THE ICFAI UNIVERSITY

RESEARCH PROJECT
INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY

NAME- SUMANT KUMAR

ENROLLMENT NO –19FLICDDN02208
BATCH – BA-LLB. (Hons.)
YEAR-1st year
SEM-2nd SECTION-D
PROJECT TITLE- CREATIVE PEOPLE HAVE HIGH IQs BUT
PEOPLE WITH HIGH IQ ARE NOT NECESSARILY
CREATIVE- A PSYCHOLOGICAL PROPECTIVE

SUBMITTED BY SUBMITTED TO
SUMANT KUMAR MISS RIA JUNEJA
FACULTY OF LAW

1|Page
INDEX

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER-2 CREATIVITY

CHAPTER-3 INTELLIGENCE

CHAPTER-4. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CREATIVITY AND

INTELLIGENCE

CHAPTER-5. CREATIVITY IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF

INTELLIGENCE

CHAPTER-6 CONCLUSION

2|Page
 ABSTRACT
The relationship between intelligence and creativity has been subject to
empirical research for decades. Nevertheless, there is yet no consensus on
how these constructs are related. One of the most prominent notions
concerning the interplay between intelligence and creativity is the threshold
hypothesis, which assumes that above-average intelligence represents a
necessary condition for high-level creativity. While earlier research mostly
supported the threshold hypothesis, it has come under fire in recent
investigations. The threshold hypothesis is commonly investigated by
splitting a sample at a given threshold (e.g., at 120 IQ points) and estimating
separate correlations for lower and upper IQ ranges. However, there is no
compelling reason why the threshold should be fixed at an IQ of 120, and to
date, no attempts have been made to detect the threshold empirically.
Therefore, this study examined the relationship between intelligence and
different indicators of creative potential and of creative achievement by
means of segmented regression analysis in a sample of 297 participants.
Segmented regression allows for the detection of a threshold in continuous
data by means of iterative computational algorithms. We found thresholds
only for measures of creative potential but not for creative achievement. For
the former the thresholds varied as a function of criteria: When
investigating a liberal criterion of ideational originality (i.e., two original
ideas), a threshold was detected at around 100 IQ points. In contrast, a
threshold of 120 IQ points emerged when the criterion was more demanding
(i.e., many original ideas). Moreover, an IQ of around 85 IQ points was
found to form the threshold for a purely quantitative measure of creative
potential (i.e., ideational fluency). These results confirm the threshold
hypothesis for qualitative indicators of creative potential and may explain

3|Page
 some of the observed discrepancies in previous research. In addition, we
obtained evidence that once the intelligence threshold is met, personality
factors become more predictive for creativity. On the contrary, no threshold
was found for creative achievement, i.e. creative achievement benefits from
higher intelligence even at fairly high levels of intellectual ability

• CHAPTER -1 INTRODUCTION

The relationship between intelligence and creativity

Although empirical creativity research can meanwhile look back on a
scientific tradition
of over 60 years of investigation, it is still unclear how the concepts of
creativity and
intelligence relate to each other (Kaufman & Plucker, 2011). Sternberg and
O'Hara
(1999) provide a general framework for researchers encompassing five
possible
relationships: Intelligence and creativity can either be seen as a subset of
each other, they
may be viewed as coincident sets, they can be seen as independent but
overlapping sets, and lastly as completely disjoint sets.
Though there exists evidence in favor of each of these perspectives
(Kaufman & Plucker,
2011), several influential models of intelligence treat creativity as a lower
order factor of intelligence (e.g., divergent production in Guilford's
structure-of-intellect
model; Guilford, 1967), retrieval ability in Carrol's three-stratum model
(Carrol, 1993),
or imaginativeness in the Berlin model of intelligence structure (Bucik &
Neubauer, 1996; Jäger, 1982).
These models thus assume a substantial correlation between creativity and

4|Page
 intelligence. Guilford (1967) was one of the first to discover that this
correlation may vary
at different levels of cognitive ability: He found a positive linear
relationship in the lower
to average IQ range while there was no correlation at above-average levels
of intelligence.
Guilford concluded that “the pattern of bivariate distribution of the cases
suggests tha
t although high IQ is not a sufficient condition for high DP [divergent
production] ability,
it is almost a necessary condition” (p. 168). The notion that high
intellectual ability is a
necessary condition for high creativity has become popular as “threshold
hypothesis”.

