Along the Convergent–Divergent Continuum: The Role of Task Structure in the PISA Creative Thinking Assessment

Creativity tests, like creativity itself, vary widely in their structure and use. These differences include instructions, test duration, environments, prompt and response modalities, and the structure of test items. A key factor is task structure, referring to the specificity of the number of responses requested for a given prompt. Classic creativity assessments often use divergent thinking tasks, which allow for multiple responses. In contrast, other measures, such as insight tasks or the Remote Associates Test, require a single correct answer. This distinction suggests that a creativity test's correlates could depend on its placement along the convergent–divergent continuum. The PISA Creative Thinking assessment leans toward the divergent end, as none of its items require a single correct answer. However, it differs from traditional divergent thinking tests by not explicitly instructing participants to generate as many responses as possible. Instead, PISA items allow varying numbers of responses—some requiring one, others two or three. This variation reflects different levels of divergence, with one-response items being more convergent than three-response items. We argue that this difference in task structure should be considered when examining the relationship between PISA creativity scores and factors like academic achievement and socioeconomic status.