Adolescents’ fluid intelligence and divergent thinking: the mediating effect of field dependent independent cognitive style

How Do Children “Think outside the Box”? Fluid Intelligence and Divergent Thinking: A Moderated Mediation Study of Field Dependent-Independent Cognitive Style and Gender

“…For instance, Giancola and colleagues [36] found that the mediating effect of FDI in the association between young adults' Gf and individual creative potential as captured in terms of DT, convergent thinking, and creative personality. A related study [35] found an analogous mechanism in adolescence, when FDI is implicated in the interplay between Gf and the only ability to think divergently. Overall, both studies indicated that the high cognitive complexity and the strong disposition toward the solution of problems in an analytical fashion, underpinned by field independence, promote the effect of Gf on DT.…”

“…The present study addressed the mediating role of FDI in the interplay between Gf and DT in school-age children, exploring also the moderating effect of gender in the association between FDI and DT. This study moves from the evidence that, in both adolescents and young adults, analytical reasoning implicated in the field independent cognitive style is critical in the association between Gf on DT [35,36]. In order to understand if such a chain of relationships originates since childhood, the idea was to replicate previous results in elementary school-age children.…”

“…Furthermore, two recent studies indicated that FDI is implicated in the relationship between Gf and DT in adolescents and adults [35,36]. For instance, Giancola and colleagues [36] found that the mediating effect of FDI in the association between young adults' Gf and individual creative potential as captured in terms of DT, convergent thinking, and creative personality.…”

“…On the one hand, Gf supports the evaluation of the usability and functionality of new ideas [16]. On the other hand, FDI allows for managing Gf during idea generation [35]. According to this notion, DT implies both computational efficiency of Gf as well as the ability to employ cognitive resources underpinned by FDI in order to generate divergent ideas [39].…”

“…In addition, this mechanism seems to survive also in adolescence [35], a developmental period characterized by deep neurodevelopmental changes, which affect overall cognition and both Gf and DT [40,41].…”