The relationship between analytical and creative cognitive skills from middle childhood to adolescence: Testing the threshold theory in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Guilford's seminal studies (Guilford, 1967) propose that an average level of intelligence is required to demonstrate a creative skill. However, according to the threshold theory, in individuals with high levels of intelligence (IQ≥120) creativity is no longer related to intelligence. Studies that have explored this phenomenon have shown inconsistent results. Most of the available literature has originated from Western countries and used a correlation approach to find a threshold for the association between different measures of IQ and creativity. The goal of this study was to find a threshold using novel tasks of analytical skills (verbal, scientific and mechanical reasoning) and creativity (fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration) by conducting segmented regression analysis in a representative sample of Saudi Arabian students. The sample of 4368 3rd to 11th grade students (53.1% girls) was divided into three grade-groups (3rd–5th, 6th–8th, and 9th–11th). A threshold was found only for 6th–8th graders at a level of analytical skills of 108.8, and at 108.4 for 9th–11th graders. The analysis of gender differences showed that the threshold was significantly higher for boys than girls in the group of 9th–11th graders (105.6 for boys, 81.46 for girls). These thresholds were generally lower than those reported in other studies. Contrary to the threshold theory, for both grade-groups the relationship between creativity and analytical skills was positive and significant only above the thresholds. Potential factors accounting for these findings may be the type of analytical skills tasks, more related with crystallized intelligence and the culture-specific educational experiences of Saudi children.