@ Tee –

Is creativity, then, linked to IQ?

I remember looking at some research that concluded creativity isn’t strongly correlated with IQ. A lot of creative work does require a certain level of intelligence, but you can have a very high IQ without necessarily being very creative.

can someone like me, who grew up in a family and environment filled with “conventional” thinkers that not only did not question the status quo but actually insisted on and even enforced conformity, ever become creative?

YES! Creativity isn’t about where you came from, it’s about what you make of life now and in the future. It’s not something you either ‘are’ or aren’t – it’s something you DO.

Thinking “I’m not creative” is actually a very common creative block – have a read of my article about it, and see if it helps.

For instance, can someone like me, who grew up in a family and environment filled with “conventional” thinkers that not only did not question the status quo but actually insisted on and even enforced conformity, ever become creative? I often worry that it just won’t happen for me no matter how hard I try.

Some other posters mentioned that people are able to come up with new ideas because they have experience and knowledge of a particular discipline that others do not have. Creativity is deeper than this though. It is the ability to make connections and see patterns that others cannot. I have observed some that are able to do this and not only do they tend to ask many questions – they answer smart questions. Questions that make you think, “why didn’t I think about that?” These people also tend to be of well above average intelligence too. Is creativity, then, linked to IQ?

PS: “Creativity is actually work” / 1 % for the magic to happen.

I know people who are so uncreative, I tried to use parental control software to limit my online time (yes Im indeed a little bit crazy) and they told me “well…there’s just one big problem with your idea” – “Which one?” – “You’ll know the password”. He was actually serious about it and I bet the thought of writing down a random complicated password, typing it into the parental control software quickly and then giving the piece of paper with the password to a friend (or a family member as I did) is something that someone with that rather low level of creativity will probably never be able to come up with, no matter how hard he works.

I agree with the concept of creativity needing to be put into action or else it’s useless, but there are certainly different levels of creativity in people and those who arent creative enough can work hard all day long, theyll not come up with too many creative solutions.

- First I asked him if I could get a really thick brush, in that case I could connect the dots with just one straight (but thick) line

- When he said “no”, I asked the guy if he could give me a pair of scissors. After he declined, I painted the 9 dots making sure there was enough space at the top and the bottom of the piece of paper, carefully tore a cut (if this isnt correct English, Im sorry Im from Germany) between the left and the middle dots starting at the top going almost all the way to the bottom of the piece of paper. Then turned the piece of paper by 180 degrees and did the same thing (tearing the paper between the middle and the (now) left row of dots, starting at the top going almost all the way down). That made it pretty easy to get all the 9 dots, which were in a square (he never said they would have to stay in a square) with a single straight line!

Then I was made to put on a straight-jacket and only came back from a long vacation trip recently .

On a more serious note, though…Im wondering if this is really “outside the box” thinking or “critical thinking”. Okay, it obviously is “outside the box”, pretty literally, but when I think of thinking outside the box I think of it as thinking outside the norm..asking the kind of questions that other people have never thought of before, etc.. Whereas the outside-the-box exercise seems to be just as much “critical thinking” to me.

Like if I asked you…hey yousaid: “To solve the problem, you need to join all nine dots by drawing no more than four straight lines”, right? and then went on to use circling motions or curves to connect the dots (and maybe 3-4 STRAIGHT lines if i still needed them).

Btw, how do you define a straight line? I just had the thought of using one straight line connecting three dots, but continuing to draw that straight line on the back of that piece of paper to get back to where I started drawing that “straight” line. Once im back at the start (of course Id never stop drawing just slow down dramatically to have enough time) I would turn the piece of paper by about 45 degrees so Im still capable of drawing the same line but connecting some other dots with the same straight line.

Actually simply solutions are better so Id just connect three dots with a straight line, stop (it isnt against the rules) turn the piece of paper by 90 degrees and continue to draw to connect 2 more points with that same “straight line”, etc.. Nobody mentioned the line had to be straight on that piece of paper, I just had to “draw” a straight line (or well 4 max!), right?;)

If I arrived at those solutions in about two minutes of playing around with the piece of paper) do I need a straight jacket??lol My math teacher sure thought so…and gave me an F on a maths test, because it only stated “solve the equation” (sorry again if this isnt correct English!) and I multipled every equation with a “0″ and got the result 0 = 0 for every equation (it didnt say anything about having to find the value for the unknown variable and it was a math class not a mind-reading class!;)).

Just out of curiosity, though: How many people actually solve the problem WITHOUT being told they can draw outside the box (or well how many did, when that problem was still unknown?)? Im afraid without getting a lot of time to think about it or being told that I can draw outside the square, I wouldnt have come up with a solution (but once told I had many (and could probably generate more) as you can tell).

How many percent solved that problem without being told they can draw outside the square?

Creativity is actually WORK. That’s all.

I do like to leave a 1% space for the magic to happen.