Mathematical Intelligence and Mathematical Creativity: A Causal Relationship

This study investigated the causal relationship between mathematical creativity and mathematical intelligence. Four hundred thirty-nine 8th-grade students, age ranged from 11 to 14 years, were included in the sample of this study by random cluster technique on which mathematical creativity and Hindi adaptation of mathematical intelligence test were administered with 4-month time lag. Cross-lagged panel analysis was used to analyze the data. The uncorrected cross-lagged correlations appeared to show no causal relation between mathematical creativity and mathematical intelligence. But after the correction the difference in the cross-lagged correlations was found to be small and does not give guarantee of unidirectional causal relation between these two constructs. It revealed that there is a mutually reinforcing (symmetric) relationship between mathematical intelligence and mathematical creativity, i.e., mathematical intelligence causes mathematical creativity and vice-versa.