Friday, June 30, 2006

The Role of Intelligence in Creativity

Woke up early this morning with a tummy ache - could have used more sleep, but hey, now I have time to get a real blog in, right? Always a silver lining. :)

The book I'm reading now ( or slogging through ) is called Defying the Crowd - Cultivating Creativity in a Culture of Conformity by Robert Sternberg & Todd Lubart. Like I said before, it's a little technical and sometimes scholarly wordy, but has some interesting points.

The test I'm posting today has to do with intelligence as it relates to creativity. The purpose of the test is to dtermine the amount of time it takes a person to switch from conventional thinking to unconventional thinking. The test is not timed or scored, but I think you'll get the idea of just how quickly you make the transition, or not. It goes on to say that creative people are able to make the transition confortably and with ease. Less creative poeple, even though they may have the intelligence to perform the task, find it harder to switch gears. Many people who are "smart" in the sense of doing well in school are in their element as long as they are reading the words of problems or making simple comparisons, but when asked to think in terms of concepts that are truly novel, they have difficulty.

So here's one of the tests. Let me know what you think and how you did.

Novel Analogies

In solving the analogies below, assume that the statement given before the analogy is true. Then solve the analogy, taking this assumption into account.

1. GOATS are robots.
CHICKEN is to HATCHED as GOAT is to:
BORN FARM BUILT FACTORY

2. NEEDLES are dull.
THIMBLE is to BLUNT as NEEDLE is to:
SHARP SMOOTH STAB BRUISE

3. PIGS climb fences.
GOLDFISH is to BOWL as PIG is to:
PEN CAGE DIRTY GRACEFUL

4. DIAMONDS are fruits.
PEARL is to OYSTER as DIAMOND is to:
MINE TREE RING PIE

5. TOASTERS write cookbooks.
SPATULA is to UTENSIL as TOASTER is to:
WRITER APPLIANCE BREAD BOOK

6. GHOSTS are athletes.
WEREWOLF is to MONSTER as GHOST is to:
DRAMA SPIRIT HAUNT ACT

Are you finished?????? Did you make the change-over in thinking?

I'll post the answers as a comment. No peaking until you're done.

9 comments:

Jana DeLeon said...

ANSWERS:

1. BUILT
2. SMOOTH
3. CAGE
4. TREE
5. WRITER
6. SPIRIT

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

Whoa, you made me think! I was a little lost at first. lol! Of course! I did bad--and I'm supposed to be creative--and only got 3/6. =D

Jana DeLeon said...

Well, Kelly, that just goes to show what scientist know about writers. :) Apparently, having only 50% creativity isn't hurting you one bit. lol

Diana Peterfreund said...

I got 4 of 6. Didn't figure that the fence climbing meant you couldn't put a pig in a pen, probably because I don't actually know what a pen is.

And I STILL don't get number 6.

Jana DeLeon said...

Haven't been raising pigs lately, Diana? :)

I'm with you - I still don't get 6 either, but that's what the darned book said.

Hameeduddin said...

well i guess the sixth one has been put thr to point out that even the creative are at times clueless :)

Jana DeLeon said...

I don't know, shah. I can't figure it out - it makes no logical sense to me unless I'm missing some vital definitions of the words involved.

A werewolf is a monster
A ghost is a spirit

BUT

they said in the beginning that ghosts were athletes. Athletes aren't spirits.

Athletes HAVE spirit, but werewolfs don't HAVE monsters.

Can anyone else shed light on this?

Colleen Gleason said...

I got 5 of 6! Yay!!

And that's after a beer and two glasses of wine. Hmmm.....

I picked SPIRIT for the last one 'cause it was the only one that made sense...not 100% sure why.

And I'm with Diana on the cage/pen thing. Huh?

Jana DeLeon said...

A pen doesn't have a roof - a cage usually does. You city slickers. :)

 
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