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Terminology Tuesday: Convergent vs. Divergent Thinking

January 13, 2016

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When we come decisions, we most often employ a process for making those decisions. We may weigh the pros and cons, we may jump immediately to a ‘correct’ solution, or we may choose the wrong solution and have to go back to the drawing board. However you make decisions, there’s more going on inside your brain than you might realize.

Convergent Thinking

Convergent thinking is a process where you tend to choose the ‘correct’ response, given very little mental output. Think of multiple choice exams as an example (now, I know this isn’t the case for all multiple choice exams, but how many times have you ever guessed a response?).

With this method of making decisions, the individual is often focused on patterns, responding in a way that is most probable based on previous experiences. It is a method that tends to be entrenched in logic and familiarity and is often the quickest route to making a decisions.

Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking is a decision making process that emphasizes the consideration of many ‘correct’ or potentially correct solutions to a problem, which tends to require increased mental output. This method may not be as fast as convergent thinking, but it tends to generate many options and is often viewed as spontaneous, emphasizing principles of free association, brainstorming, and critical-thinking.

Using this method, individuals provide an initial spew of ideas, and then use logic to critical connect various concepts related to the problem in an effort to reach the most appropriate solution.

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Meet Ashley

Ashley ChiassonI’m a Instructional Designer with over 15 years of professional experience, and have developed e-learning solutions for clients within the Defence, Post-Secondary Education, Health, and Sales sectors. For more about me, click here!

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