Types of Thinking

Teaching and Implementing Ideation in Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Approach

“…The divergent thinker allows his mind to wander around in any direction and associate different thoughts and concepts, finding unique combinations and relations. Since, arriving at one single correct solution is not the ultimate goal, divergent thinkers prefer open-ended questions allowing for a variety of novel answers (Robertson, 2013). The thinker is not given limitations and is not forced to focus on any certain direction.…”

“…It is a free-form of thinking with a multidimensional construct (Runco, 1991). Developing a number of unexpected and uncommon solutions to a problem (ideational originality), being able to switch between categories when giving answers to a question (ideational flexibility), and producing many answers at once regarding a question (ideational fluency) are among the dimensions of divergent thinking (Runco 1991;Robertson, 2013).…”

“…Convergent thinking is the process of generating one possible solution to a particular problem. Convergent thinker is expected to 'converge' his thoughts on the appropriate answer (Robertson, 2013). The ultimate goal is to find the single best solution to a given problem, emphasizing speed and relying on high accuracy (Colzato, et al, 2012).…”

“…These two modes of thinking usually follow one another to complete the full cycle of thinking for ideation. IQ tests are tended to favor convergent thinkers and creativity tests are designed to measure the ability of divergent thinkers (Robertson, 2013). In the full cycle of the ideation process, creativity requires divergent thinking while designing the ideas for successful executability and implementation requires convergent thinking.…”