Strictly speaking, the construct of divergent-convergent thinking is not very suitable to be grouped into a typical label of intellectual styles, because the original intention was to define a model of intellect structure (Guilford, 1967). A divergent thinker tends to deal with problems in a flexible way; in contrast, a convergent thinker tends to deal with problems in mechanical way. Nevertheless, there has been some empirical evidence of an association between this thinking pattern and academic achievement (e.g., Demirbas & Demirkan, 2007). As a matter of fact, recent literature is more likely to consider divergent-convergent thinking styles as intellectual styles (Zhang & Sternberg, 2005).

Most relevant empirical results were largely consistent in the literature. In general, learners with a divergent thinking style tend to attain better academic achievement. A number of investigations (e.g., Bennett, 1973; Eastwood, 1965; Feldhusen, Treffinger, Van-Mondfrans, & Ferris, 1970; Saracho, 1984; Taft, 1971) have supported the significant relationship between divergent-convergent thinking types and various academic achievements. For example, Feldhusen, Treffinger, and Elias (1970) found that the divergent thinking mode was a valuable predictor variable in senior high school performance. Taft (1971) also suggested that divergent thinking is beneficial to obtaining better achievement than convergent thinking in college contexts. According to Eastwood’s (1965) study, the relationship between achievement and divergent thinking was stronger for Science students, less so for Arts students. Bennett (1973) also obtained similar results to show that highly divergent students tended to gain better scores on the creative attainment criterion than did highly convergent counterparts.

Based on the abovementioned findings, at least two conclusions could be made: first, Guilford’s divergent-convergent thinking is largely related to learners’ learning performance, and second, the divergent-thinking style often shows positive effect on academic achievements at different educational levels and various subject matters.

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From Weiqiao Fan & Yunfeng He (2011). Intellectual Styles and Academic Achievement. In Zhang, L. F., Sternberg, R. J., & Rayner, S. (Eds.) (2011). Handbook of Intellectual Styles: Preferences in Cognition, Learning, and Thinking. Springer Publishing Company: New York.