One-Year-Olds Think Creatively, Just Like Their Parents

Creativity is an essential human ability, allowing adaptation and survival. Twenty-three 1-year-olds and their parents were tested on divergent thinking (DT), a measure of creative potential counting how many ideas one can generate. Toddlers’ and parents’ DT was moderately to highly correlated. Toddlers showed a wide range of DT scores, which were reliable on re-testing. This is the first study to show children think divergently as early as 1 year. This research also suggests 1-year-olds’ DT is related to parents’, opening up future research into whether this relationship is due to genetics, and/or social learning at its emergence. Understanding DT at its emergence could allow for interventions while neurological development is most plastic, which could improve DT across the lifespan.