Creative intelligence: characteristics, examples and how to develop it

Creative intelligence, despite not being a formal part of Gardner’s calls “multiple intelligences”, undoubtedly constitutes an aspect of general intelligence. It is not clear if, in reality, it is another type of intelligence, not yet included, or a specific mode of information processing that can occur in the different types of intelligence.

In the following Psychology-Online article we are going to deal with the subject, defining the concept, its characteristics, examples of creative intelligence and, finally, we will propose different activities to develop it .

You may also be interested in: Existential intelligence: characteristics, examples and how to develop it

Index

  1. What is creative intelligence
  2. Intelligence types
  3. Characteristics of creative intelligence
  4. Examples of creative intelligence
  5. Activities to develop creative intelligence

What is creative intelligence

What is creative intelligence according to psychology? Creative intelligence is that part of intelligence dedicated to recreating something new with existing elements. According to Alan J. Rowe, creative intelligence is conditioned by several factors such as: character, the way of perceiving and processing information, personal values, etc. All these factors interact with each other to form a particular way of acting that allows the construction of new objects or ideas that make a positive contribution to society .

Creative intelligence is a defining characteristic of the human essence, it is intrinsic to the human being . Therefore, it constitutes one more aspect of general intelligence. Although it has a genetic part, the environment greatly favors its development or censorship.

Intelligence types

Howard Gardner established the concept of multiple intelligences to define the concept of intelligence. According to the author, intelligence is the ability of the human being to solve problems and, depending on the type of problem, the intelligence manifested will have one or other characteristics. In his classification he defined seven types of intelligence : logical-mathematical , linguistic , musical , spatial , corporal-kinesthetic , interpersonal and intrapersonal . Subsequently , three other types of intelligence have been included in this classification:natural intelligence , a spiritual intelligence and emotional intelligence , created by Daniel Goleman.

In this classification and its subsequent contribution, creative intelligence as such is not included, which leads different authors to ask whether this type of intelligence constitutes yet another aspect of multiple intelligences, or if it is a combination of the approach proposed by Gardner and Goleman.

Characteristics of creative intelligence

As defining characteristics of creative intelligence we can name the following:

  • Intuition and high sensitivity: creativity arises from the intuitive, from the connection with the sensitive, an aspect totally removed from the logical, rational, normative and expected. In this article we explain what intuition is and how it develops .
  • Inspiration: by staying connected to our intuition, moments of inspiration arise, origin of the creative process.
  • Dreaming or imagination: as a result of inspiration, the person enters the creative process itself through daydreams or imagination.
  • Meaningful learning: everything that arises from the creative process is given as meaningful learning , that is, as long as it is a self-motivated process, the acquired result is enormously significant for the person.
  • Innovation: the results derived from creative processes include the characteristic of innovation insofar as something created supposes something new that differs from what is pre-established.

Examples of creative intelligence

Some historical examples that suppose a manifestation of creative intelligence would be:

  • The Invention of the Light Bulb, by T. Edison.
  • The musical creations of Beethoven, Mozart, Bach etc.
  • All the paintings, sculptures and inventions of Leonardo Da Vinci.
  • Tesla’s contribution to the advancement of technology.

In reality, and without reaching such high levels of creativity, the manifestation of creative intelligence occurs before any event that involves something new. In our daily life, we are creative when we come up with an original recipe , create new rules in a game, make up a story, resolve conflict constructively, and so on.

Activities to develop creative intelligence

The development of creative intelligence brings multiple benefits to personal development: high levels of self-esteem, flexibility and adaptability, ability to provide solutions to problems, improvisation, etc. For this reason, it is very convenient to respect children’s creativity , not so much to develop it as it manifests itself clearly and without censorship during early childhood. In this article we talk about respectful parenting .

One way of accompanying this innate creativity, or developing it in later ages in which children (due to their socialization) may have partially disconnected from this creative capacity, is through activities adapted to the different evolutionary moments that foster connection with intuitive processes and sensitive and their practical manifestation. Some of the activities that we can use are the following:

For the little ones:

  • Draw and paint to express internal states.
  • Play with sand, clay, plasticine, through which they express themselves through touch.
  • Games of corporal expression, dances, songs, etc., other modes of internal expression.
  • Activities in contact with nature, which present stimulating elements in themselves.
  • Telling and listening to stories that, in addition to the development of verbal intelligence, involves stimulating imagination and creativity.

For the older ones:

  • Theater and dramatization, allows to imagine, create, improvise, etc.
  • Encourage inventing (games, experiments, ideas, etc.).
  • Create music, melodies, dances, etc.
  • Discussions and colloquia.
  • Changing roles.
  • Make a group story.
  • Change daily routines.
  • Excursions and camping.

 

by Abdullah Sam
I’m a teacher, researcher and writer. I write about study subjects to improve the learning of college and university students. I write top Quality study notes Mostly, Tech, Games, Education, And Solutions/Tips and Tricks. I am a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence or virtue.

Leave a Comment