Psychologist's Test: Creativity & Problem Solving

[Cloudpatrol]

RAT​

Random Associates Test​

What word connects these groups of three?


*Edited* Because I have realized how crappy my directions are. (BLUSH)


Each of the problems below consists of three “clue” words. For each problem, think of a fourth word that relates to, or links, each of the other three “clue” words.

Example:
Elephant–Lapse–Vivid

Memory

1. crab, sauce, tree

apple

2. stone, ice, head

cold

3. head, book, tree

phone

4. tissue, top, shoe

box

5. rock, nail, time

bed

6. grab, shoulder, paper

bag

7. wrist, dog, man

watch

8. walk, wedding, pan

cake

9. fiber, wine, ceiling

glass

10. shake, made, second

hand

11. surf, school, room

board

12. feed, silver, table

spoon

13. hair, fire, stroke

brush

14. cup, party, green

tea

 

[prplchknz]

my answers

1.crabsauce,crabtree
2.stonehenge
3.ax
4.??
5.jesus
6.suit
7.watch
8.??
9red
10.hand
11.class
12.ware
13.brush
14.tea
15..

checked my answers got 4 out of 14

p.s. what is this test suppose to prove?

 

[Ghost]

9/14

1. crab, sauce, tree

apple


2. stone, ice, head

Sculpture (Heh. I didn't understand the instructions at this point.)


3. head, book, tree

???


4. tissue, top, shoe

box


5. rock, nail, time

Hang


6. grab, shoulder, paper

bag


7. wrist, dog, man

watch


8. walk, wedding, pan

cake


9. fiber, wine, ceiling

glass


10. shake, made, second

Up


11. surf, school, room

board


12. feed, silver, table

spoon


13. hair, fire, stroke

???


14. cup, party, green

tea

From Wikipedia: "The correct response is often the most common response and does not link the other three words in any conceptual way."

Ah, okay. That confused me when I started. I looked at the spoilers after guessing the first two, then I got the hang of it.

 

[Cloudpatrol]

p.s. what is this test suppose to prove?

It is a test that Psychologist's (or sometimes Employer's) use to gauge a person's creativity or ability to problem solve.

I apologize to both you and [MENTION=18763]Ghost[/MENTION] for how '1/2 assed' the instructions were!

9/14


From Wikipedia: "The correct response is often the most common response and does not link the other three words in any conceptual way."

Ah, okay. That confused me when I started. I looked at the spoilers after guessing the first two, then I got the hang of it.

You beat me

 

[prplchknz]

It is a test that Psychologist's (or sometimes Employer's) use to gauge a person's creativity or ability to problem solve.

I apologize to both you and [MENTION=18763]Ghost[/MENTION] for how '1/2 assed' the instructions were!






You beat me

how does it measure people's creativity if there's only one answer for each? seems like it wants to seee if you can think a certain way.

 

[Mal12345]

RAT​

Random Associates Test​

According to Google, RAT stands for Remote Associations Test.

 

[Mal12345]

"A possible weakness of this test is its focus on verbal associative habits – meaning it might be more difficult for non-native speakers of English. Also, it may not favour those who are more comfortable with visual thinking.
Some researchers have even suggested that the links between the words aren’t functional, and that this may undermine the validity of the test. For this reason, they have created a new type of test: the FRAT (functional remote associates test), which focuses only on groups with a functional relationship.
Despite the popularity of the RAT Test there is still little evidence linking ability in the test with success in any specific field. However some studies have shown some validity to the test, i.e. high RAT test scorers also being shown as more productive when brainstorming solutions to complex problems."

 

[Obfuscate]

i first saw this the other day, so i opened the first two to see what was going on... the rest i was able to do on my own (though some took more time than others)...

oh! i nearly forgot... this is similar to one of "my games"... let me explain the rules... the goal is to make a series of three words using two word phrases... here are some examples...

comic strip tease (the title i will use if i turn this into a comic)
life long division
failing health plan
cosmic awareness march
pocket rocket launcher
silver tongue fetish
civic center mass
personal attack helicopter
big head case


the general goal is to find funny combos, but i am waking up (so i am not all that funny currently)...

 

[ChocolateMoose123]

8/14

 

[Coriolis]

It is a test that Psychologist's (or sometimes Employer's) use to gauge a person's creativity or ability to problem solve.

For several items, I came up with different answers that seem equally valid, e.g. for "head, book, tree" my answer was "knowledge". What does that signify?

 

[Cloudpatrol]

[MENTION=360]prplchknz[/MENTION] [MENTION=9811]Coriolis[/MENTION] I agree with your observations. I did not score highly because I had my own words for several of the choices.

I think it is a bit like "Family Feud". Part of it is not only attempting to find the common word, but ascertaining which would be most commonly used. Only the 'top selected' score. Whether that is a positive or negative is for discussion, I suppose

 

[Cloudpatrol]

i first saw this the other day, so i opened the first two to see what was going on... the rest i was able to do on my own (though some took more time than others)...

oh! i nearly forgot... this is similar to one of "my games"... let me explain the rules... the goal is to make a series of three words using two word phrases... here are some examples...

comic strip tease (the title i will use if i turn this into a comic)
life long division
failing health plan
cosmic awareness march
pocket rocket launcher
silver tongue fetish
civic center mass
personal attack helicopter
big head case


the general goal is to find funny combos, but i am waking up (so i am not all that funny currently)...

Fun!

That reminds me of: zeugmas.

Where one figure of speech refers to 2 other words. Either in different senses, 'John and his license expired last week' OR in the same semantic sense, 'with weeping hearts and eyes'.

This one makes me laugh: "He fell from her favor, and the window"

 

[Obfuscate]

Fun!

That reminds me of: zeugmas.

Where one figure of speech refers to 2 other words. Either in different senses, 'John and his license expired last week' OR in the same semantic sense, 'with weeping hearts and eyes'.

This one makes me laugh: "He fell from her favor, and the window"

i like those also... i use them often when writing poetry...

 

[Flâneuse]

9/14

Ones I missed:

#2 (stone, ice, head) - cold. Should have gotten this one, but I was still getting in the hang of the test.
#3 (head, book, tree) - phone. I’d never heard of a phone tree until just now. I had to Google it.
#4 (tissue, top, shoe) - box. I hardly ever use or hear the phrase “box top”.
#7 (wrist, dog, man) - watch. was focusing on phrases involving “wrist” but didn’t think of “wrist watch”
14 - (cup, party, green) tea. I said "tip". Green tips are a type of ammunition and I've also heard the phrase used for tips on how to be more environmentally-friendly.

Fun test. Though I agree with [MENTION=27162]Cloudpatrol[/MENTION] that it's really about finding the common word that would form the most commonly-used phrases, so while it is asking you to make connections, it's also asking you to make the most obvious ones. It might test creativity up to a certain level, but I think highly divergent thinkers past that level may not do well on this test because they would think of more obscure links between the words. I also don't think it has much to do with intelligence because it doesn't test conceptual understanding, as the words are linked through a phrase-forming word instead of an aspect of meaning or function.