The Alternate Uses Task (AUT) was designed by J.P. Guilford in 1967. It is used to measure

divergent thinking Divergent thinking is a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing, "non-linear" manner, such that many ideas are generated in an emergent cognitive fa ...

Design

The intent of the AUT is to have the test taker think creatively. It is generally used with a time-constraint, and consists of someone thinking of one object to start. Then within that time-constraint, that person thinks of as many objects as they can that are comparable to the original object chosen. The AUT measures a certain level of divergent thinking; exploring multiple answers using

creativity Creativity is the ability to form novel and valuable Idea, ideas or works using one's imagination. Products of creativity may be intangible (e.g. an idea, scientific theory, Literature, literary work, musical composition, or joke), or a physica ...

It doesn't compare to a traditional test that looks for a specific solution. As a result, from the AUT it is measured in four ways: *

Fluency Fluency (also called volubility and eloquency) refers to continuity, smoothness, rate, and effort in speech production. It is also used to characterize language production, language ability or language proficiency. In speech language patholog ...

: the number of other uses you can think of, from the original object *

Originality Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion ...

: how different the other uses are, showing creativity *

Flexibility Stiffness is the extent to which an object resists deformation in response to an applied force. The complementary concept is flexibility or pliability: the more flexible an object is, the less stiff it is. Calculations The stiffness, k, of a ...

: the assortment of ideas that you come up with showing such a vast range *Elaboration: "level of detail and development of the idea" For example, the phrase "plank of wood" could be provided and the examinee would then proceed to write down words such as porch, bridge, swing, etc. There are two approaches used in scoring participants and their output; traditional and subjective. A traditional approach is measured based on the output of "fluency, originality, and flexibility. The output of the scores is then rated based on creativity. On the other hand, the definitional approach involves rating things entirely differently. In the definitional approach the ratings on whether or not it is useful in comparison to traditional that rates on creative.

References

{{reflist Cognitive psychology 1967 introductions