Analysing your IQ
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Generating many original ideas and making unusual connections between seemingly unrelated concepts.
Divergent thinking is the ability to generate multiple solutions rather than converging on a single answer. Those high in this trait produce more ideas, more unusual ideas, and more varied ideas across categories. This underlies creative achievement across arts, sciences, and entrepreneurship. The opposite—convergent thinking—finds the one correct answer but misses novel possibilities.
While divergent thinking and IQ are distinct, they correlate moderately (r ≈ 0.20-0.35). Above a threshold IQ (around 120), divergent thinking becomes more important for creative achievement than additional IQ points.
Easily generating many potential solutions to a problem
Making connections between ideas from unrelated fields
Seeing unusual uses for ordinary objects
Producing original ideas that others find surprising
Creativity is random and can't be trained (structured practices can boost divergent thinking)
Creative people can't be analytical (the best creators combine divergent and convergent thinking)
All original ideas are good ideas (creativity must be paired with critical evaluation)
Ask yourself these questions to evaluate whether you demonstrate this trait:
Do you naturally generate many possible solutions to problems?
Do your ideas often surprise others with their originality?
Do you see connections between ideas that seem unrelated to others?
Divergent thinking without convergent evaluation produces novel but useless ideas. Creative achievement requires both generation and selection.
Generating many original ideas and making unusual connections between seemingly unrelated concepts. While divergent thinking and IQ are distinct, they correlate moderately (r ≈ 0.20-0.35). Above a threshold IQ (around 120), divergent thinking becomes more important for creative achievement than additional IQ points.
Ask yourself: Do you naturally generate many possible solutions to problems? Do your ideas often surprise others with their originality? Do you see connections between ideas that seem unrelated to others? If you answered yes to most of these, you likely demonstrate this cognitive trait.
While cognitive abilities have a genetic component, most can be enhanced through deliberate practice and training. Divergent thinking without convergent evaluation produces novel but useless ideas. Creative achievement requires both generation and selection.