Are intelligence and creativity connected?
TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015 11:36 AM

Some of the most creative minds in history have also been hailed for being highly intelligent. Consider Thomas Edison who's considered one of the most successful inventors of all time, or Steve Jobs whose creativity sparked unparalleled changes in the tech industry. These men are thought to have genius-level IQ scores, but does that automatically make them more likely to think creatively than others? The connection between creativity and intelligence has been the subject of a lot of research, but it's still a little unclear. Here's what science has to say about the creativity-intelligence relationship:

What is the threshold hypothesis?
One of the most commonly studied theories regarding how intelligence and creativity are related is the threshold hypothesis. The concept holds that a person must have above-average intelligence in order to display high levels of creative thinking, and that low IQ scores have a similar relationship with low-level creativity. The threshold hypothesis was first studied by Ellis Paul Torrance, who developed the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking to measure creativity based on traits like fluency, originality, abstract thinking and more.

Though the threshold hypothesis makes sense in theory, many studies have found that both intelligence and creativity are too complex to be so easily related to each other. A 2013 study published by the journal Intelligence, for instance, found that different types of creative thinking may be related to unique intelligence thresholds. According to the research, while an IQ score of 120 was necessary for having several original ideas, IQ scores as low as 85 were related to some creative potential. What's more, personality traits, like openness to new experiences, played an important role in the relationship between high intelligence and creative achievement. So while intelligence matters, there are other factors involved.

Are intelligence and creativity related?
Though the intelligence threshold hypothesis is slightly simplistic, it's clear that high intelligence and high creative achievement are linked in some ways. However, a person doesn't have to be a genius to think creatively or have a successful academic career. A study published by Swedish journal DiVA looked at the relationship between creativity, intelligence and academic achievement. What they found? People with high intelligence and low creativity had the same level of academic achievement as people with high creativity and low IQ scores! This means that a person's IQ score may not be the only thing that determines their achievement in school or a career.