Concept of the method

1. The concept

The six thinking hats method was created by Edward De Bono, who is a leading authority in direct teaching of a thinking as a skill. He created the concept of lateral thinking and developed formal techniques for deliberate creative thinking.

De Bono proved that effectiveness of the thinking can be improved and can be improved through practice. ‘Usually, the only people who are very satisfied with their thinking are those poor thinkers who believe that the purpose of thinking is to prove yourself right - to your own satisfaction. If we have only a limited view of what thinking can do, we may be smug about our excellence in this area, but not otherwise.’[1]

As per author the difficulty in thinking is the confusion with too many thoughts at once. The main aim of six thinking hats method is to separate emotions, information, logic, expectations, hopes, ideas, creativity, etc. The challenge is to separate these from one another and think about one of them at a time.

‘The six thinking hats allows us to conduct our thinking as a conductor might lead an orchestra.’[2]

Each hat is defining thinking on specific aspect of a matter. It allows people to switch out of their usual thinking track in order to get them to think differently about the matter at hand.

In order to utilize the method in full it is important to start with playacting and roleplaying skills.

Playacting is imitating a desirable behaviour until this becomes your second nature. First you start with playing the role physically not mentally. By adopting physical poses and trying to go through motions. Your brain will follow the role you are playing. ‘If you playact being a thinker, you will become one.’[3] This is important to realise this for the purpose of this method in order to try to open new views and opinions.

Roleplaying which is playing at being someone else allows ego to go beyond its normal restrictive self-image.

’People do not mind “playing a fool”, so long as it is quite clear that they are just playing a role. They even take pride in putting on a good performance and playing an extremely foolish fool. That now becomes a measure of achievement and excellence. The role has taken over and the ego is now the stage director.’[4]

The role gives freedom. Without the protection of a formal role the ego is at risk.

The hat role is broken down into 6 different character roles, represented by 6 coloured thinking hats. Without the formality of the hats some thinkers would remain permanently stuck in one mode and one way of thinking.

The main values of using the six thinking hats method are:

• Defined role-playing, which defends the ego of a person and allows to say and think in a way that one could not otherwise.
• Attention directing, which allows to direct one’s thinking to one aspect after another and not all at once.
• Convenience of use the symbolism of the hats, which allows to ask a person (including yourself) to think in certain mode, e.g. stop being negative, be creative, give emotional responses, provide facts, etc.
• Establishing the rules of the game, which is based on the fact that people are good at memorising rules of the games therefore they are able to adopt them.  The rules established in this method concern thinking. The ‘game’ of thinking is mapmaking of different aspects instead of arguing.

2. Identifying 6 thinking hats

Every hat is named after one colour. Colours are easy to remember and are related to its function.

• 2.1. White hat
• 2.2. Red hat
• 2.3. Black hat
• 2.4. Yellow hat
• 2.5. Green hat
• 2.6. Blue hat

2.1. White hat

White hat is neutral therefore it represents facts and figures.

It is sort of role playing a computer, as the computer gives only facts and figures without interpretation or giving opinion. If one is asking question under white hat, they should be focused on obtaining information or to fill in the information gaps.  When presenting facts, it must also be clear if this is a fact or a belief?

“Much of what passes for fact is simply a comment made in good faith or is a matter of personal belief at that certain moment. (…) It is not possible to check everything with the rigor demanded of a scientific experiment.  Therefor in practice we establish a sort of two-tier system: believed facts and checked facts. It is believed to put forward believed facts under white hat thinking, but we must make it absolutely clear that these are second-class facts.”[1] It is also important to assess the likelihood of a fact ranging from “always true” to “never true” and the whole spectrum in between. Such facts can be put under white hat provided that the likelihood is noted. To summarise, white hat thinking is a discipline and direction. One concentrates on being neutral and objective while presenting information. The hat can be put on and taken off whenever needed.

2.2. Red hat

Red hat - emotions and feelings

Red hat is associated with anger and emotions and it is opposite to white hat.

Red hat thinking is about presenting emotions and it allows to say how one feels without explaining or excusing oneself for it. The purpose of revealing emotions is to name them in order to become aware of them. Hidden emotion may influence thinking process, which is not a desirable state. Under the red hat one can acknowledge emotions.

