forced to explore, experiment and experience things themselves. This empowers them to go through less explored answers and even find original answers.
Misconception No.3: IQ and thinking ability are the same. The more IQ one has, the better thinking ability one has. On the contrary, those who have lower IQ have only low thinking abilities.
Fact:
It is true that those who have greater thinking ability, as a rule, have high IQ. But this does not mean that all those who have high IQ are good thinkers. Usually high IQ people use their thinking skills for logical thinking, arguments, critical thinking. They very rarely use creative thinking. Thus high IQ is actually a blockage to creative thinking. It has also been found that those who have average IQ can become better thinkers.
Misconception No.4: Thinking ability, decision making ability and problem solving ability are inherent and there is very little we can do to develop these.
Fact:
This is the most terrible misconception regarding thinking. In fact, Dr.Edward de Bono (and also many others) have proven that thinking is a skill that can be enhanced by training and practice. Thus decision making, problem solving and creative thinking can be developed and improved.
