Types of human thinking: divergent and convergent

Creativity of thinking plays an important role, both for the development of an individual and for the development of the whole society. Those who can surprise others with non-standard solutions, as a rule, achieve great success in their life. Such people are able to think multidimensional, and their type of thinking is called divergent.

American psychologist Joey Guildford identified two types of human thinking - divergent and convergent. According to him, the convergent type involves solving the problem, observing a clear algorithm of actions.

At the same time, the divergent method suggests solving the problem by choosing one solution from a variety of options. So in Joey Guilford's book The Nature of the Human Intellect, both types of thinking were carefully described. In addition, the researcher singled out 120 parameters of the intellect and 15 ways to determine them.

Convergent thinking is characteristic of most people, since it is the modern education system that develops it.

A clear step-by-step algorithm for solving any problem is developed. The progress in such a system is evaluated by the following criteria: accuracy, speed and sequence of the passage of all points of the decision algorithm.

A person with convergent thinking sees only one way of solving a problem, therefore, he directs all efforts to finding exactly this, the only solution that is right, in his opinion.

Such a convergent type of thinking is acceptable for consecutive people, but it does not fit creative natures. The existing system of education neglects the development of the creative mindset, limiting the student to the framework of a convergent type of thinking.

Therefore, there is often a situation where students who are not successful at school and institute become successful managers or entrepreneurs in real life.

Divergent thinking implies the use of creative abilities by a person to solve a problem, finding several acceptable options in the process of solving. A person with a creative mindset is skeptical about stereotypes, exposing the truths taught to doubt.

This approach allows you to look at the situation with a fresh look, while finding a lot of non-standard ideas. For the divergent type of thinking, the following characteristics are characteristic:

• generation of a large number of ideas in a short period of time;
  imagery of thoughts;
• flexibility in moving from one perspective to another;
• the ability to see the usual details of unusual nuances;
• Creativity in creating non-standard ideas.

Both divergent and convergent types of human thinking have their advantages, depending on the situation in which they are used. Therefore, we who want to succeed, need to have equally developed both types of thinking - divergent and convergent.