As per traditional view good thinker is detached from emotion and directed only by good sense and rationality. Nevertheless, once all the facts and thinking has been done to make a map the route is chosen based of the values and emotions. “There are the complex judgements that go into such type of feeling as hunch, intuition, sense, taste, aesthetic feeling and other not visibly justified type of feeling. Where an opinion has a large measure of this type of feeling, it can also fit under the red hat.”[1] One can never undermine their influence and should be aware of their emotions.

2.3. Black hat

BLACK HAT - what is wrong with it

Black hat represents negative aspects. It concentrates on obstacles and why something is a bad idea or should not be done. However, it does not cover the negative feelings which is the job of the red hat. Roleplaying black hat is the easiest of all of them because Western thinking places an emphasis on arguments and criticism. Black hat thinking gives logical reasons of why something will not work, it can be based on past experiences. It also should deal with errors in the thinking map as there may be an issue with how the thinking process is organised.

Negative assessment given by black hat is not an argument. It only should be treated as pointing out risks and dangers, faults in design. The map would not be complete without the negative elements, which could save from mistakes and taking too much risk.

Yellow hat should cover positive assessments and in the case of new ideas the yellow hat should always be used before the black hat.

2.4. Yellow hat

YELLOW HAT - speculative-positive

Yellow hat represents positive aspects, positive side, hopes and it is in opposition to the black hat. Yellow hat thinking is positive thinking resulting from curiosity, pleasure and desire to make things happen. One can never be certain of the future but based on positive examples from the past one can speculate about the future. Yellow hat extracts a positive interpretation. A deliberate search for anything positive could bring to light aspects that are not obvious at first sight. Also, constructive thinking which leads to effectiveness fits under this category. Yellow hat thinking can be speculative and opportunity seeking but it also permits visions and dreams. Nevertheless, it should be distinct from positive euphoria (red hat) but also from creating new ideas (green hat).

2.5. Green hat

GREEN HAT - creative and lateral thinking

Green hat is associated with the growth, vegetation and fertility, and indicates creativity and new ideas. The green hat thinking is creative and searches new approaches to problem solving. It is the deliberate attempt to search for alternatives, new concepts and new perceptions. It concerns change and focuses efforts in this direction. “For most people the idiom of creative thinking is difficult because it is contrary to the natural habits of recognition, judgement and criticism. The brain is designed as a ‘recognition machine’. The brain is designed to set up patterns, to use them and to condemn anything that does not ‘fit’ these patterns.”[1] Therefore the green hat will not make anyone more creative, however it can give thinkers a sort of artificial motivation. Very often the creative people are the ones who just spent time to deliberately search for new ideas. Creativity needs time and focus, and the green hat allows this. It is not possible to force one to have new ideas, however it is possible to ask one to put the green hat on and to try focus on creating them. What may help is provocation, which may take one out from the usual pattern of thinking.

2.6. Blue hat

BLUE HAT - control of thinking

Blue hat is associated with coolness, and it represents the control of organisation in the thinking process, and the use of other hats.

Blue hat is like a control panel that tells which hat to wear and thinks about the thinking needed to be done to explore a subject. Blue hat thinking concentrates on asking the right questions, defining the problem and setting the thinking tasks. 

The blue hat monitors the thinking process, summarises and gives conclusions. It checks if the rules of game are observed. “Even when the specific blue hat thinking role is assigned to one person, it is still open to anyone to offer blue hat comments and suggestions”.[1]

3. 6 thinking hats method implementation

When using the hats they always should be referred to by colours and never by what they represent as it is unlikely to get honest reaction if one is asked to be e.g. emotional. When asking to take off one hat an put another one is neutral and the hats can be used without embarrassment. Role playing used in the thinking process and using the method as a game makes it enjoyable and more effective. As a game rule it is possible to request certain types of thinking, changing the hats as is necessary. There is no one good way of organising the hats during the thinking process, it depends on subjects, particular situation or attendees, etc.

Depending on the needs the six thinking hats method may be used in a more structured way. The participants / learners may decide beforehand on a formal structured sequence going through the hats.

On the other hand, the method may be used in a discussion occasionally when necessary. One can be asked to put one or the other hat on depending on how the discussion goes. For the idiom of the hat to be the most useful all the people must know the method and be aware of the meaning of each hat. Then the concept becomes a sort of common language. By practicing use of the method eventually one should be able to sit down at any discussion table and switch in and out of “hats” with ease.