Factor structure of intelligence and divergent thinking subtests: A registered report.

Sam Golightly,Makai Black,Russell T. Warne

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0251268

Abstract

Psychologists have investigated creativity for 70 years, and it is now seen as being an important construct, both scientifically and because of its practical value to society. However, several fundamental unresolved problems persist, including a suitable definition of creativity and the ability of psychometric tests to measure divergent thinking—an important component of creativity—in a way that aligns with theory. It is this latter point that this registered report is designed to address. We propose to administer two divergent thinking tests (the verbal and figural versions of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking; TTCT) with an intelligence test (the International Cognitive Ability Resource test; ICAR). We will then subject the subscores from these tests to confirmatory factor analysis to test which of nine theoretically plausible models best fits the data. When this study is completed, we hope to better understand whether the degree to which the TTCT and ICAR measure distinct constructs. This study will be conducted in accordance with all open science practices, including pre-registration, open data and syntax, and open materials (with the exception of copyrighted and confidential test stimuli).

Highlights

Guilford gave his presidential address to the American Psychological Association, calling for psychologists to produce more research on creativity
By the end of his life, he had incorporated creative thinking functions into his sprawling Structure of Intellect Model [3] as one of the operations humans perform while solving cognitive tasks [4]
We propose this study to determine whether the divergent thinking tasks on the Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) are measures of general intelligence

Summary

Introduction

Guilford gave his presidential address to the American Psychological Association, calling for psychologists to produce more research on creativity. Ever since Guilford’s [1] address, the topic has been one of the most valued among educational and differential psychologists. In Guilford’s view, “creativity and creative productivity extend well beyond the domain of intelligence,” [1, p. 445], and intelligence tests were unable to measure creative methods of problem solving. Guilford theorized over the ensuring decades until his death about the relationship between intelligence and creativity. By the end of his life, he had incorporated creative thinking functions into his sprawling Structure of Intellect Model [3] as one of the operations humans perform while solving cognitive tasks [4]

Objectives

Methods