The relationship between creativity and general intelligence is basically the mental capacity to produce something that is both original and worthwhile or characterized by originality and expressiveness and imaginative and the neurological process associated with creativity and the individual's performance on one of these types of tasked will be directly effected by their personality type, their creative ability and their mental health.
Everyday Imaginative Thought
In everyday thought, people often spontaneously imagine alternatives to reality when they think "if only..." and then the creative thought kicks in and the imagination runs wild. But what then? Can we take this creative thought and actually create something useful or is it just a thought stuck indefinitely in our heads. Some researchers have taken a social-personality approach to the measurement of creativity. In these studies, personality traits such as independence of judgement, self-confidence, attraction to complexity, aesthetic orientation and risk-taking are used as measures of the creativity of individuals.
The traditional view in psychology is that there is no meaningful relationship between personality and intelligence, and that the two should be studied separately. Intelligence can be understood in terms of what an individual can do, or what his or her maximal performance is, while personality can be thought of in terms of what an individual will typically do, or what his or her general tendencies of behavior are.
In everyday thought, people often spontaneously imagine alternatives to reality when they think "if only..." and then the creative thought kicks in and the imagination runs wild. But what then? Can we take this creative thought and actually create something useful or is it just a thought stuck indefinitely in our heads. Some researchers have taken a social-personality approach to the measurement of creativity. In these studies, personality traits such as independence of judgement, self-confidence, attraction to complexity, aesthetic orientation and risk-taking are used as measures of the creativity of individuals.
The traditional view in psychology is that there is no meaningful relationship between personality and intelligence, and that the two should be studied separately. Intelligence can be understood in terms of what an individual can do, or what his or her maximal performance is, while personality can be thought of in terms of what an individual will typically do, or what his or her general tendencies of behavior are.
Intelligence
There has been debate in the psychological literature about whether intelligence (as measured by IQ) and creativity are part of the same process and many believe there is at least some correlation between them to justify treating them as distinct concepts. Some researchers believe that creativity is the outcome of the same cognitive processes as intelligence, and is only judged as creativity in terms of its consequences, i.e. when the outcome of cognitive processes happens to produce something novel.
A study in 1962 by Getzels and Jackson among high school students concluded that high IQ and high creativity tend to be mutually exclusive with a majority of the highest scoring students being either highly creative or highly intelligent, but not both. While this explains the threshold, the exact interaction between creativity and IQ remains unexplained.
There has been debate in the psychological literature about whether intelligence (as measured by IQ) and creativity are part of the same process and many believe there is at least some correlation between them to justify treating them as distinct concepts. Some researchers believe that creativity is the outcome of the same cognitive processes as intelligence, and is only judged as creativity in terms of its consequences, i.e. when the outcome of cognitive processes happens to produce something novel.
A study in 1962 by Getzels and Jackson among high school students concluded that high IQ and high creativity tend to be mutually exclusive with a majority of the highest scoring students being either highly creative or highly intelligent, but not both. While this explains the threshold, the exact interaction between creativity and IQ remains unexplained.
Essential Traits for Creativity
There are six personal traits essential for creativity: intelligence, knowledge, thinking styles, personality attributes, motivation, and environment. To be most effective, motivation should be task-oriented instead of goal-oriented, and intrinsic instead of extrinsic. Motivation is a personal drive to accomplish, “the process of instigating and sustaining goal-directed behavior”. It is one thing to have creative thoughts, it's another to be motivated enough to take those thoughts and turn them into something worth while. Intrinsic motivation is “the motivation to work on something primarily for its own sake, because it is enjoyable, satisfying, challenging, or otherwise captivating”. |
Social Factors
There are six social factors that strongly impact creativity: evaluation, surveillance, reward, competition, restriction of choice, and time pressures. The expectation of an evaluation has negative effects on creativity for adults as well as the idea of being observed. Reward itself does not appear as influential as an individual’s perception of the task as means to an extrinsic end. Creativity appears to be highest among those in a no-choice reward condition, where reward is given regardless of performance on an assigned task; this orientation does not appear to increase extrinsic motivation.
Competition may enhance creativity for some age groups while inhibiting creativity for others. A study of business managers, educators, and researchers in problem-solving found those in non-competitive situations performed more creatively and more accurately. The same results were found in a study of elementary students, however, competition among teenagers may actually enhance creativity. Free choice and “a sense of internal control and freedom” appeared to have a positive effect on creativity, but by requiring workers or students to follow a certain path or recipe lowered creativity and motivation. Time pressure may have more effect on creativity than any other constraint, although studies have not been conducted to show this, deadlines may decrease creativity, while sufficient time tends to increase creativity.
