He is the originator of lateral thinking. His other main ideas or developments are The Six Thinking Hats and the Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT). Lateral (Parallel) thinking is a system of thinking which considers all possibilities resulting in innovative thinking, rather than just the traditional solutions to the problem. The Oxford English Dictionary defines lateral thinking as "a way of thinking which seeks the solution to intractable problems through unorthodox methods or elements which would normally be ignored by logical thinking." It means thinking differently: thinking not only vertically or logically, but sideways too. It means being prepared to put forward unusual ideas to arrive at a new thought. Parallel thinking is designed to help an individual solving a problem, understand all aspects of the problem it focuses more-so on constructive and co-operative and co-ordinate thinking. De Bono 's six thinking hats use this lateral thinking technique. All members of a group will focus on a single aspect of a problem at the same time, moving on to another aspect together once discussion of the current one is exhausted. For example the Black hat is for judgment, the Green hat for creativity and the White hat signifies information needed or already know. This system is widely used for business ' mainly in meetings, but also used in classrooms as well. is best understood in contrast to traditional argument or adversarial thinking. By wearing
Bibliography: de Bono, E. (1976). Teaching Thinking. London: Temple Smith. de Bono, E. (1994). Parallel Thinking: From Socratic Thinking to de Bono Thinking. Australia: Penguin. Lipman, M. (2003), Thinking in Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University press MacColl, S.(1994). "Opening Philosophy," Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children, Vol.11, Nos.3&4, pp.5-9. Reed, Ronald. (1992), "On the Art and Craft of Dialogue"; In: A. M. Sharp and N. Reed (eds.). Studies in Philosophy for Children. Philadelphia, Temple Univ. Press, pp. 147-158. Wiesendanger, B. (1991). Creativity, Assumptions and the "Salt Curve". Sales and Marketing Management, Vol. 143, Issue 6, 71-73.