Which characteristic defines effective brainstorming?

• A. Critiquing ideas during the generation phase.
• B. Fluency and flexibility of thought.
• C. Having a predetermined correct answer.
• D. Focusing on a single best solution.

Answer: (B)

Effective brainstorming centers on producing a lot of ideas and exploring them from multiple angles. Fluency means generating many ideas, and flexibility means you can adapt, combine, or reinterpret ideas to form new possibilities. This combination keeps thinking divergent and expansive, which is what you want when surfacing creative potential. Critiquing ideas during the generation phase or aiming for a predetermined single correct answer tends to shut down that flow and limit creativity. Convergent approaches—focusing on one best solution and evaluating early—belong in later steps after you’ve built a rich pool of options. So, the defining trait of effective brainstorming is the ability to think fluently and flexibly, generating many ideas and seeing connections among them.