Various Ways of Thinking

Various Ways to Think

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. The various methods of thinking that conclude making these decisions; logical, scientific, creative, persuasive, and critical thinking, vary in the method of making a final decision.

Logical Thinking

A term often known to correspond to thought is that of logic. Logic itself is generally defined as reasoning that is applied to various kinds of knowledge or study. As stated by Staszkow and Bradshaw (2005), logical thinking is “key to making sound decisions and solving complex problems” (p. 54). Yet while logical thinking can help a person understand a complicated problem it can also help someone decide on common actions such as when to cross the street or what path to take on a trip. However, unlike creative or persuasive thinking that someone can have a natural gift for, logical thinking is a skill one must strive at to learn and develop. This style of thinking, often considered a higher cognitive skill, focuses on a type of sequential thought using terms of causes and consequences to process a situation and develop a solution (Minderovic, 2001).

The fundamental parts for logical thinking are deductive and inductive reasoning which then use a basic form that is called a syllogism. This syllogism “begins with two or more premises and derives a conclusion that must follow form those premises” (Kirby & Goodpaster, 2007, p.156). A simple example of this includes a major premise, all cats have a tail, a minor premise, Whiskers is a cat, and a conclusion, there for Whiskers has a tail. However, while this seems simple enough the thought process goes further delving into reasoning out errors, checking validity, and discerning overall truth of the statements. As seen by the given example, without this further thought, statements can be made with obvious flaws and therefore, must be checked and corrected. Overall logical thinking is a beneficial skill for any person to learn and is a vast asset to overall critical thinking.

Scientific Thinking

Scientific thinking is a form of critical thinking that is based on the idea of the scientific method. As defined by several places the scientific method is a set of rules and actions used in the systematic search of “intersubjectively accessible knowledge and involving as necessary conditions the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and if possible experiment, the formulation of hypotheses, and the testing and confirmation of the hypotheses formulated” (scientific method, 2002).

The scientific method can be used to solve any of the problems people face today. The first step in the scientific method would be observation. After the problem is observed a person must then further study what is causing the issue. The next step in the process is forming the hypothesis. Forming the hypothesis includes making an educated guess about what the outcome of the problem might be. After forming a hypothesis there must then be experimentation that proves the hypothesis. The final step would be the verification process where all the information from the method is put together.

Creative and Persuasive Thinking

Creative thinking is an important skill for solving issues in today’s business environment. Globalization centralization, consolidation, de-centralization, downsizing, rightsizing, outsourcing, minimizing, whatever stage is at hand the fact remains that the business world is an ever changing environment. The software needs of business continue to change and evolve as technology continues to offer more and more automated solutions and processes. Creative thinking is required in order to use the technological advances to improve performance rather than impede the flow of processes. The value of the creative thinker in this scenario is that they are best suited for identifying issues with current processes in a particular business and developing through idea generation, implementation and evaluation, the best possible solution for the business. Oftentimes technology experts can resolve problems alone, because they understand what the software is capable of, but the best solution always is in making the best fit of the technology with the business that it is being implemented in. The software solution for a cleaner business is not the same software solution for a pharmacy.