CHAPTER-2
CREATIVITY
Creativity is a concept of individual differences which is intended to explain
why some people have higher potential to provide new solutions to old
problems than others. It leads us to change the way we think about things
and is conceived as the driving force that moves civilization forward
(Hennessey & Amabile, 2010).
Creativity is usually examined at different conceptual levels. One of the
most general distinctions to be made is the one between creative potential as
opposed to creative achievement (Eysenck, 1995). Creative potential refers

5|Page
 to the individual's ability to generate something novel and useful (Sternberg
& Lubart, 1999) and reflects a normally distributed trait (Eysenck, 1995).
In turn, creative achievement refers to the actual realization of this potential
in terms of real-life accomplishments (such as having made a scientific
discovery, written a novel etc.; cf., Carson, Peterson, & Higgins, 2005).
Although different authors use different terminologies such as Little-C vs.
Big-C (cf., Kaufman & Beghetto, 2009) to describe this dichotomy, it seems
that the underlying taxonomy is the same.
Creative potential is usually assessed by means of tests that measure
divergent thinking ability (Runco, 2010) such as the Torrance Test of
Creative Thinking (TTCT; Torrance, 1966), the Guilford tests (Wilson,
Guilford, & Christensen, 1953), or the Wallach and Kogan tests (Wallach &
Kogan, 1965).
Divergent thinking (DT) is hereby defined as “the kind that goes off in
different directions” (Guilford, 1959, p. 381). Accordingly, divergent
thinking tests involve open problems for which a variety of possible
solutions can be found. A widely used DT task is the alternate uses task in
which participants are instructed to find creative uses for everyday objects
(for example: brick — “use for karate demonstration” eDT tests can be
scored with respect to different criteria usually involving ideational fluency,
i.e. the quantity of ideas produced, and/or originality, i.e. the quality of
ideas. However, these scores are commonly found to be correlated to an
extent that their discriminative validity has been questioned (Hocevar,
1979; Michael & Wright, 1989; Silvia et al., 2008).
This is especially true when a summative originality scoring is employed
where originality may directly increase with the number of ideas (i.e.,
ideational fluency). However, alternative scorings of ideational originality,
which control for fluency by either dividing originality by fluency or by
considering a constant number of ideas, no longer show this problem
(Benedek, Mühlmann, Jauk, & Neubauer, 2013; Hocevar, 1979; Silvia et
al., 2008).
Creative achievement is commonly assessed by means of self-reports such
as biographical questionnaires in which participants indicate their
achievements across diverse domains (e.g., literature, music, or theatre). A
popular example is the Creative Achievement Questionnaire (CAQ; Carson
et al., 2005).

6|Page
 The CAQ and related measures were found to have good psychometric
properties (Silvia, Wigert, Reiter-Palmon, & Kaufman, 2012) and
successfully discriminate between more and less creative persons (Vellante
et al., 2011). Moreover, intelligence significantly predicts CAQ scores
(Carson, Peterson, & Higgins, 2003; Kéri, 2011).
Meta-analytic findings suggest that the correlation between creative
potential and intelligence generally is around r = .20 (Kim, 2005). Besides
its relationship to intelligence, personality correlates of creative potential
have been extensively studied. The most consistent and significant finding
is that creative potential is positively related to openness to experiences
(cf., Batey & Furnham, 2006; Feist, 2010).
Openness is thought to reflect an “investment trait” relevant to creative
potential (Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2005). Moreover, openness can
be associated with actual creative achievement (King, Walker, & Broyles,
1996).
Open people are imaginative and curious, which forms a good basis for
creative endeavors across all domains. On the contrary, the relationship to
other personality traits such as conscientiousness or neuroticism strongly
depends on the investigated domain. While conscientiousness may be
promotive of scientific creativity, artistic creativity is related to emotional
instability (Batey & Furnham, 2006).

CHAPTER-3:

INTELLIGENCE

A typical dictionary definition of Intelligence is “the capacity to

acquire and apply knowledge.” Intelligence includes the ability to
benefit from past experience, act purposefully, solve problems, and
adapt to new situations. Intelligence can also be defined as “the
ability that intelligence tests measure.” There is a long history of
disagreement about what actually constitutes intelligence.

7|Page
 Savant Syndrome
Savant syndrome, observed in some individuals diagnosed
with autism or mental retardation, is characterized by
exceptional talent in one area of functioning, such as music
or math, and poor mental functioning in all other areas.
The G Factor
Charles Spearman proposed a General Intelligence
Factor, G, which underlies all intelligent behavior. Many scientists
still believe in a general intelligence factor that underlies the specific
abilities that intelligence tests measure. Other scientists are
skeptical, because people can score high on one specific ability but
show weakness in others.
Eight Types of Intelligence
In the 1980s and 1990s, psychologist Howard Gardner proposed
the idea of not one kind of intelligence but eight, which are relatively
independent of one another. These eight types of intelligence are:
• Linguistic: spoken and written language skills
• Logical–Mathematical: number skills
• Musical: performance or composition skills
• Spatial: ability to evaluate and analyze the visual world
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: dance or athletic abilities
• Interpersonal: skill in understanding and relating to others
• Intrapersonal: skill in understanding the self
• Nature: skill in understanding the natural world
Gardner believes that each of these domains of intelligence has
inherent value but that culture and context may cause some domains
to be emphasized over others. Critics of the idea of multiple
intelligences maintain that these abilities are talents rather than kinds
of intelligence.
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Also in the 1980s and 1990s, Robert Sternberg proposed
a Triarchic Theory Of Intelligence that distinguishes among
three aspects of intelligence:

8|Page
• Componential Intelligence: the ability assessed by
intelligence
tests
 Experiential Intelligence: the ability to adapt to new
situations and
• Contextual Intelligence: the ability to function effectively in
daily situations
Emotional Intelligence
Some researchers distinguish Emotional Intelligence as an
ability that helps people to perceive, express, understand, and
regulate emotions. Other researchers maintain that this ability is a
collection of personality traits such as empathy and extroversion,
rather than a kind of intelligence.

