Examples facilitate divergent thinking: The effects of timing and quality

The study investigated the effects of examples’ timing and quality on divergent thinking (DT). In study 1, participants received two novel or common examples in the early or late stage of the realistic presented problem task. Results revealed higher fluency and flexibility in the late stage than that in the early stage. Moreover, originality was higher in the novel-example condition than that in the common-example condition. In study 2, participants solved alternative uses task (AUT) and received examples as in study 1. Results replicated beneficial effects of timing and quality on DT in study 1. Furthermore, in the late stage, fluency and flexibility were higher in the novel-example condition than that in the common one. These findings indicate that timing and quality affect example effect on DT, with late or novel examples facilitating DT. More importantly, in AUT, examples quality moderates the role of timing in DT's fluency and flexibility.