Holistic versus analytical thinking.

Individuals’ thinking styles emerge as a result of their socio-cultural environment, which favours certain thought abilities over others.

Analytical thinking

Analytical thinking involves separating the object from its context, focusing on attributes of the object to categorise it, and preferring to use rules about the categories to explain and predict the object’s behaviour. This logical way of thinking has provided the world with all of the benefits of modern science and technology, boosting us forward in leaps and bounds. Analytic thinking relates to the individualistic values of Western cultures. It’s principles were developed in ancient Greece between 200 and 500 BCE, with philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle trying to comprehend the world through logic, deductive reasoning, and the discovery of rules.

Holistic thinking

In contrast, holistic thinking is defined as the capacity to understand the whole picture by observing its large-scale patterns. It is an ability to recognize and foresee many various kinds of connections among all the components in a complicated system. The fundamentals of holistic thinking were formed in ancient China. Famous Chinese philosophers such as Confucius, Mencius, and Laozi advanced a worldview based on harmony, balance, and acceptance of cyclical change. These thinking style is characteristic to the broader philosophy of East Asian cultures. It is also compatible with the collectivist values of these cultures.

Difference in practice

What words would you use to describe your kitchen? Is it a place where you can spend time with your family or friends cooking and having fun together? Would you explain it as a warm and inviting area where you can serve food and drinks to your guests? Or would you enumerate its components? Would you explain that it has a table, 6 chairs, table top and electrical oven?

For example, an analytic thinker might define a dining table as being made of dark wood and seating six people. A holistic thinker might explain it as a place for people to gather and share a meal.

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Whereas analytic thinkers seek to grasp this concept by examining the traits and motivations of individual people, holistic thinkers analyse the larger circumstances and interactions between people. Analytic thinkers classified statements as true or false. Holistic thinkers frequently transcend contradictions and find truth in even diametrically opposed ideas. Both approaches are valuable, especially if we admit our cognitive biases and value other people’s perspectives as complementary to our own.

Nobody is born with the ability to think analytically or holistically. We pick up on these patterns from our surroundings. Access to both analytic and holistic cognitive approaches is available for all of us, but our interactions with others reveal a dominant and socially reinforced preference. Consider these thinking styles to be sets of cognitive tools for interpreting and dealing with daily challenges.

One thing we must emphasise when discussing the fashion industry system is that by applying analytical thinking to human achievement: we have made important breakthroughs and leaps in growth, now is the time to see things from a higher perspective, holistically.