Original thinking in preschool children: A validation of ideational fluency measures

Abstract
This investigation examined the original thinking of preschool children (N=48). The instruments were lenient and stringent solution‐standard measures of original problem solving and two subsets of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Scores for popular and original responses were computed for the lenient and stringent measures. Findings supported the construct validity of conceptualizations of original problem solving based on ideational fluency within the lenient measures, but not within stringent measures. Findings also indicated that the lenient measures are better predictors of real‐world original behavior than stringent measures, especially for young children. The need for development of more reliable and valid measures for assessing real‐world creative behavior is discussed.