Risk-taking and creativity: Convergent, but not divergent thinking is better in low-risk takers

The relationship between risk-taking and creativity is critical to understanding social harmony and innovation. While some studies have assessed the link between risk-taking and divergent thinking, the association between risk-taking and convergent thinking remains unclear. Two studies were conducted to systemically investigate whether risk-taking is linked to convergent thinking. In Study 1, a sample of 127 healthy participants performed a Chinese Remote Associate Test (RAT) and completed a risk-taking questionnaire. As predicted, risk-taking was negatively correlated with RAT performance, implying that risk-taking may have a negative association with convergent thinking. Study 2 was an online survey study that replicated Study 1, and extended the measures to include self-rated risk and a measure of divergent thinking (the Alternate Uses Task). The findings were fully replicated, showing that low risk-taking goes with better convergent thinking, while risk-taking was not significantly correlated with divergent thinking. Furthermore, the risk-taking/convergent-thinking relationship was best described by a linear regression model in both studies. Taken together, these results suggest that appropriate reductions in risk-taking can boost convergent thinking.