Creative thinking often takes place in visually complex settings, yet it remains unclear whether such environments support divergent thinking equally across individuals. This study examined whether visual environmental entropy affects divergent-thinking flexibility, defined as the breadth of conceptual categories generated during idea production, and whether this effect depends on attachment avoidance, a tendency to regulate distress through emotional distance and self-reliance. It was hypothesised that high entropy would increase flexibility, that higher avoidance would predict lower flexibility, and that entropy would benefit less avoidant individuals but reduce flexibility among more avoidant individuals.

In an online experiment, 96 adults completed the avoidance subscale of the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised and were randomly assigned to a low- or high-entropy condition while completing the Alternative Uses Task. Entropy was operationalised through the perceptual and semantic variability of background videos. Flexibility was scored as the mean number of distinct conceptual categories generated, and moderation was tested using hierarchical multiple regression. Contrary to expectations, neither entropy nor avoidance independently predicted flexibility. The interaction was significant, b = 1.05, p = .010, but showed an ordinal pattern opposite to the predicted moderation: more avoidant participants (+1 SD) were more flexible under high than low entropy, b = 1.63, p = .005, whereas less avoidant participants did not differ.