Creativity Does Not Require Special Intellectual Talent or High IQ

The idea that highly creative people have some special intellectual ability lacking in the general population has been widely accepted for centuries. When the IQ test was devised, that idea was given new currency, and anyone who achieved less than a genius-level score (135 and above) was considered to have little or no chance for creative intellectual achievement.

However, when researchers began studying the lives of creative people and comparing IQ test performance with creativity test performance, they made two discoveries. They found that creativity depends not on the possession of special talents, but on the use of talents that virtually everyone has but most have never learned to use. In addition, they found that the IQ test was not designed to measure creativity, so a high score is no indication of creative ability, and a low score, no indication of its absence. In fact, they found that the great majority of creative achievers fell significantly below the genius level.

References:

§  J. W. Getzels and P. W. Jackson, Creativity and Intelligence (New York: Wiley, 1962) page 21

§  Torrance, Guiding Creative Talent, page 5 and 63

I’m glad I can still be creative even though I’m not genius

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)