The Convergent Validity of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking and Creativity Interest Inventories

Abstract

This study compared scores on two divergent thinking tests, the Verbal and the Figural Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking(TTCT), with scores on two creativity interest inventories, Davis’s How Do You Think? and Raudsepp’s How Creative Are You? The creativity interest inventories showed weak correlations with the Verbal TTCT and no correlations with the Figural TTCT. The two interest inventories showed a strong intercorrelation, but the Verbal and Figural TTCTs were only moderately intercorrelated. These interrelationships were not substantially affected by controlling for standardized academic test scores. A principal components analysis of the subscale scores on the four tests resulted in three factors: Interests and Attitudes, Verbal Divergent Thinking, and Figural Divergent Thinking. These results provide evidence that creative interest inventories are not measuring the same construct as divergent thinking tests and that both are distinct from academic aptitude/achievement. They also support the contention that divergent thinking is multidimensional.