Predicting Work Activities with Divergent Thinking Tests: A Longitudinal Study

This study examined whether divergent thinking test scores obtained from engineering students during college predicted creative work activities fifteen years later. Results showed that a subscore of the Owens Creativity Test, which assesses divergent thinking about mechanical objects, correlated significantly with self-ratings of creative work activities and number of patent submissions. An overall divergent thinking score obtained from the Structure of the Intellect Learning Abilities Test (SOI-ELCT), however, did not correlate significantly with either creative work activities or patent submissions. Practical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.