The Divergent Association Task, a measure for creativity

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 12:14:00 -0500

The Divergent Association Task is a short, simple test introduced in 2021 claiming to measure creativity. Taking only a minute and a half, it asks participants to “generate 10 nouns that are as different from each other as possible in all meanings and uses of the words”.

Although the instructions say to “avoid specialized vocabulary (e.g., no technical terms)”, I imagine you might score higher if you’ve just finished cramming wordlists for the GRE. Researchers have used this test to compare human and AI creativity (though the use of GPT-4 in this article with a January 2026 publication date speaks to the incompatibility of AI research with traditional publication timelines).

Psychology on Big Muddy

The Divergent Association Task, a measure for creativity