What is divergent thinking and how to develop it to become more successful
Miscellaneous / / May 11, 2023
Everyone can learn how to create innovative ideas.
What is divergent thinking
This is a type of thinking in which a person comes up with many diverse ideas to solve one problem. The concept was introduced by the American psychologist Joy Paul Gilford. Scientist singled out four main characteristics of divergent intelligence:
- Fluency — the ability to generate a large number of solutions in a limited time.
- Flexibility The ability to use different approaches to solve a problem at the same time.
- Originality - the ability to create fundamentally new ideas.
- Elaboration The ability to think through the details of an idea and make it viable.
To test if you have divergent thinking, try Guilford's short test. Choose one simple object, like a paperclip, and write down as many uses for it as you can in 2 minutes. Do not limit your imagination and focus on the number of options. Then evaluate the fluency, flexibility, originality and sophistication of your answers. If they meet all four criteria, then you have a tendency to divergent thinking.
How is divergent thinking different from convergent thinking?
In addition to divergent, Guilford singled out also convergent thinking. It, on the contrary, focuses on finding one, the only correct solution and is not based on the free flight of fantasy, but on logical reasoning and the use of already known information.
It is important to understand that one type of thinking is not more effective than another. They just suit different tasks. Divergent is best used when non-standard problems and unfamiliar conditions, questions that allow for many possible answers. For example, when you need to develop an advertising campaign to promote a new product or come up with a puppy name. Convergent is more effective in situations with clearly defined and understandable conditions, in issues with one correct solution. For example, when you need to budget for a specific advertising campaign or find a dog leash at the best price.
The challenges we face in our personal lives and at work often require both creativity and analytical skills. Therefore, it is useful not to oppose divergent and convergent thinking, but to use them together for the best result.
Why develop divergent thinking and how to do it
We learn convergent thinking skills at school. There are many tasks in the standard educational program where you need to memorize and analyze information, repeat the course of a decision, make calculations and find the only correct answer. But not everyone had the opportunity to learn to think outside the box. This is worth fixing, even if your profession is not related to creativity.
First, with divergent thinking, you will be able to quickly adapt to new conditions in which known methods and templates no longer work. Secondly, this skill helps to find innovative ideas and cope with seemingly unsolvable tasks. Thirdly, a non-standard approach allows us to consider the problem from unexpected angles and understand it more deeply.
The ability to think divergently does not depend on natural data; if desired, it can be pumped. The following methods will help.
Do some creativity exercises
There are dozens of exercises and techniques. Practice the ones that appeal to you the most. Try starting with one of these tasks:
- Shared storytelling. This exercise is somewhat reminiscent of a role-playing game, for which you will need a group of at least three people. The first participant begins to tell any idea or fictional story, then stops and gives the next one to continue it, and so all the players in a circle develop one story and add more to it details. For convenience, you can set a timer and give each answer 30-60 seconds. You can try not only to continue the story, but also to write poetry or draw a picture one after another.
- Creating titles and titles. Recall the events that happened to you during the day, and write a catchy newspaper headline for each of them. If nothing remarkable happened to you, do not rush to get upset - the task will only become more effective. Think about how to briefly talk about going to lunch or a workout to generate interest. For the second exercise, take any well-known work - a movie, a book, or a children's story - and come up with several alternative titles for them. Try not to contradict the plot, but reveal the content from a new perspective.
- Consequences of fantastic events. Imagine any unrealistic situation. For example, all people received the ability read minds or the number of hours in a day has decreased to 10. Now think over and write down all the consequences that this event may have.
Keep a diary and practice free writing
Perhaps you have a lot of ideas coming into your head every day, you just don’t fix them. Get in the habit write down your thoughts, no matter how strange they may seem to you. Then you can use the diary as a source of inspiration. If this practice seems uncomfortable to you, try the freehand writing technique. For it, you need to focus on a specific problem and write all your thoughts on the topic until they run out. After you need to read the text and structure ideas.
Sleep and Meditate
The ability to create new ideas is influenced not only by constant practice, but also by lifestyle. Psychologists from Canada figured outthat one night without sleep reduces the fluency and flexibility of thinking. Similar study showedthat after 32 hours of being awake, most aspects of divergent thinking worsen, and instead of generating new ideas, they get stuck on old solutions.
In addition to healthy sleep, add to your schedule meditation with open monitoring, that is, those where you do not need to concentrate on breathing or sounds, but simply observe your thoughts, feelings and emotions. Researchers from the Netherlands supposethat this practice contributes to the development of divergent thinking and simply improves mood.
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