Alternate Uses Test (AUT)
Take an everyday object and list as many different uses for it beyond its intended purpose as possible in two minutes. A daily creativity training exercise from divergent thinking research.
Structure
Setup
Participants need paper and pen or a blank document. An everyday object is designated - a paperclip, a brick, a coffee mug, a chair. A visible timer is set for two minutes.
Round 1: Individual Generation
Participants write as many different uses for the object as they can in two minutes. The facilitator emphasizes: quantity over quality, unusual over obvious, speed over deliberation. Every use that comes to mind gets written, no matter how absurd.
At the end of two minutes, participants count their answers. The range typically spans 3-20+ responses.
Round 2: Read-Out and Pattern Recognition
In a group or small cluster, participants read their lists aloud. The facilitator tracks:
- How many uses were shared across multiple people (obvious/conventional uses)
- Which uses were unique to one person (creative/lateral uses)
- Which uses were most surprising or unexpected
Round 3: Category Expansion
The facilitator challenges participants to generate uses in new categories: physical uses, social uses, symbolic uses, destructive uses, micro-scale uses, macro-scale uses. Categories break cognitive templates and unlock new responses.
Scoring (Optional)
Divergent thinking research uses four dimensions: fluency (quantity), originality (uniqueness), flexibility (category variety), and elaboration (detail). Groups can rate their own responses on these dimensions after the exercise.
How to Teach It
How to Explain It
"Object: paperclip. Timer: two minutes. Go. Write every possible use you can think of. Obvious, weird, useful, useless. All of it. Don't stop to evaluate. Just generate."
Why It Matters
The Alternate Uses Test is one of the most studied measures of divergent thinking - the ability to generate many varied responses to an open prompt rather than converging on a single correct answer. In improv training, the exercise directly develops the "yes-and" mindset: treating any object, person, or situation as having unlimited potential uses. Performers who have practiced AUT tend to be more generative in scene work, finding multiple interpretations of an offer rather than immediately converging on the obvious one.
Common Coaching Notes
- Speed is the mechanism. The two-minute limit prevents the inner editor from engaging. If participants slow down to evaluate, the creative constraint is lost.
- Celebrate the weird. When someone reads an unusual use, give it a moment of genuine acknowledgment. This normalizes creative risk.
- Track categories. After the exercise, note how many participants stayed in the same functional category (the paperclip holds things) versus broke into new categories (the paperclip is a weapon, a musical instrument, an art material). Breaking categories is the developmental edge.
Debrief Questions
- What stopped you from writing something down?
- Which categories did you not think of until someone else mentioned them?
- How does this connect to how you approach problems in scenes or at work?
In Applied Settings
Organizational Context
The Alternate Uses Test comes directly from divergent thinking research (J.P. Guilford, 1967) and has a long history as a creativity assessment tool before applied improv practitioners adopted it as a training exercise. In organizational settings, it is used in creativity training, innovation workshops, design thinking programs, and any context where generating multiple options before converging on a solution is a valued capability.
Workplace Relevance
Many organizational cultures implicitly reward rapid convergence: identifying the right answer quickly is seen as intelligence; exploring multiple options is seen as indecision. AUT directly challenges this norm by rewarding quantity and variety. In team settings, running AUT before a brainstorming session or problem-solving meeting primes participants for generative rather than evaluative thinking, producing higher-quality ideas in the subsequent discussion.
Training and Development Use
AUT is effective in leadership development programs focused on creative leadership, in product development teams building an innovation culture, and in any team that is trying to move from "what is the right answer?" to "what are all the possible answers?" The exercise takes less than ten minutes and produces measurable shifts in participants' approach to subsequent creative tasks.
Classroom Applications
In business school and professional training contexts, AUT is particularly valuable as a demonstration exercise: participants can see their own divergent thinking capacity directly (through their list length and variety) and identify where it breaks down (through the patterns in what they didn't think of). The measurement dimension makes it more concrete than many creativity exercises.
Skills Developed
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Related Exercises
Similar Uses Test (SUT)
Similar Uses Test (SUT) is an applied improvisation exercise in which participants pick an everyday object, define its core function, and then list as many different objects designed to perform that same function. The exercise trains divergent thinking by shifting focus from the object itself to the underlying purpose it serves.
The Pineapple
The Pineapple is an applied exercise in which a randomly named object becomes the shared focal point for a group brainstorm, with participants using the object as a springboard for generating connections, analogies, and ideas across any domain. The exercise trains lateral thinking and the habit of finding unexpected value in arbitrary starting points.
New Object Name and Application
New Object Name and Application is an applied improvisation exercise in which participants are given an ordinary everyday object, assign it a completely new name, and then pitch a convincing use case for it under its new identity. The exercise trains spontaneous creative reframing, confident presentation under uncertainty, and the ability to find value in unexpected contexts.
Three Things
Three Things is a rapid-response exercise in which participants name three items from a given category as quickly as possible. The exercise develops the habit of generating multiple responses rather than searching for a single correct answer, building improvisational fluency.
Out of the Box
Out of the Box is a partnered exercise in which one person leads another around the room, pointing to objects, and the other must immediately name each object as anything other than what it actually is. A chair becomes a volcano, a lamp becomes a saxophone. The exercise breaks habitual thinking patterns and trains participants to override the labeling instinct, building the rapid creative association that underlies strong improvisation and innovative thinking.
New Object to Talk
New Object to Talk is a warm-up exercise in which participants pick up a random object and use it as a conversation starter, speaking to or about the object as if it has significance, purpose, or a story attached to it. The exercise trains spontaneous verbal commitment and the ability to generate content from minimal external stimulus.
The Lineage
Explore the schools and structures that influenced or evolved from Alternate Uses Test (AUT).
Brain Disruption (Montgomery & Montgomery)
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Alternate Uses Test (AUT). Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/alternate-uses-test-aut
The Improv Archive. "Alternate Uses Test (AUT)." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/alternate-uses-test-aut.
The Improv Archive. "Alternate Uses Test (AUT)." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/alternate-uses-test-aut. Accessed September 28, 2026.
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