CHAPTER-4:DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CREATIVITY AND

INTELLIGENCE:
Key Difference: Intelligence is the quality of being very
smart and well-informed. Creativity is the ability to cause or to
exist. It is a subjective value.
Both, intelligence and creativity are mental abilities. It is a long
process to get detailed knowledge about these terms.
But, the basic difference between the two is that intelligence is a general
capacity or ability of an individual, whereas, creativity requires different
thinking. Creativity, Intellect, Intelligence, Mind, Rationale

9|Page
 Intelligence is influenced by our own understanding of the concept.
Intelligence is what one can improve by studies, reasoning,
understanding and learning. It is most widely studied in humans, but
it is also used for animals and plants. Plants, though they are not
human being, they understand everything.
Intelligence derived from the Latin word intelligere which means ‘to pick
up’.

CHAPTER-5:
CREATIVITY IS HIGHEST FORM OF INTELLIGENCE:
creativity is the highest form of intelligence because it goes beyond
knowledge recall and extends into knowledge creation. Someone intelligent
can be very knowledgeable and have excellent information recall (let’s say
for a standardized test), but creativity and innovation require some novel
form of intelligence that is of a higher order.

10 | P a g e
Studies have shown that highly creative people are highly intelligent but
highly intelligent people are not always creative. The fact that highly
creative people have a higher correlation with intelligence than vice versa
suggests creativity is simply a higher form of intelligence. (see Handbook of
Creativity, page 261 for support)

Beyond the studies, consider the following simple supporting examples:

Regarded highly intelligent people were also creative: Highly intelligent

individuals such as Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, and Beethoven were
highly imaginative, curious, and creative–all creating new concepts and
ideas that have value. For example, Einstein’s famous “thought
experiments” were the key to coming up with the Theory of Relativity.
Einstein imagined what it would be like to ride a light beam and from
thenceforth sprung his insight and understanding of the nature of light and
time. This is not to suggest that Einstein didn’t also have a deep
understanding of quantum physics and mathematics (measures of his IQ)
but his breakthroughs started with his creative imagination. That’s probably
why he said “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Ultimately,
our high regard for these intelligent individuals comes from their
innovations that only their creative intelligence could aspire.

The creation by the Supreme Creator: Life on this planet is so diverse

and so imaginative. Just watch one of the six Planet Earth DVDs created
by the BBC. The abundance of creative life is astounding. If you believe in
God, you most likely consider him Omniscient and the most intelligent
person on this earth. No wonder the Supreme Creator is sooo creative! He
gets to exercise his intelligence by creating life and being imaginative. If
you already know everything, this seems like a great way to pass time. If
creativity weren’t the highest form of intelligence, we would probably have a
couple species instead of millions.

Creativity is the highest level in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Once we

get beyond survival mode, we have the capability to exercise more fully our
intellectual powers to create. Creativity, spontaneity, and problem-solving
(often an innovation trigger) are in the upper most triangle of Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs. That is because the upper tier called self actualization
represents our need for knowledge where we have enough time to exercise

11 | P a g e
our intelligence and be creative as we strive to improve ourselves. We can
think bigger picture rather than focus on putting food on the table. I submit
that this is the primary reason why the pace of change has been so
dramatic in the past 100 years. Everything has finally aligned so that we
have more time to exercise our highest form of intelligence.

12 | P a g e
CHAPTER-6
CONCLUSION :
Summarizing, intelligence is highly relevant for creativity, but the kind of
relationship depends on the level of intelligence as well as on the actual indicator
of creativity. In line with early assumptions, intelligence may increase creative
potential up to a certain degree where it loses impact and other factors come into
play. At this, it possibly applies that the more complex the measure of creativity
that is considered, the higher the threshold up to which intelligence may exert its
influence. For the most advanced indicator of creativity, namely creative
achievement, intelligence remains relevant even at the highest ability range.

13 | P a g e
Bibliography
1.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC
3682183/

2.https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psycholog
ytoday.com/us/blog/the-fundamental-
four/201202/creativity-and-intelligence

3.http://www.psychologydiscussion.net/psycholog
y/intelligence-psychology/intelligence-
definition-theories-and-culmination/2569

4.https://creativesomething.net/post/41103661291/
the-relationship-between-creativity-and

14 | P a g e