# Divergent Thinking | ![img \|150](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Final_divergent_thinking.jpg/320px-Final_divergent_thinking.jpg) | **Divergent Thinking** is a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing, "non-linear" manner, such that many ideas are generated in an emergent cognitive fashion. Many possible solutions are explored in a short amount of time, and unexpected connections are drawn. Following divergent thinking, ideas and information are organized and structured using convergent thinking, which follows a particular set of logical steps to arrive at one solution, which in some cases is a "correct" solution. | |-|-| | | wikipedia:: [Divergent thinking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_thinking) | > [!summary]- Wikipedia Synopsis > **Divergent Thinking** is a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing, "non-linear" manner, such that many ideas are generated in an emergent cognitive fashion. Many possible solutions are explored in a short amount of time, and unexpected connections are drawn. Following divergent thinking, ideas and information are organized and structured using convergent thinking, which follows a particular set of logical steps to arrive at one solution, which in some cases is a "correct" solution. > > The psychologist J.P. Guilford first coined the terms convergent thinking and divergent thinking in 1956.