Divergent vs Convergent Thinking - Critical Thinking Secrets

They say that necessity is the mother of invention but without a dash of creativity and clear thinking, innovation would stall out in its early stages. After all, coming up with actionable solutions to a problem takes a lot of brainpower and not everyone thinks in the same way. For example, some creatives take a divergent approach while others prefer convergent thinking. Not sure of the difference?

Divergent and convergent thinking are near polar opposites but they work surprisingly well together. Divergent thinkers prefer to brainstorm as many ideas as possible. Convergent thinkers, on the other hand, prefer to narrow their options down to a single top choice. When paired together, these two approaches can successfully come up with creative and innovative solutions.

Let’s explore the main differences between these two ways of thinking and discuss some examples of both. We’ll also explain how pairing two diametrically opposed thought processes can lead to surprising results and creations.

Contents

1 What is Divergent Thinking?

2 What is Convergent Thinking?

3 How Divergent and Convergent Thinking Work Together

4 Final Thoughts on Divergent and Convergent Thinking

5 References

What is Divergent Thinking?

Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It’s often used at the start of a creative process to come up with as many ideas as possible, without judging them. This can help break down creative barriers and open up new possibilities.

Everyone from elementary school students to corporate think tanks rely on divergent thinking to come up with creative ideas. Some of the most commonly used divergent thought processes include:

Brainstorming – Brainstorming is a popular technique used to generate new ideas. It involves a group of people coming together and sharing their ideas without judgement.
Mind mapping – Mind mapping is a technique used to visually organize information. It can be used to generate new ideas by starting with a central topic and then brainstorming related ideas.
Questioning – Asking questions is a great way to generate new ideas. By asking questions, you force yourself to think about a problem in a different way and come up with new solutions.
Drawing – Drawing is a great way to brainstorm new ideas. By sketching out your thoughts, you can visually see them and come up with new ways to improve them.
Writing/Journaling – Writing is another great way to come up with new ideas. By writing down your thoughts, you can better organize them and come up with new solutions.

Once individual team members have finished brainstorming, drafting, or mind mapping, they typically come together to share their ideas, isolate the best options, and move on from there.

What is Convergent Thinking?

Convergent thinking is the ability to solve problems by bringing together information and ideas from various sources. It is the opposite of divergent thinking, which is the ability to come up with many new ideas and solutions. Convergent thinking is often used in situations where a person is looking for a single, correct answer, such as in multiple-choice tests or mathematical problems.

Some of the most commonly used convergent thought processes include:

Algorithmic thinking – Algorithms follow a step-by-step process for solving a problem, often used in mathematics and computer science.
Analogic thinking – Analogic thinking allows creatives to compare two or more things that are similar in order to better understand each one individually. This thought process helps them see how each element is unique and how they relate to each other.
Cause and effect – Determining how one event or action leads to another helps creatives establish linear workflows, build momentum, and maintain a schedule.
Deductive and inductive reasoning – These two logical processes draw conclusions based on given information or past experiences and observations.

Compared to divergent thinking, convergent thinking is far more cut-and-dry. It involves taking known information and applying it to a specific problem in order to arrive at a single, correct solution rather than delving into a wide range of possible creative approaches.

How Divergent and Convergent Thinking Work Together

Although they take completely different approaches, divergent and convergent thinking work hand-in-hand with each other. Divergent thinking helps creative teams generate ideas by looking at problems from multiple perspectives. Through those many perspectives, they can come up with a variety of possible ideas.

Convergent thinkers can then narrow down some of those ideas to find the ultimate solution. Without convergent thinkers, it would be difficult to take all of those ideas and turn them into a reality but, without divergent thinkers, there would be no ideas, to begin with. As you can see, these two approaches balance each other.

To give an example, imagine a company that wants to develop a new product. Their first step would be to generate ideas for the product line using divergent thinking. The creative team would come up with a variety of ideas and, once they had a list of potential products, they could use convergent thinking to narrow the list and choose a product they think would be most successful.

From there, the company could use divergent thinking again to come up with ideas for how to market the product, what features it should have, what its target audience would be, etc. Once they had a plan for the product, they could use convergent thinking to execute that plan and bring the product to market.

So, although divergent and convergent thinking approach problems from completely different perspectives, both are essential to any creative process. Without divergent thinking, there would never be a wealth of ideas to choose from. Yet, without convergent thinking, we would get lost in the depth of possible ideas.

Final Thoughts on Divergent and Convergent Thinking

To sum it all up, divergent thinking is a more creative way to solve problems. It involves looking at a problem from different angles and coming up with original solutions. Convergent thinking is more logical and practical. It involves finding the one right answer to a problem.

Both divergent and convergent thinking are important in different situations. Divergent thinking is important when you need to come up with new ideas or solutions while convergent thinking is important when you need to find a final ultimate solution.