Individual differences and age-related changes in divergent thinking in toddlers and preschoolers.

Abstract

Divergent thinking shows the ability to search for new ideas, which is an important factor contributing to innovation and problem solving. Current divergent thinking tests allow researchers to study children’s divergent thinking from the age of 3 years on. This article presents the first measure of divergent thinking that can be used with children as young as 2 years. The Unusual Box test is a nonverbal and nonimitative test in which children play individually with a novel toy and novel objects. Divergent thinking is scored as the number of different actions performed. Study 1 shows that the Unusual Box test is a valid measure of divergent thinking as it correlates with standard measures of divergent thinking in 3- and 4-year-olds. Study 2 indicates that the test can be used with 2-year-olds, as it shows high test–retest reliability, demonstrating that 2-year-olds can think divergently. Across both studies, individual differences and age-related changes were found, indicating that some children are better at divergent thinking than others and that children’s divergent thinking increases with age. This test will allow researchers to gain insight into the early emergence of divergent thinking.

Two‐year‐olds can socially learn to think divergently

“…In the baseline condition, the experimenter (E) did not model any actions before handing the object to the child (C). The baseline condition followed the same procedure as the original UBT (Bijvoet‐van den Berg & Hoicka, ). In the Low Divergence/Low Activity condition, E modelled one action with each object once before handing it to C, for a total of five different actions across the study.…”

“…'s () procedure where only one action was modelled in the experimental conditions. As 2‐year‐olds produce on average 19.3 different actions in the UBT (with a standard deviation of 5.9, and a range of 10–32) (Bijvoet‐van den Berg & Hoicka, ), five actions were demonstrated per trial in the High Divergence condition. This resulted in a total of 25 different actions being shown to the children, a higher total than the average 2‐year‐old would invent themselves.…”

“…More recently, Bijvoet‐van den Berg and Hoicka () developed a non‐verbal, non‐imitative divergent thinking task usable from 1 year (Hoicka et al ., ). The Unusual Box Test (UBT) is a colourful wooden box with many features (see Figure ).…”

“…For instance, they might hit the edge of the box and then guide an object through the hole. The UBT shows good test–retest reliability in 1‐ and 2‐year‐olds (Bijvoet‐van den Berg & Hoicka, ; Hoicka et al ., ). It shows convergent validity in 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds with two other widely used standard measures of divergent thinking in preschoolers – the TCAM (Torrance, ) and the Wallach and Kogan Tests of Creativity (Wallach & Kogan, ).…”

“Peaks, Slumps, and Bumps”: Individual Differences in the Development of Creativity in Children and Adolescents

“…DT is the ability to produce multiple solutions or ideas in response to a single problem or stimulus, such as generating alternative uses for a common object. Recent research has focused on DT of preschool children as young as two years old (Bijvoet‐van den Berg & Hoicka, ) and concluded that individual differences in DT start emerging during preschool age, and then, DT performance tends to increase. This general trend seems to continue until about age 40, followed by “systematic maturational declines” (McCrae, Arenberg, & Costa, ; p. 136), and is punctuated by multiple patterns of discontinuity, especially during childhood and adolescence.…”