There are six social factors that strongly impact creativity: evaluation, surveillance, reward, competition, restriction of choice, and time pressures. The expectation of an evaluation has negative effects on creativity for adults as well as the idea of being observed. Reward itself does not appear as influential as an individual’s perception of the task as means to an extrinsic end. Creativity appears to be highest among those in a no-choice reward condition, where reward is given regardless of performance on an assigned task; this orientation does not appear to increase extrinsic motivation.
Competition may enhance creativity for some age groups while inhibiting creativity for others. A study of business managers, educators, and researchers in problem-solving found those in non-competitive situations performed more creatively and more accurately. The same results were found in a study of elementary students, however, competition among teenagers may actually enhance creativity. Free choice and “a sense of internal control and freedom” appeared to have a positive effect on creativity, but by requiring workers or students to follow a certain path or recipe lowered creativity and motivation. Time pressure may have more effect on creativity than any other constraint, although studies have not been conducted to show this, deadlines may decrease creativity, while sufficient time tends to increase creativity.
Mood and Depression
The University of Kentucky's Arnold Ludwig found a slight but significant correlation between depression and level of creative achievement. In addition, several systematic studies of highly creative individuals and their relatives have uncovered a higher incidence of affective disorders (primarily bipolar disorder and depression) than that found in the general population. Another study found several insights regarding the relations between creativity and emotion at work. Evidence showed a positive correlation between positive mood and creativity. |
Mental Health
A study done by psychologist J. Philippe Rushton found creativity to correlate with intelligence and psychoticism and particularly strong links have been identified between creativity and mood disorders. In Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, Kay Redfield Jamison summarizes studies of mood-disorder rates in writers, poets and artists. She also explores research that identifies mood disorders in such famous writers and artists as Ernest Hemingway (who shot himself after electroconvulsive treatment), Virginia Woolf (who drowned herself when she felt a depressive episode coming on), composer Robert Schumann (who died in a mental institution), and even the famed visual artist Michelangelo.
Another study involving more than one million people, conducted by Swedish researchers at the Karolinska Institute, reported a number of correlations between creative occupations and mental illnesses. Writers had a higher risk of anxiety and bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, unipolar depression, and substance abuse, and were almost twice as likely as the general population to kill themselves.
A study done by psychologist J. Philippe Rushton found creativity to correlate with intelligence and psychoticism and particularly strong links have been identified between creativity and mood disorders. In Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, Kay Redfield Jamison summarizes studies of mood-disorder rates in writers, poets and artists. She also explores research that identifies mood disorders in such famous writers and artists as Ernest Hemingway (who shot himself after electroconvulsive treatment), Virginia Woolf (who drowned herself when she felt a depressive episode coming on), composer Robert Schumann (who died in a mental institution), and even the famed visual artist Michelangelo.
Another study involving more than one million people, conducted by Swedish researchers at the Karolinska Institute, reported a number of correlations between creative occupations and mental illnesses. Writers had a higher risk of anxiety and bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, unipolar depression, and substance abuse, and were almost twice as likely as the general population to kill themselves.
The more positive a person's mood on a given day, the more creative thinking they evidenced that day and the next day—even controlling for that next day's mood. There was even some evidence of an effect two days later.
Diverse Cultures and Creativity
Creativity is viewed differently in different countries, for example, cross-cultural research centered on Hong Kong found that Westerners view creativity more in terms of the individual attributes of a creative person, such as their aesthetic taste, while Chinese people view creativity more in terms of the social influence of creative people e.g. what they can contribute to society. Most people associate creativity with the fields of art and literature. In these fields, originality is considered to be a sufficient condition for creativity, unlike other fields where both originality and appropriateness are necessary.
Today, creativity forms the core activity of a growing section of the global economy—the so-called "creative industries"—capitalistically generating (generally non-tangible) wealth through the creation and exploitation of intellectual property or through the provision of creative services.
Creativity is viewed differently in different countries, for example, cross-cultural research centered on Hong Kong found that Westerners view creativity more in terms of the individual attributes of a creative person, such as their aesthetic taste, while Chinese people view creativity more in terms of the social influence of creative people e.g. what they can contribute to society. Most people associate creativity with the fields of art and literature. In these fields, originality is considered to be a sufficient condition for creativity, unlike other fields where both originality and appropriateness are necessary.
Today, creativity forms the core activity of a growing section of the global economy—the so-called "creative industries"—capitalistically generating (generally non-tangible) wealth through the creation and exploitation of intellectual property or through the provision of creative services.
