Viewing Through One Prism or Two? Discriminant Validity of Implicit Theories of Intelligence and Creativity

Five possible relationships between creativity and intelligence have been proposed, with empirical support for each relationship. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between these constructs with a Korean sample. Previous research with Asian samples provides evidence of more overlap between creativity and intelligence implicit theories than has generally been found with U.S. samples. In the first study, 200 Korean college students rated the creativity and intelligence of 74 behaviors that were identified in previous research as representing Koreans' implicit theories of these constructs. In the second study, 194 students evaluated the creativity and intelligence of 88 hypothetical profiles constructed with behavioral descriptions related to either creativity (44 profiles) or intelligence (44 profiles). Results provide evidence that the overlap between implicit theories of intelligence and creativity is due to the predominance of problem-solving in each set of theories. Results also suggest that the relationship between creativity and intelligence may be represented by more than 1 of the 5 hypothesized relationships, depending on the context in which the theories are applied.