Six Thinking Hats

Six Thinking hats is a thinking tool for group discussion and individual thinking attributed to Dr. Edward de Bono and is the subject of his book, Six Thinking Hats.

The premise of the method is that the human brain thinks in a number of distinct ways which can be identified, deliberately accessed and hence planned for use in a structured way, allowing one to develop strategies for thinking about particular issues.

Coloured hats are used as metaphors for each state. Switching to a state is symbolised by the act of putting on a coloured hat, either literally or metaphorically. These metaphors allow for more complete and elaborate segregation of the states than the preconceptions inherent in people's current language.

If a team is taught this method, then the coloured hats can enter its language as a short hand, e.g. “Wearing my yellow hat ….”.

Six distinct states are identified and assigned a colour:i