The role of fluid intelligence in creativity: The case of bio-inspired design

Abstract

Improving creativity by learning bio-inspired design (BID) requires fluid intelligence to deeper comprehend biological phenomena. Biological phenomena abstraction is a primary part of BID to comprehend structures and principles of the phenomena. However, direct research on the role of fluid intelligence in the understanding stage in BID processes is relatively scarce. We observed forty-one design students’ pictorial and textual representations of the abstract structures and principles in a BID task. Participants’ fluid intelligence was assessed using Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices Plus (SPM+). At the same time, their biological phenomena abstraction in pictorial and textual representations were rated based on a five-point scale of form, behavior, and principle. Results showed that fluid intelligence had a limited effect on biological phenomena abstraction. Participants with low fluid intelligence had a disadvantage on biological phenomena abstraction while participants with medium and high fluid intelligence had equally good performance. The results suggested that medium fluid intelligence was the minimal requirement of biological phenomena abstraction for male participants. We argue that future work should consider multiple intelligence in biological phenomena abstraction of BID.