Relationship Between Intelligence and Creative Potential: Evidence from Data-Driven Analysis

The relationship between intelligence and creativity is unclear despite the investigations that have been done over the decades. (1) Background: One of the most prominent beliefs on this relationship is the threshold hypothesis. This hypothesis assumes that at least above-average intelligence is necessary for high creativity, and the threshold is at the intelligence quotient (IQ) of 120. However, empirical research results on this hypothesis are limited and inconsistent. While earlier research supported that the hypothesis was subjected to doubts in methodology, recent studies that employed segmented regression analysis produced different breakpoints. (2) Methods: This study investigated the relationship between intelligence and one key component of creative potential (i.e., fluency) in 9358 Chinese students (53% male) aged six to twenty across twelve cohorts of an education program in five years through segmented regression analysis, employing the Davis test for unknown changepoints combined with bootstrap validation. (3) Results: After controlling confounding variables (i.e., cohort, gender, grade and age), the hypothetical breakpoint IQ 120 yielded non-significant results, failing to improve upon the positive linear baseline correlation between intelligence and creative potential. (4) Conclusions: Insights on a possible different threshold and three-breakpoint model were gained by using a data-driven approach.