Intelligence, general knowledge and personality as predictors of creativity

doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2010.04.008

Learning and Individual Differences

Volume 20, Issue 5, October 2010, Pages 532-535

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2010.04.008 Get rights and content

Abstract

This study sought to examine the contribution of fluid intelligence, general knowledge and Big Five personality traits in predicting four indices of creativity: Divergent Thinking (DT) fluency, Rated DT, Creative Achievement and Self-Rated creativity and a combined Total Creativity variable. When creativity was assessed by DT test, the consistent predictor was fluid intelligence. When creativity was assessed in terms of achievement or self-rating, personality variables were consistently predictive.

Section snippets

Participants

A total of 100 (25 male and 75 female) undergraduate psychology students from a UK-based university took part in this study. Ages ranged from 18 to 46 (mean = 19.66, SD = 3.91). All participants possessed excellent English language skills and had a minimum IELTS English language proficiency score of 7.5.

Measures of creativity

a)
Divergent Thinking Fluency (DT Fluency) was assessed by a variant of Guilford's (1967) Alternate Uses test. Participants had 3 min per item to name as many uses as possible uses for a brick, wooden

Descriptive statistics and correlations

Means, standard deviations and Pearson correlations for all variables in this study are presented in Table 1.

DT Fluency was found to be positively and significantly related to gf and GK partially confirming H1a. Rated DT was demonstrated to be positively and significantly related to gf, partially confirming H1b. Self-reported creative achievements and self-rated creativity were found to be unrelated to gf or GK partially confirming H1c and H1d. Total creativity demonstrated positive and

Discussion

This study sought to systematically examine the relationships between fluid intelligence, general knowledge and personality with four different measures of creativity and a Total creativity score.

When creativity was assessed as DT Fluency, there was strong support that this aspect of creativity is related to fluid intelligence, which is in line with the extant research (Batey et al., 2009, Furnham et al., 2008). It may be contended that this consistent relationship is observed, because of the

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Intelligence, general knowledge and personality as predictors of creativity

Abstract

Section snippets

Participants

Measures of creativity

Descriptive statistics and correlations

Discussion

Personality and Individual Differences

Thinking Skills and Creativity

Journal of Research in Personality

Personality and Individual Differences

Personality and Individual Differences

Personality and Individual Differences

Journal of Research in Personality

Personality and Individual Differences

Journal of Research in Personality

Personality and Individual Differences