CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE: characteristics, examples and how to develop it

Creative intelligence, despite not being a formal part of what Gardner 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 way of processing the information that can occur in the different types of intelligence.

In the following Psychology-Online article we are going to discuss the subject defining the concept, its characteristics, examples of creative intelligence and, finally, we will propose different activities 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 according to psychology? Creative intelligence is that part of intelligence dedicated to recreate something new

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

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: Mathematical logician, linguistics, musical, space, corporal-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Subsequently three other types have been included of intelligence to said classification: the natural intelligence, the spiritual intelligence and the 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 not yet included or although it is a combination of the approach proposed by Gardner and that of Goleman.

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 is and how does intuition develop.
• Inspiration: by staying connected to our intuition, moments of inspiration arise, origin of the creative process.
• Dream or imagination: as a result of inspiration, the person enters the creative process itself through daydreams or imagination.
• Significant learning: everything that arises from the creative process is given as significant learning, that is, insofar as it is a self-motivated process, the acquired result is enormously significant for the person.
• Innovation: the results derived from the creative processes include the characteristic of innovation as something created supposes something new that differs from what is pre-established.

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 invent a recipe original, we create new rules in a game, we make up a story, we solve a conflict constructively, etc.

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. Therefore, it is very convenient 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 the respectful parenting.

A way of accompanying this innate creativity, or developing it in later ages in which children (due to their socialization) They may have partially disconnected from this creative capacity, it is through activities adapted to the different moments evolutionary that foster connection with intuitive and sensitive processes and its 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.
• Nature contact activities, which presents 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 imagining, creating, improvising, etc.
• Encourage inventing (games, experiments, ideas, etc.).
• Create music, melodies, dances, etc.
• Debates and colloquia.
• Changing roles.
• Create a group story.
• Change daily routines.
• Excursions and camping.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Creative intelligence: characteristics, examples and how to develop it, we recommend that you enter our category of Cognitive psychology.

• Grup Scout X- El Pilar de Valencia. Dynamics of creativity. Recovered from: https://educrea.cl/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/DOC2-DINAMICAS-DE-CREATIVIDAD.pdf
• Gastelu Martínez, A.I. Creative intelligence. Student publications. Recovered from: https://www.aiu.edu/publications/student/spanish/180-207/La-Inteligencia-Creativa.html