Creative Professions
Which include writing, art, design, theater, television, radio, motion pictures, related crafts, as well as marketing, strategy, some aspects of scientific research and development, product development, some types of teaching and curriculum design, and more. Since many creative professionals (actors and writers, for example) are also employed in secondary professions, estimates of creative professionals are often inaccurate. By some estimates, approximately 10 million US workers are creative professionals; depending upon the depth and breadth of the definition, this estimate may be double.
Which include writing, art, design, theater, television, radio, motion pictures, related crafts, as well as marketing, strategy, some aspects of scientific research and development, product development, some types of teaching and curriculum design, and more. Since many creative professionals (actors and writers, for example) are also employed in secondary professions, estimates of creative professionals are often inaccurate. By some estimates, approximately 10 million US workers are creative professionals; depending upon the depth and breadth of the definition, this estimate may be double.
Creativity is also seen as being increasingly important in a variety of other professions. Architecture and industrial design are the fields most often associated with creativity, and more generally the fields of design and design research. Fields such as science and engineering have, by contrast, experienced a less explicit (but arguably no less important) relation to creativity. Accounting has also been associated with creativity with the popular euphemism creative accounting. Although this term often implies unethical practices, it does suggest however that even this profession can benefit from the (ethical) application of creative thinking. In a recent global survey of approximately 1600 CEO's, the leadership trait that was considered to be most crucial for success was creativity. This suggests that the world of business is beginning to accept that creativity is of value in a diversity of industries, rather than being simply the preserve of the creative industries.
Social Attitudes
Although the benefits of creativity to society as a whole have been noted, social attitudes about this topic remain divided. The wealth of literature regarding the development of creativity and the profusion of creativity techniques indicate wide acceptance, at least among academics, that creativity is desirable. There is, however, a dark side to creativity, in that it represents a "quest for a radical autonomy apart from the constraints of social responsibility". In other words, by encouraging creativity we are encouraging a departure from society's existing norms and values. Expectation of conformity runs contrary to the spirit of creativity. Ken Robinson argues that the current education system is "educating people out of their creativity".
Nevertheless, employers are increasingly valuing creative skills. A report by the Business Council of Australia, for example, has called for a higher level of creativity in graduates. The ability to "think outside the box" is highly sought after. However, the above-mentioned paradox may well imply that firms pay lip service to thinking outside the box while maintaining traditional, hierarchical organization structures in which individual creativity is condemned.
Although the benefits of creativity to society as a whole have been noted, social attitudes about this topic remain divided. The wealth of literature regarding the development of creativity and the profusion of creativity techniques indicate wide acceptance, at least among academics, that creativity is desirable. There is, however, a dark side to creativity, in that it represents a "quest for a radical autonomy apart from the constraints of social responsibility". In other words, by encouraging creativity we are encouraging a departure from society's existing norms and values. Expectation of conformity runs contrary to the spirit of creativity. Ken Robinson argues that the current education system is "educating people out of their creativity".
Nevertheless, employers are increasingly valuing creative skills. A report by the Business Council of Australia, for example, has called for a higher level of creativity in graduates. The ability to "think outside the box" is highly sought after. However, the above-mentioned paradox may well imply that firms pay lip service to thinking outside the box while maintaining traditional, hierarchical organization structures in which individual creativity is condemned.
Books Above
Creativity and Intelligence - is one of the most highly valued of human qualities. It is also one of the most elusive to systematic inquiry. Questions without end have been asked and re-asked. What is the nature of the creative process? Can creative potential be identified before creative achievement? What is the effect of family environment on creative development? What is the relationship between creativity and personality? Between creativity and intelligence?
The 46 Rules of Genius - With his trademark simplicity and wit, Marty Neumeier has written and illustrated a concise guide that can be read quickly over a lunch break or savored slowly over a lifetime.
Both books are sold through Amazon, click on either image to be redirected to the Amazon Site.
Many of the books available through Insane Logic and Amazon are available on the Kindle or the Free Reading App we have available, click on any banner ad for the Kindle on this site to get yours.
Creativity and Intelligence - is one of the most highly valued of human qualities. It is also one of the most elusive to systematic inquiry. Questions without end have been asked and re-asked. What is the nature of the creative process? Can creative potential be identified before creative achievement? What is the effect of family environment on creative development? What is the relationship between creativity and personality? Between creativity and intelligence?
The 46 Rules of Genius - With his trademark simplicity and wit, Marty Neumeier has written and illustrated a concise guide that can be read quickly over a lunch break or savored slowly over a lifetime.
Both books are sold through Amazon, click on either image to be redirected to the Amazon Site.
Many of the books available through Insane Logic and Amazon are available on the Kindle or the Free Reading App we have available, click on any banner ad for the Kindle on this site to get yours.
|