2006/07/01 by Arthur Cropley, Arthur J. Cropley · 8 citations
Engineering · Neuroscience · Psychology · #Creativity in Education and Neuroscience #Design Education and Practice #Neuroscience, Education and Cognitive Function
paper · doi:10.1207/s15326934crj1803_13
openalex publication_date 2006/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
: Free production of variability through unfettered divergent thinking holds out the seductive promise of effortless creativity but runs the risk of generating only quasicreativity or pseudocreativity if it is not adapted to reality. Therefore, creative thinking seems to involve 2 components: generation of novelty (via divergent thinking) and evaluation of the novelty (via convergent thinking). In the area of convergent thinking, knowledge is of particular importance: It is a source of ideas, suggests pathways to solutions, and provides criteria of effectiveness and novelty. The way in which the 2 kinds of thinking work together can be understood in terms of thinking styles or of phases in the generation of creative products. In practical situations, divergent thinking without convergent thinking can cause a variety of problems including reckless change. Nonetheless, care must be exercised by those who sing the praises of convergent thinking: Both too little and too much is bad for creativity.