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Does having a high IQ make you less creative?

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Re: Does having a high IQ make you less creative?

#12
Creativity is usually defined as an ability to apply knowledge accumulated in another fields. So, it is not about how much IQ points you have, but how you use your mind. More different fields mastered - more chances for some creative breakthrough.

Of course, higher IQ is an advantage (think about learning efficiency), everything else being equal. It is like in sports - some people are just more coordinated, less clumsy, so, they are progressing quickly in almost every discipline.

Re: Does having a high IQ make you less creative?

#14
post #10

This blog post doesn't do Creativity much justice, especially this nice little summary quote at the end: The best models come from biology, physics, mathematics, microeconomics and psychology. Just think about what every freshman knows, and thats what you need to know. Creativity is a function on a lot of different things at once, and is different for a lot of people. For one, it's a function on curiosity. Highly cur…

Your points about creativity aren't incompatible with the blog's points. In fact, I'd say your points elaborate the framework defined by the author. The blog defined creativity as applying mental models and combining one's past experiences randomly to discover new connections. Your points about playfulness and curiosity fall right into this framework. One who is more inquisitive will have more experiences, and spent more time analyzing these experiences. Playfulness comes with being more prone to making random connections between disparate experiences and trying to find some underlying patterns. I think this does a good job at getting to the the essence of creativity.

Re: Does having a high IQ make you less creative?

#16
post #8

This was a better and more original blog post than I expected from the title. The finding from the Terman study is rather important, and should be more widely known. The definitive book about the Terman study, written by a Stanford University Press Office science journalist who was the first independent researcher to have access to study files, is Joel Shurkin's Terman's Kids (1992). https://www.kirkusreviews.com/boo…

Thank you! Im from Uruguay so my native language is Spanish. I've learned english mainly by playing videogames (I kid you not) as a kid, as Warren Buffett says "We prefer process over outcome" so It was a fun way to do it.

Good to know that I am not alone in the learning method for that subject.

I am from Brazil.

Re: Does having a high IQ make you less creative?

#17
I can't reference any studies or anything, but my personal experience is that passion trumps all. The problem with passion is, you don't have much of a choice. One might have a passion for gardening, whereas another might have a passion for computers. The gardener has a lower chance of being "successful" and "making a difference" (in the standard capitalist/western sense).

Re: Does having a high IQ make you less creative?

#18
post #6

It's tempting to look at IQ as a potential for everything, but as one having access to a lot of ultra-smart people (I'm doing PhD in theoretical physics) it's very easy to see that creativity lies on a different axis. And during studies I've met many people who were able to solve very hard mathematical problems, but at the same time - were seemingly unable to create new ones on their own. (And also, creativity many t…

Good point on the drawback of creativity. I suffer horribly from that. I'll spend weeks or months trying to solve problems in unique/clever ways when there's already a clear solution if I just took a day to read and understand it.

That feeling you get when you do figure out a new way to do something though...I like to think it's worth it.

Re: Does having a high IQ make you less creative?

#19
With a high IQ things that lesser IQ people deem creative are to you common sence, so with that I'd say the answear too this is the classic yes and no argument.

But in general IQ and creativity have no direct corilation and if anything EQ (Emotional Quota) would be a more relative guage than IQ.

Re: Does having a high IQ make you less creative?

#20
post #8

This was a better and more original blog post than I expected from the title. The finding from the Terman study is rather important, and should be more widely known. The definitive book about the Terman study, written by a Stanford University Press Office science journalist who was the first independent researcher to have access to study files, is Joel Shurkin's Terman's Kids (1992). https://www.kirkusreviews.com/boo…

Thank you! Im from Uruguay so my native language is Spanish. I've learned english mainly by playing videogames (I kid you not) as a kid, as Warren Buffett says "We prefer process over outcome" so It was a fun way to do it.

I'm from Argentina and learnt with se same method, also tv series helped with pronunciation.
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