The Mental Processes Behind Intelligence and Creativity - Essay Example

INTELLIGENCE AND CREATIVITY INTELLIGENCE AND CREATIVITY The threshold is among the most popular views of the correlation between intelligence and creativity. However, the conviction that after reaching the intelligence threshold, intelligence loses its significance for creativity is unclear. In the initial research, it was indicated that the importance of intelligence for creative achievements should not be exaggerated. Proponents of this argument present a whole spectrum of theories in which they consider creativity to be part of intelligence, or viewing the two to be relatively related but with independent characteristics, or even completely separate and unrelated phenomena (Karwowski & Gralewski, 2013, pg.43). Therefore, in order to understand the relations between creativity and intelligence, it is necessary to be more precise in defining both creativity and intelligence to give an insight into the critical concepts that distinguish the two. Intelligence and creativity are interrelated, but also contrasting to each other in certain ways. Analysis of them are focused on whether one is a subset of the other, or whether they are correlated and found significantly mostly together as opposed by themselves; and whether one is a necessary prerequisite for the other. Intelligence is positively associated with ability and an active interest in learning. This leads to greater exposure to a variety of different concepts and possibly different fields of study. Creativity is enhanced by exposure to a wider variety of ideas, preferably from different domains of knowledge. Therefore, to help sort through ideas to find the right one, intelligence can lead to greater exposure of ideas, and thus more creativity (Carter, 2011, pg.34). 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 other people. It is usually examined at different levels: that is creative potential as opposed to creative achievement. First, creative potential simply refers to an individual’s cognitive ability to generate something novel and useful; it reflects a normally distributed trait within individuals. Creative potential is commonly assessed by means of divergent thinking tests where one explores diverse alternatives in a bid to solve a problem. These tests typically involve ill-structured problems where which a variety of possible solutions can be found. The performance in divergent thinking tests can be scored with respect to different criteria usually involving ideational fluency, that is, the quality of ideas and originality,(Carter, 2011,pg.51). Whereas ideational fluency reflects the number of ideas in a given time, ideational originality is commonly assessed by means of creative evaluations of the generated ideas. The second level of creativity is creative achievement such as making a scientific discovery. It refers to the actual real-life creative accomplishments; these are commonly assessed by means of biographical measures. Normally, creative achievement is supposed to follow a highly skewed distribution, with the vast majority of the population displaying low levels of creative achievement and few who attain eminent, high-level creative achievement (Westwood, 2004, pg.62). The Creative Achievement Questionnaire can be used to measure a popular creative achievement in various domains (Westwood, 2004, pg. 71). It always gives qualitative achievements of the domain being measured. The third and the last level of creativity is Everyday creativity; it is a concept that was drawn from the study of real-life creative activities within the general population. It is defined in terms of human originality at work and leisure across the diverse activities of everyday life. It assumes that everyone can be involved in creative activities to a varying extent, or a varying degree of absorption. Engagement in everyday forms of creativity and meaningfulness in daily life; certainly do not require persevering because they are intrinsically motivated (Westwood, 2004,pg.73). Everyday creativity is considered a behavioral prerequisite of actual creative achievement or the three levels of creativity show some extent how both creativity and intelligence are correlated in making the relevant decision in our day to day routines as evidenced by general behavior of an individual. Psychological research have attempted to examine intelligence and creativity to determine if both are part of the same process -the conjoint hypothesis- or if they represent distinct mental processes which is referred to as the disjoint hypothesis. Based on the Threshold Hypothesis, most psychologists, such as Torrance (pg.65), have argued that high intelligence is a necessary but insufficient condition for high creativity (Westwood, 2004, pg.74). They further suggested that creativity and intelligence will correlate in the general population, but not due to extraneous variables. Yet, there are no results to prove this hypothesis. Initially, creativity was seen as a matter of genius, pointing to one level of creativity, which is a creative achievement. This is viewed to be as a result of extraordinary individuals employing extraordinary thought processes. This view explains the origin as well as the development of creative work by suggesting special thinking processes that allow people to break away from the habitual and the ordinary (Dartnall, 1994,pg.56). This viewpoint conjectures creative individuals’ different levels of thinking, and sensitivity. It is also based on three assumptions: that genius is a measurable psychological trait; any personal characteristics are unique to creative individuals and the quality of possessing genius is a permanent characteristic of an individual. This argument on creativity assumes that it is an inborn trait, and that it cannot be taught or acquired. However, the issue of individual differences clearly points out that the fact that all creative processes are not of the same level of importance; hence the genius view of creativity is a myth. Creativity is the ability to come up with new ideas through a mental process of connecting the existing concepts. Actually, the ideas do not have to be revolutionary; they just have to be new for the thinker. Intelligence certainly plays a part in creative thinking, but not how you might expect. An individual’s IQ is generally gauged by the ability to interpret information and provide solutions, no matter the circumstances (Hecker, et al. 2000, pg.61). This fact alone demonstrates intelligence’s relation to creativity, one that is vital for not only understanding creative thinking, but for improving it. On the contrary, other scholars argue that Creative individuals do not need to be more intelligent than the average person. They actually do three simple things more diligently than anyone else: they seem to have more experiences, they also think on their own experiences more often, and when they start pursuing potential outcomes to problems or projects, they simply work more with the ideas they come up with. However, according to the two levels of creativity, it is proposed that intelligence plays a central role in creative achievement in two ways: there is a strong relationship between intelligence and ideational originality, thus pointing to common cognitive mechanisms underlying divergent and convergent thinking processes (Westwood, 2004, pg.66). The creative achievement generally represent extensive, complex tasks that may draw upon intelligence: putting creative ideas into practice usually requires a good deal of planning and elaboration in the long run, and although intelligence-related demands may differ between creative domains, being of higher intelligence will generally not be detrimental to creative endeavors. Another important aspect of intelligence is the ability to filter solutions efficiently. If an individual is great at acquiring knowledge and have the ability to put that knowledge to use effectively, but lack the ability to efficiently filter through solutions, he may come up with effective ideas; however, it is going to take him a lot of time. As opposed to those with high intelligence levels who are able to filter through ideas quickly. To be creative is to pull existing knowledge into a new situation and quickly sort through potential outcomes (Westwood, 2004, pg.83). Of course: existing knowledge is something that anyone above a certain threshold on the IQ scale can amass. Being able to come up with creative ideas is not something you need an overly-high IQ to accomplish. Another alternative theory of intelligence and creativity is that of Sternberg with a definition of intelligence stated as intelligent behavior that involve adapting to one’s environment, changing one’s environment, or selecting better environment. This triarchic theory appears to be more encompassing and comprehensive as compared to others; this is because it takes into account social and contextual factors apart from human abilities, moreover, it also takes into account creative or musical intelligence (Dartnall, 1994, pg.43). Sternberg classifies other six intelligences from Gardner’s theory into two different types of intelligences, that is; analytic and practical. In conclusion, the study has investigated the relationships between different aspects of the all-around contrast of creativity and intelligence; more specifically intended at linking real life situation creativity with common indicators. By looking at the three levels of creativity; we have been able to trace creativity from its cognitive components over everyday creative activities to actual creative achievement. It is clear that the exertion of everyday creative activities depends upon openness to experiences and creative potential. Turning creative activities into actual achievements, in contrast, depends on intelligence (Carter, 2011, pg.33). All theories should be put together in order to give a clear picture on the relationship that is between intelligence and creativity, because it still stands out that intelligence and creativity are interrelated and also contrasting to each other in a certain way. References Carter, P. J. (2011). IQ and psychometric tests: Assess your personality, aptitude and intelligence. London: Kogan Page. Dartnall, T. (1994). Artificial intelligence and creativity: An interdisciplinary approach. Dordrecht [u.a.: Kluwer. Hecker, U., Dutke, S., & Sedek, G. (2000). Generative mental processes and cognitive resources: Integrative research on adaptation and control. Karwowski, M., & Gralewski, J. (2013). Threshold hypothesis: Fact or artifact? Thinking Skills and Creativity, 8, 25 33. Westwood, P. S. (2004). Learning and learning difficulties: A handbook for teachers. Camberwell, Vic: ACER Press. Read More