Children's divergent thinking and creative ideation

Abstract

Children's creative thinking is often assessed with divergent thinking tests. This article reviews the literature on divergent thinking tests and suggests that the strengths of these tests include their solid theoretical bases, their reliability, their selective validity, and the vast literature available to assist interpretations. Specific conclusions supported by the research include the following. First, divergent thinking test scores are predictive of some types of performance (e.g., writing) but are not predictive of performance in other domains (e.g., art). Second, divergent thinking tests have discriminant validity, but the traditional scoring technique (with fluency, originality, and flexibility) may be inadequate, and the level of ability of the examinees must be taken into account when comparing ideational scores with intelligence test scores. Third, several personality traits (e.g., independence) and familial variables (e.g., birth order, family size, age gap) are associated with performance on tests of ideational creativity. Finally, performance on divergent thinking can be influenced by models, including parental divergent thinking, incentives and reinforcement, task perception, environmental cues, stimulus characteristics, and age. Overall, the research suggests that these tests are useful as estimates of children's potential for creative thinking.