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Fact check: Did George Land do a study about creativity
Executive Summary
George Land did conduct a well-known divergent-thinking study first reported in the late 1960s and later popularized as a NASA-commissioned test showing very high creativity scores in young children that fall sharply with age; his work is repeatedly cited as finding 98% of 3–5 year‑olds scored as “creative geniuses” while only about 2% of adults did [1] [2]. Contemporary reporting and critiques reiterate the headline numbers but add caveats about methods, interpretation, and the test’s applicability to broader definitions of creativity [3] [4].
1. How the iconic “paperclip/NASA” story took shape and why it sticks
George Land’s study is widely presented as a NASA-commissioned divergence-thinking test administered to 1,600 subjects across ages, with striking declines in scores from early childhood to adulthood; this narrative appears in multiple recent retellings and summaries that link the findings to concerns about traditional schooling and workforce innovation [3]. The vividness of the percentages—98% to 30% to 12% to 2%—and the anecdotal “paperclip” framing make the study memorable and newsworthy, which has driven frequent repetition in articles and opinion pieces over decades [1] [5]. These retellings emphasize the study’s policy implications while often omitting methodological nuances.
2. What the original test actually measured and how that matters
Land and coauthor Beth Jarman used a divergent thinking test designed to assess problem‑finding and idea‑generation, not all forms of creativity; divergent thinking tasks favor fluency, originality, and flexibility in generating many uses or solutions, which is a specific cognitive skill rather than a comprehensive measure of creative achievement [2]. Contemporary coverage notes that the test’s narrow scope undermines sweeping claims that schooling “kills creativity” in every sense; critics argue the results reflect changes in test performance with age, education, and socialization rather than an absolute loss of imaginative capacity [4] [6]. The distinction between divergent thinking scores and creative output is central to interpreting the findings.
3. Repeated reporting across decades: corroboration and amplification
Multiple independent sources across years—2009, 2020, 2023, and 2025 summaries—corroborate that Land’s numbers and conclusions have been widely cited, showing persistent acceptance of the headline decline in creativity [1] [6] [3] [4]. These articles often rely on the same underlying facts but vary in framing: some treat the study as evidence for urgent educational reform, while others present it as one of several pieces of evidence in a complex debate about pedagogy and innovation ecosystems [5] [3]. The repeated citation pattern indicates broad circulation but also potential echoing without fresh primary‑data scrutiny.
4. Voices urging caution: methodological limits and alternative explanations
Recent analyses stress methodological caveats: the original study’s test design, sample selection, scoring thresholds, and interpretations were not intended to establish lifelong creative decline for all domains of human endeavor [2] [4]. Critics point out that formal education instills evaluation, conformity, and expertise which can lower divergent-thinking test scores while simultaneously enabling higher‑order creative work that requires knowledge. Other explanations for the decline include socialization toward risk avoidance, changes in motivation, and measurement artifacts rather than irreversible loss of creative capacity [6] [4].
5. How proponents use the findings to argue for educational change
Advocates for reform consistently cite Land’s results to argue that schools and organizations should prioritize divergent thinking through project-based learning, play, and open-ended problem solving; recent articles from 2023 and 2025 invoke Land to support calls for curriculum redesign and workplace creativity training [3] [4]. These proponents interpret the decline as actionable evidence that early creative potential can be nurtured or preserved, using the study as a rhetorical lever to promote policy changes. The persuasive power stems from the study’s simple statistics and the urgency they imply about lost potential.
6. Where consensus exists and where uncertainty remains
There is consensus that Land’s study exists and that it reported steep declines in divergent-thinking scores with age; sources from 2009 through 2025 repeat these core facts [1] [3]. Substantial uncertainty remains about generalizing those scores to overall creativity, causal attribution to schooling, and the persistence of creative potential into adulthood. Scholars and journalists emphasize that the test measures specific cognitive processes and that alternative educational approaches can both reduce and enhance different creative capacities [5] [4].
7. Bottom line for readers: what to accept and what to question
Accept that George Land’s study is real and widely cited and that its headline statistics have shaped public debate about creativity in education and industry [1] [3]. Question broad claims that schooling “kills” creativity outright; probe methodological limits, consider alternative explanations, and look for contemporary empirical work that tests interventions and measures multiple creativity dimensions. The strongest lessons from the literature are policy‑oriented: nurturing divergent thinking likely matters, but it should be pursued with attention to evidence, measurement nuance, and diverse educational goals [3] [4].