Convergent thinking
It generally means the ability to give the "correct" answer to questions that do not require novel ideas, for instance on standardized multiple-choice tests for intelligence.
Convergent thinking emphasizes speed, accuracy, and logic and focuses on recognizing the familiar, reapplying techniques, and accumulating stored information.
[1] It is most effective in situations where an answer readily exists and simply needs to be either recalled or worked out through decision making strategies.
Divergent thinking typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing manner, where many creative ideas are generated and evaluated.
Knowledge, logic, probabilities and other decision-making strategies are taken into consideration as the solutions are evaluated individually in a search for a single best answer which when reached is unambiguous.
When compared with a control group who was resting, both convergent and divergent thinking produced significant desynchronization of the Alpha 1,2 rhythms.
On the other hand, divergent thinking demonstrated amplitude decreases in the caudal regions of the cortex in Theta 1 and 2 bands.
[9] Finally, the obtained dominance of the right hemisphere and ‘the cognitive axis’, the coupling of the left occipital – right frontal in contrast to the right occipital – left frontal ‘axis’ characterizing analytic thinking, may reflect the EEG pattern of the unconscious mental processing during successful divergent thinking.
[10] Convergent and divergent thinking depend on the locus coeruleus neurotransmission system,[11][12][13] which modulates noradrenaline levels in the brain.
Thus, those subjects who are high in divergent thinking can be characterized as having their perceptual processes mature and become adequately controlled in an unconventional way.
[15] Conversely, subjects in the high convergent thinking group illustrated higher grade averages for the previous school year, less difficulty with homework and also indicated that their parents pressed them towards post-secondary education.
Future investigations into this topic should focus more upon the developmental, cognitive and perpetual aspects of personality among divergent and convergent thinkers, rather than their attitude structures.
The second type of convergent thinking task were insight problems, which gave the subjects some contextual facts and then asked them a question requiring interpretation.
[23] In a study where experimental manipulations were used to motivate subjects to engage in convergent or divergent thinking when presented with either majority or minority support for persuasive arguments, a pattern emerged under the convergent thinking condition where majority support produced more positive attitudes on the focal issue.
[23] The convergent thinkers are too focused with selecting the best answer that they fail to appropriately evaluate minority opinion and could end up dismissing accurate solutions.
