Divergent Thinking: What It Is And How To Develop It

Divergent or lateral thinking is characterized by the ability to generate multiple and ingenious solutions to the same problem. It is a spontaneous, fluid and non-linear mental approach, based on curiosity and also nonconformity. In fact, it is also a very common type of thinking in children, where joy, imagination and freshness offer more freedom to their reasoning.

Divergent thinking is topical. In a society accustomed to giving us similar skills, there comes a time when large companies begin to value other skills, other dimensions that bring ingenuity, vitality and authentic human capital to their projects. Thus, someone capable of offering innovation, creativity and new goals can become a great candidate for many of these organizational projects.

However, there is something we must admit. Our schools, institutes and universities continue to prioritize a clearly convergent type of thinking in their methodology. Let us remember on the other hand, that it was in the 60s, when  JP Guilford differentiated and defined convergent thinking and divergent thinking.

Despite the fact that he himself emphasized the importance of training children in the latter type of mental approach, educational institutions have paid little attention to him. In general, they have prioritized a type of reflection (or rather, lack of it) where the student must apply linear thinking and a series of structured rules and processes to arrive at a single solution: the one that is evaluated as correct.

Although it is true that on many occasions this strategy is useful and necessary, let us admit another key; real life is complex, dynamic and imprecise enough to believe that our problems may have only one option. Therefore, we need to develop authentic divergent thinking.

For this reason, there are many educational centers that encourage their students not to limit themselves to finding the correct answer. The goal is for them to be able to create and suggest new questions.

“Creativity is intelligence having fun”

-Albert Einstein-

Divergent thinking and its psychological processes

Before continuing, it would be necessary to clarify an idea. No type of thought is better than another. Convergent thinking is useful and necessary on many occasions. However, the real problem is that we have been “trained” to think in only one way, leaving aside (and even completely nullifying) that spontaneity, that wit and captivating freedom.

In many courses aimed at training people in divergent thinking, it is common for students to be asked questions such as the following:

• What kinds of things could you do with a brick and a pen? What kinds of uses can you think of if we offer you a toothbrush and a toothpick?

We realize that in the beginning, it may take us a little while to get even a single idea. However, there are people capable of giving multiple answers and ingenious ideas because they have a high potential in what Edward de Bono called “lateral thinking” at the time. To better understand how it works, let’s now see what kind of psychological processes make it up.

Also, in a study carried out by Dr. Kamran Abbasi, physician and executive editor of the British Medical Journal , reveals something important: divergent thinking deteriorates with age. Children between 10 and 15 years old are the ones who stand out the most in this competition. From then on, education or our social models weaken that potential.

Semantic networks or connectivity theory

Divergent thinking is capable of finding relationships between ideas, concepts, and processes that appear to be lacking in any similarity. Psychologists who are experts in creativity tell us that people have different mental networks of association:

• People with “steep” semantic networks are governed more by logic and linear thinking. 
• For their part, people with “flat” semantic networks have mental networks that are much more connected and at the same time lax. That is, sometimes they relate two things to each other that do not make sense, but little by little they are helped by other networks until they reach an ingenious and innovative idea.

Right hemisphere and left hemisphere

We have all heard of this theory in which we are told that the right hemisphere is the creative one and the left the logical one. Therefore, and according to this, people who make use of divergent or lateral thinking will make preferential use of the right hemisphere. Well, we have to be careful with these kinds of ideas about lateralization or brain dominance because in reality, they have great nuances.

We cannot see the brain as an entity with delimited areas. In fact, when generating an idea, be it ingenious, conservative, logical or highly creative, we make use of the entirety of this organ. However, the key is in how we connect one idea with another. The most ingenious people make use of arborescent thinking, that is, their brain connections are very intense in both hemispheres, and not in just one.

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you want, you pursue what you imagine and finally, you believe what you pursue “

-George Bernard Shaw-

How can I train my divergent thinking?

We said it at the beginning, all of us, whatever our age, can train our divergent thinking. For this we will focus on 4 very clear objectives:

• Improve our fluency : ability to produce a large number of ideas.
• Improve our flexibility: be able to create varied ideas based on different fields of knowledge.
• Originality : ability to create innovative ideas.

• Improve our elaboration: aptitude to improve our ideas, to develop them with more sophistication.

Here are four ways to do it.

Synectics exercises

” Synectics” is a term coined by psychologist William JJ Gordon. It basically means being able to find connections and relationships between concepts, objects and ideas that apparently have no connection at all. This exercise requires high mental activity, and we can do it daily by choosing the concepts ourselves. For instance:

• What can I do with a paper clip and a spoon?
• What relationship could there be between the Limpopo River in Africa and Lake Baikal in Siberia?

Scamper Technique

The Scamper Technique is another creative idea development strategy devised by Bob Eberle. It will be very useful to us to create something innovative and to train our thinking. For example, let’s say we must generate an idea for our work. Once we have that “idea”, we will pass it through this series of “filters”:

• 1) Substitute an element of that idea for another (What can we change in the way we have fun? And in the way we work?).
• 2) Now combine them all (What can we do to make our work more fun?).
• 3) Adapt them (What do they do in other countries to work with less stress?).
• 4) Modify them (How to work and not stress?).
• 5) Give them other uses (What is there in my work that can make it more fun (even if it was not specifically designed for that)?).
• 6) Eliminate some (what if I entered a little earlier to make the most of the day?).
• 7) Reform (What if I dared to…?).

The mood and good rest

In a study by psychologist Nina  Playfulness: Its Relationship to Imagination and Creativity ” , something interesting was revealed to us. Divergent thinking goes hand in hand with joy, optimism and inner well-being. The have good social relationships, enjoy a good rest and be free from pressure, anxiety and stress, optimizes divergent thinking.

It is clear that sometimes, in our adult chores, in our lifestyles so loaded with pressure and worries, we neglect much of these valuable dimensions. Therefore, we could also conclude that this type of thinking is also born from a type of attitude towards life, where we can be more free, cheerful, non-conformist, open to experience …

Let’s cultivate those dynamics. Living well to think better can undoubtedly be a good purpose in which to work every day …