Alternative Uses Test
Covered skills
Relevant for
Great for improving creativity, problem-solving skills, and developing innovative approaches to everyday challenges.
Description
The Alternative Uses Test measures divergent thinking — the capacity to generate multiple conceptually distinct responses to a single open-ended prompt. It is based on assessment frameworks developed by J.P. Guilford and later refined by E. Paul Torrance in creativity research.
How It Works
You receive 3 common objects and have 10 minutes per object to list as many alternative uses as possible. Responses are evaluated across three dimensions: fluency, flexibility, and originality.
What Gets Measured
Fluency — total number of uses generated per object.
Flexibility — the range of conceptual categories your responses fall across, not just quantity.
Originality — how statistically uncommon your responses are relative to typical answers.
Understanding Your Results
A high fluency score with low flexibility suggests responses clustered within similar conceptual categories. High originality with low fluency suggests unconventional thinking but limited generative output. Balanced scores across all three dimensions reflect broader divergent thinking capacity.
Limitations
Scoring on this test involves interpretation, particularly for originality, which is assessed relative to common responses rather than an objective standard. Results reflect divergent thinking within a specific timed task and do not measure creative output in real-world contexts. This is not a clinical creativity assessment.
Related Tests
Creativity Test — broader creative thinking assessment
Story Creation Test — narrative construction