Six Thinking Hats

Six Thinking Hats is the title and subject of a book by Edward De Bono, published in 1985.

In it De Bono describes a process of deliberately adopting a particular approach to a problem as an aid to lateral thinking. Six different approaches are described, and each is symbolised by the act of putting on a coloured hat, either actually or imaginatively. This he suggests can be done either by individuals working alone or in groups.

De Bono's six hats are:

• White hat (Blank sheet): Information & reports (objective)
• Red hat (Fire): Opinion & emotion (subjective)
• Yellow hat (Sun): Praise, positive aspects, (objective)
• Black hat (Judge's robe): Criticism, negative aspects, modus tollens (objective)
• Green hat (Plant): Intuition, new approaches & 'everything goes' (speculative)
• Blue hat (Sky): "Big Picture," "Meta hat," overall process (overview)