Divergent Thinking in Children: the Effects of Conditions of Testing and the Question of Creativity

Abstract

The major purpose of this study was to examine the effects of test procedure on divergent thinking. Wallach and Kogan's book, Modes of Thinking in Young Children, raised the possibility that the structure of abilities and the validity of ability tests might be, in part, dependent on test procedure. Divergent thinking tests seemed the most likely tests which such effects of testing method might be demonstrated. Two types of effect of test method were examined. Firstly the effects of method on correlates of divergent thinking tests and secondly the effects of method on mean scores. An additional topic, not directly related to method effects was a partial replication of Wallach and Kogan's validation of the divergent thinking-intelligence distinction.