FIBSTAACT
This study examined divergent thinking in undergraduates as a function of gender, time, and test instruction conditions. Differences were examined in male and female undergraduates when tested on a divergent thinking test with or without prompting to "be creative" and with or without time limitations imposed. Subject groups were assigned to one of the following four conditions: standard instructions/four minute time limit; standard instructions/no time limit; creative instructions/ four minute time limit; and creative instructions/no time limit. The no time limit condition resulted in significantly higher mean traditional fluency and flexibility divergent production scores. Males were found to have significantly higher mean divergent production scores on fluency. This study supported previous research findings regarding the lack of enhanced traditional divergent production scores for females resulting from creative instructions.
IMAODUCllON Divergent thinking has been characterized as the ability to produce multiple and unique solutions to problems and tasks.
It is considered to play a major role in creative thought and giftedness (Khatena, 1992; Runco, 1993). In his landmark work, Guilford ( 1967) theorized divergent production as one component of his structure of intellect model. He conceptualized divergent production as 24 modes of operation with figural, symbolic, semantic, and behavioral components. More recently, Mumford and Gustafson (1988) described the multifaceted nature of creativity and the contributions of divergent production as an integral component.