Situational Influences on Divergent Thinking

S ummary . Three tests of divergent thinking were administered, along with Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices Test, to two matched groups of 10‐ to 11‐year‐old school children in untimed ‘game‐like’ and untimed ‘test‐like’ conditions. Analysis of the relative performances of the two groups showed that the removal of time limits appears to depress divergent test scores in a test‐like context; it was concluded, however, that the characteristics of the test situation, and the motivations they arouse in individual subjects have more influence upon these scores than do the time limits involved.