Latency as a Predictor of Originality in Divergent Thinking

Publication date: Available online 7 June 2019Source: Thinking Skills and CreativityAuthor(s): Selcuk Acar, Ahmed M. Abdulla Alabbasi, Mark A. Runco, Kenes BeketayevAbstractPrevious research on divergent thinking (DT) indicates that fluency, originality, and flexibility change with time. Although there is a drop in the ideational productivity per minute, ideas tend to get more original and flexible as time passes, a phenomenon known as the order effect. The present research extends previous findings of longer latencies during flexible ideation and examined the relationship between latency and originality. 1,325 verbal and 488 figural responses generated by 83 people were analyzed in a multilevel model (MLM) where ideas were nested under the type of DT tasks and the DT task(s) was nested under individuals. Originality was measured with a semantics-based algorithm and latency was measured as the difference in time between consecutive ideas. Analysis controlling the response order found that originality was higher with a longer latency. These findings indicate that longer think time (TT) is a predictor of originality. This holds true in both early versus late sections of DT, as well as across different type of DT tasks. The results are interpreted in terms of associational processes and executive functions.

Source: Thinking Skills and Creativity - June 7, 2019 Category: Science Source Type: research