The 6 hats method of thinking is a psychological tool developed by the renowned 'thinker' Edward de Bono, who is most famous for his work on lateral and alternative thinking methods.
De Bono's concept of the 6 hats is a relatively simple one. It involves people in the business or commerce setting, each imagining that they are wearing a hat.
When wearing the white hat, people have to look at data and information objectively, the red hat is worn when thinking about feelings, hunches, intuition. The black hat means logical and cautious thinking is needed. The yellow hat is for positive thinking and looking for benefits, the green hat allows new, creative ideas to come forward and finally the blue hat controls the thinking process.
The ratiionale behind it is that going through the hats allows different types of thinking to happen, without the whole process simply becoming a talking shop. It helps focus ideas and move through different stages of thinking. It is still used a s atechnique today but is not in widespread use, partly because it requires everyone to embrace the concept of pretending to wear the different hats, which is often difficult to achieve in practice.
De Bono's concept of the 6 hats is a relatively simple one. It involves people in the business or commerce setting, each imagining that they are wearing a hat.
When wearing the white hat, people have to look at data and information objectively, the red hat is worn when thinking about feelings, hunches, intuition. The black hat means logical and cautious thinking is needed. The yellow hat is for positive thinking and looking for benefits, the green hat allows new, creative ideas to come forward and finally the blue hat controls the thinking process.
The ratiionale behind it is that going through the hats allows different types of thinking to happen, without the whole process simply becoming a talking shop. It helps focus ideas and move through different stages of thinking. It is still used a s atechnique today but is not in widespread use, partly because it requires everyone to embrace the concept of pretending to wear the different hats, which is often difficult to achieve in practice.