12.8: Edward de Bono’s Six Hats of Thinking

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Jim Marteney
Los Angeles Valley College via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI)

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As described earlier, there is no one thinking method. When we are working on a problem we may have been told to put on “our thinking cap.” One of the most popular approaches to alternative modes of thinking is described by Edward de Bono as the Six Hats of Thinking¹ This approach says there are six different ways we can think about a problem. Each way is illustrated by a different colored hat.

12.8.1:  "Six Thinking Hats" by Unkown is in the Public Domain, CC0

1. White Hat: This is the hat you wear when you are neutral and are just thinking of facts and data.

2. Red Hat: This is the hat you wear when you are using your feelings, intuition, hunches, and emotions.

3. Black Hat: This is the hat you wear when you judge, evaluate, and use caution.

4. Yellow Hat: This is the hat of optimism. Wearing this hat, you look for ways that something can be done.

5. Green Hat: This is the hat you wear when you want to be creative and come up with new ideas.

 6. Blue Hat: This is the hat you wear to see an overview of the problem. This hat suggests where your thinking should go next.

Now when someone tells you to "put on your thinking cap," an old expression meaning it is time to stop and think, you now know you have six different caps you can wear.

Reference

Edward de Bono, Six Hats of Thinking (New York City: Little, Brown, and Company, 1985)