One‐Year‐Olds Think Creatively, Just Like Their Parents

Abstract

Creativity is an essential human ability, allowing adaptation and survival. Twenty‐nine 1‐year‐olds and their parents were tested on divergent thinking (DT), a measure of creative potential counting how many ideas one can generate. Toddlers' and parents' DT was moderately to highly correlated. Toddlers showed a wide range of DT scores, which were reliable on retesting. This is the first study to show children think divergently as early as 1 year. This research also suggests 1‐year‐olds' DT is related to parents', opening up future research into whether this relationship is due to genetics and/or social learning at its emergence. Understanding DT at its emergence could allow for interventions while neurological development is most plastic, which could improve DT across the life span.

Two‐year‐olds can socially learn to think divergently

“…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, ).…”

“…In terms of toddlers, 2‐ and 3‐year‐olds produce novel jokes after imitating jokes of a similar style (Hoicka & Akhtar, ), and more novel pretend acts after watching someone pretend (Nielsen & Christie, ). Furthermore, parents' and toddlers' divergent thinking correlate well, and one possible mechanism for this is that toddlers socially learn their divergent thinking style from their parents (Hoicka et al ., ).…”

“…If a low level of divergent thinking is modelled, children may demonstrate a low level of divergent thinking as well, assuming the goal is to imitate, rather than explore (Bonawitz et al ., ; Carr et al ., ; Wood et al ., ). In contrast, if a high level of divergent thinking is modelled, children may demonstrate a high level of divergent thinking as well, assuming the goal is to explore (Hoicka & Akhtar, ; Hoicka et al ., ; Nielsen & Christie, ).…”

“…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, ). Additionally, 1‐year‐olds' scores on the UBT correlate well with parents' scores (Hoicka et al ., ) on the widely used divergent thinking measure Thinking Creatively with Pictures (Torrance, ). The UBT allows us for the first time to determine whether we can increase divergent thinking in children under 3 years.…”