<p>An adult observed a preschool child working assiduously on a drawing and asked, “What are you drawing?” Without looking up, the child responded, “I'm drawing the face of God.” The adult smiled and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.” The child answered, “They will in a couple minutes.”</p> <p>No one is really sure what creativity looks like either, but half a century ago Joy Guilford described one important piece of it—divergent production—and Guilford's vision has shaped what many of us think creativity looks like, especially in the area of creativity assessment.</p> <p>The Torrance Tests are essentially divergent thinking tests based on Guilford's model, and they are very widely used as creativity tests. Although the Torrance Tests have lost some of the edge they had quarter of a century ago, when Torrance and Presbury (1984) reported that the Torrance Tests had been used in three quarters of all recently published studies of creativity, they nonetheless remain an important force, although perhaps more in schools than in research. If they are valid measures of creativity, that's wonderful. If they are not, it's a huge problem. It would mean that we may think we know a lot of
How Divergent Thinking Tests Mislead Us
Abstract
<p>An adult observed a preschool child working assiduously on a drawing and asked, “What are you drawing?” Without looking up, the child responded, “I'm drawing the face of God.” The adult smiled and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.” The child answered, “They will in a couple minutes.”</p> <p>No one is really sure what creativity looks like either, but half a century ago Joy Guilford described one important piece of it—divergent production—and Guilford's vision has shaped what many of us think creativity looks like, especially in the area of creativity assessment.</p> <p>The Torrance Tests are essentially divergent thinking tests based on Guilford's model, and they are very widely used as creativity tests. Although the Torrance Tests have lost some of the edge they had quarter of a century ago, when Torrance and Presbury (1984) reported that the Torrance Tests had been used in three quarters of all recently published studies of creativity, they nonetheless remain an important force, although perhaps more in schools than in research. If they are valid measures of creativity, that's wonderful. If they are not, it's a huge problem. It would mean that we may think we know a lot ofPreview Only. This article cannot be rented because we do not currently have permission from the publisher.
/lp/psycarticles-reg/how-divergent-thinking-tests-mislead-us-hHmIe1tObL
Welcome to DeepDyve! Rent Premier Research Articles and Save Up to 90%
Preview Only
How Divergent Thinking Tests Mislead Us
Baer, John
Follow Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
, Volume 5 (4): 309
PsycARTICLES® – Nov 1, 2011
More Info
More Like This Article
View All dataSource[]=actageo&dataSource[]=aspet&dataSource[]=aaos&dataSource[]=aacc&dataSource[]=aacr&dataSource[]=aea&dataSource[]=aip&dataSource[]=ajnr&dataSource[]=ams&dataSource[]=aps_physical&dataSource[]=appi_book&dataSource[]=appi_journal&dataSource[]=apha&dataSource[]=asip&dataSource[]=asm&dataSource[]=asn&dataSource[]=aspb&dataSource[]=avs&dataSource[]=annual_reviews&dataSource[]=arxiv&dataSource[]=acm&dataSource[]=berghahn&dataSource[]=cabi&dataSource[]=clinical_trials&dataSource[]=dailymed&dataSource[]=degruyter&dataSource[]=du_press&dataSource[]=esa&dataSource[]=eu_press&dataSource[]=elsevier&dataSource[]=emerald&dataSource[]=ejtr&dataSource[]=emea&dataSource[]=epo&dataSource[]=faseb&dataSource[]=gsa&dataSource[]=health_affairs&dataSource[]=hindawi&dataSource[]=imanager&dataSource[]=imedpub&dataSource[]=informa_healthcare&dataSource[]=informs&dataSource[]=iop&dataSource[]=iucr&dataSource[]=iospress&dataSource[]=jbjs&dataSource[]=leftcoast&dataSource[]=lu_press&dataSource[]=mesharpe&dataSource[]=mary_ann_liebert&dataSource[]=medline&dataSource[]=mit_press&dataSource[]=nature&dataSource[]=oxford&dataSource[]=pier_professional&dataSource[]=pnas&dataSource[]=portlandpress&dataSource[]=psyc_articles&dataSource[]=psyc_books&dataSource[]=psyc_critiques&dataSource[]=plos_journal&dataSource[]=pubmed_central&dataSource[]=rsna&dataSource[]=rockefeller&dataSource[]=rcn&dataSource[]=ria&dataSource[]=rsc&dataSource[]=sage&dataSource[]=spie&dataSource[]=springer_journal&dataSource[]=springer&dataSource[]=taylor_francis&dataSource[]=aps&dataSource[]=the_scientist&dataSource[]=uc_press&dataSource[]=uspto_abstract&dataSource[]=wiley&dataSource[]=pct
© 2012 DeepDyve, Inc. All rights reserved.
Terms of Service | Privacy Policy
