Making creative metaphors: The importance of fluid intelligence for creative thought

The relationship between intelligence and creativity remains controversial. The present research explored this issue by studying the role of fluid intelligence (Gf) in the generation of creative metaphors. Participants (n = 132 young adults) completed six nonverbal tests of Gf (primarily tests of inductive reasoning) and were then asked to create metaphors that described a past emotional experience. The metaphors were rated for creative quality. Latent variable models found that Gf explained approximately 24% of the variance in metaphor quality (standardized beta = .49), consistent with the view that creative ideation engages executive processes and abilities. The effect of Gf remained substantial after including personality (the Big Five factors) in the model. The discussion considers implications for the debate over intelligence and creativity as well as for the cognitive abilities involved in metaphor production.

► Little is known about how people produce metaphors.
► Participants completed six fluid intelligence (Gf) tasks and then generated creative metaphors.
► Gf strongly predicted metaphor quality (standardized beta = 49), consistent with recent research on intelligence and creativity.
► The findings indicate a substantial role for fluid abilities in creative cognition.