On the assessment criterion for creative thinking

Abstract

The quantitative evaluation of creative responses in TCT (Test for Creative Thinking) has elucidated various problems. In order to evaluate responses qualitatively, four basic categories were set up. They were constructed according to the degree of freedom of responses from the task-setting. The category, Td (Task-dependence) refers to responses that are entirely influenced by the task-setting. Tm (Task-modification) is for responses which are produced more flexibly than Td, but still influenced by the task-setting. Responses which are made by attending to only a part of the task-setting and neglecting the rest are judged Ho (Homomorphosis). Moreover, responses which are quite free from the task-setting are called He (Heteromorphosis). This He is thought to be the most creative response, and if it appears rarely. When 123 junior high-school students were tested using TCT, He responses appeared least, in four (only 20.3% of the subjects), while Td's were produced by 99.2% of the subjects. Ho's were lower than Tm's and Td's in frequency. However, the validity of these categories is still to be pursued.