The Predictive Power of Personality, Intelligence, and Divergent Thinking for Creative Achievement

This study examined relations among the creative person (intelligence and Big Five personality traits), process (flexibility and within-category fluency), and product (creative achievement). Predictions were derived from past research and the Dual Pathway to Creativity Model (DPCM), which indicates that flexibility and within-category fluency are creative processes that mediate the effects of personality (i.e., intelligence and Openness) on creative outcomes (i.e., creative achievement). It was predicted that 1) intelligence would correlate positively with Openness, within-category fluency, flexibility, and creative achievement, 2) Openness would correlate positively with flexibility and creative achievement, but non-significantly with within-category fluency, and 3) within-category fluency and flexibility would correlate positively with creative achievement but non-significantly with each other. Although the predictions were mostly confirmed, within-category fluency was not significantly related to the variables of interest. It was further predicted that the effects of intelligence on creative achievement would be significantly mediated by within-category fluency and (to a lesser extent) flexibility. In addition, it was predicted that the effects of Openness on creative achievement would be significantly mediated by flexibility, but not within-category fluency. Contrary to these hypotheses, neither within-category fluency nor flexibility mediated the effects of intelligence and Openness on creative achievement. The predictive validity of intelligence, personality, within-category fluency, and flexibility were further explored via multiple regression, where it was predicted that Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism would add no significant predictive power for creative achievement. This hypothesis was supported as Openness and flexibility were found to be the only stable predictors of creative achievement.