Creative Thinking

Convergent & Divergent Creative Thinking

Creative thinking is the ability to come up with new ideas, or new ways in which something can be done. The primary process by which this occurs is known as divergent thinking.

Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking results in the formation of many creative ideas when trying to solve a problem, and there are two main ways in which this can occur; breaking mental sets & combining similar things.

Breaking Mental Sets

The process of divergent thinking often involves breaking a mental set in order to find a solution. A good example of this can be found with the Wright brothers.

In order for them to create a flying airplane, they had to break the mental set that in order to fly you needed wings which flap like a bird.

After this mental set was broken, they were then able to explore new ideas and alternative ways to fly.

Combining Familiar Things

Divergent thinking can also involve combining familiar things into new combinations.

For example, Dumbo the elephant is a mixture of an elephant and the wings of a bird. The result of this creative thought process is a flying elephant.

Convergent Thinking

Whereas divergent thinking results in the formation of many new possible solutions to a problem, convergent thinking generally results in a single solution to a problem.

For example, if you are given a multiple choice question, then you would have to use convergent thinking because you are trying to find the correct answer to that question.

If however you were given a question which asked for new ways in which something could be improved, then you would use divergent thinking because you are required to provide more than one answer to something where there is no predefined “correct” answer.

Convergent thinking is therefore characterised by thought that uses both inductive (what you observe) and deductive (what the evidence leads you to believe) logic.

Productive Thinking

Some psychologists such as Max Wertheimer, believed that the best type of creative thought came from using both divergent and convergent thinking. A type of thought he called “productive thinking”.

Wertheimer came to this conclusion after thinking about how Albert Einstein came up with the Theory Of Relativity.

In order for Einstein to come up with this theory, he first used divergent thinking to create ideas which were not known or accepted by physics at the time.

Einstein then employed convergent thinking in order to back up his ideas with theory that would be accepted by his peers.

Quality Of Creative Thought

The quality of creative thinking can by judged by three criteria:

1 – Productivity

This refers to the amount of work a person produces. The more work they produce, the more productive they are.

2 – Originality

Originality is how different something is compared to the things around it. The more different, or novel, it is, the more originality is possesses.

3 – Flexibility

Flexibility refers to the ability to modify your beliefs based on new information.

An inflexible person forms an idea in their mind, and will not change it despite evidence to the contrary.

Creative Thought

Combining all three criteria, we can see that high quality creative thought is a result of hard work, original ideas and a willingness to modify those ideas if needed.

Summary

• Creativity involves thinking up new ideas and new ways in which things can be done.

• Divergent thinking results in many new ideas, and usually involves breaking a mental set and/or combining familiar things.

• Convergent thinking usually gives you one answer to a problem, and is what intelligence tests test for.

• Albert Einstein showed how divergent and convergent thinking can be used together.

• Quality of creative thought is measured by productivity, originality and flexibility.

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