Divergent Thinking: The Type Of Thinking Based On Creativity
Many times we talk about thinking as if it were one of the exclusive characteristics of our species. However, this is lacking, since on the one hand many non-human animals also think, and on the other hand there is not a single thought, but several types of it.
Next We will see the characteristics of divergent thinking closely related to creativity, and how it differs from so-called convergent thinking.
Thinking is basically verbal behavior Even if we are not speaking or writing, we use language to come up with ideas and “mental images” by combining concepts with each other. This process by which we reach conclusions by combining categories and meanings occurs in all forms of thought. However, what does vary is the style, the procedure with which we use language to create new information.
Normally, this process is sequential. First of all, we start from a fact that has already been verbalized, and from it we generate a chain of conclusions. For example:
We need onion to cook.
It’s Sunday and the shops have closed.
Neighbors can leave us a piece of onion.
The neighbor we get along best with lives on the floor above us.
We must go to the floor above to ask for onion.
Language is key in this operation, since each of the concepts (onion, neighbors, etc.) has elements in its meaning that help us weave a line of reasoning. For example, an onion is a small object that can fit in a house or a store, and neighbors are people, not places that are not available on Sundays.
This style of thinking is normally called convergent thinking, given that of all the semantic elements of each concept, the one that fits into a clear line of reasoning is always chosen, which has a clear meaning and relevance in a chain of operations. For example, in this case we don’t care if the onions are brown, since that does not have important implications for the operation of obtaining one of these ingredients.
divergent thinking
Divergent thinking, as its name indicates, It is not guided by the logic of fitting semantics into a more or less rigid scheme with the aim of reaching a very specific question and with a very limited number of answers. On the contrary: in this case, dispersion is sought, the generation of paths of thought that are radically different from each other.
In divergent thinking you do not go on a cognitive rail that goes from point A (missing onion) to point B (getting this element). Instead of starting from a conceptual process through which we want to put certain ideas through, we start from a stimulus from which many different ideas can be derived.
For example, faced with the image of a coffee maker, we can begin to devise different uses for that object: that is divergent thinking and, in fact, these types of exercises are those proposed to measure creativity from Sternberg’s triarchic intelligence tests.
The importance of this cognitive process in creativity
There is no doubt that the habitual use of convergent thinking is essential for our survival. After all, we do not live in an ideal world in which we can freely create new ideas just for the sake of it; We need to respond to specific needs that require certain actions and not others.
However, divergent thinking is also important If we do not want to live our entire lives on presuppositions that are given from outside. Lateral thinking allows us to deconstruct ideas that seemed self-evident to us until we decided to decompose them into several cognitive routes that until now remained unexplored.
This is useful in art, for example, since it is a form of expression based on the innovative use of already known elements (lights, colors, textures…). But it is also useful in our daily lives.
For example, thanks to divergent thinking we can see our own identity in a radically different way, create alternative narratives of what happened Some that are not necessarily false, but as appropriate as those that until then only remained valid due to the fact that there were no explanations that competed with them.
Furthermore, divergent thinking helps to question one’s own ideology, the moral and political lens through which we see reality. This makes us more sensitive to other people’s ideas whose ideas, even if we do not share, we can understand and, from there, find ways to empathize.
From all this it follows that Cognitive creativity is the best antidote to fanaticism The reason is simple: it challenges any dogma and helps detect explanations that are not based on the elaborate beliefs of systems of ideas imposed by sects, small groups that punish diversity of opinions and other similar social circles. For this reason, divergent thinking is something to be claimed.
