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GUILFORD
University of Southern California
Creativity Yesterdav,
Todav, and Tomorrow
The launching of a new journal devoted to the subject of creativity
is an appropriate occasion for considering how the study of cre-
activity has evolved, how matters in that subject stand, and what its
future may be. The trail of the past is largely on the record, and
also some aspects of the present status. The promise for the future
can only be inferred from present trends found outside the field of
creativity as well as within its borders. Interpretations and predic-
tions are demanding mental exercises, and must inevitably reflect
subjective impressions and judgments. And no one who under-
takes these exercises is omniscient.
FROM G LTON TO Although geniuses in various fields of human affairs have always
1950 been recognized and usually highly valued, it was not until Gal-
ton’s studies of men of genius (1869) that the eyes of natural sci-
ence were turned upon them. Galton did not seriously attempt to
understand the mental operations by which distinguished leaders
produce their novel ideas, but rather he tried to understand the
hereditary determination of creative performances. His study be-
came a classic, but he failed to reach uncontestable conclusions.
Reaching an understanding of exceptionally creative people and
of the mental operations by which creative productions are achieved
should have been the responsibility of psychologists. But early
scientific psychologists were having such difficulty with more
simple mental events such as sensation, perception, and memory
that they had neither time nor the courage to tackle problems of
creativity. If anything at all related to the subject was mentioned
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The Journalof Creative Behavior
Anecdotal Studies While psychologists were doing very little to attempt to under-
of Creative stand creative people and creative production, others, not willing
Performance to wait for enlightenment from that source, proceeded to do some-
thing about the matter. They recorded instances of discoveries in
science, literary productions, and other examples of output from
recognized creative geniuses. Samples of this kind of investigation
may be seen in the books by Wallas (1926, 1945)~Hadarnard
(1945)~and Ghiselin (1952). Rossman (1931) made a more sys-
tematic study of inventors, utilizing a questionnaire approach.
The weaknesses of anecdotal methods for the purposes of ex-
tracting generalizations are well known. Still, such information
can be fruitful by suggesting hypotheses that can be explored fur-
ther by means of more rigorous scientific procedures. The most
fruitful outcome of the study of creative episodes was a list of the
stages of thinking that a creator typically exhibits in the total proc-
ess, beginning with the realized need for creative effort to the
"wrapping up" of the final product. Both Wallas and Rossman
proposed steps that take place in the course of the total creative
event-Rossman for inventors, specifically, and Wallas for cre-
ative production in general.
Experimental A few, but very few, investigators took seriously the creative steps
Studies of proposed by Wallas-preparation, incubation, illumination, and
Creation elaboration. One of them was the psychologist Patrick (1935,
1937, 1938, 1941)~ who attempted to determine by experiments,
mostly within the psychological laboratory, whether the Wallas
processes could be identified, whether they run their courses in the
given order, and what roles each of them play in a complete crea-
tive event. She found the process concepts relevant, but that the
steps show many departures from the 1-2-3-4 order given by Wal-
las. The latter conclusion has been supported by similar findings
of Eindhoven and Vinacke (1952).
Creative Production A more lively and more extensive area of investigation regarding
in ReZation to Age creativity was that pertaining to the ages of life at which the high-
est quality of creative performances is most likely to occur, and
to quantity of creative production as related to age. Studies by
Lehman culminated in a book (Lehman, 1953). This kind of study
has also been conducted by Dennis (1956).
This thumbnail sketch of the fate of the subject of creativity
to midcentury has emphasized only a few points. The subject was
almost entirely ignored by psychologists. Psychometric psychol-
ogists ruled creative potential out of intelligence, and behaviorism
adopted a general viewpoint from which creativity could not be
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Creativity: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
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The Journal of Creative Behavior
what, how, and why. There have been efforts to solve certain prac-
tical problems, some of them utilizing information derived from
basic studies and some not.
Basic Information on fhe Nature of Creativity. New research in
an area where there has been little precedent is likely to be ex-
ploratory, involving little or no hypothesis testing. Such is the
case with a number of investigations of the characteristics of peo-
ple of recognized creative performance, as the study of outstanding
scientists by Ann Roe (1952)and the studies of recognized creative
writers, architects, and mathematicians, by MacKinnon and Barron,
and their associates in the Institute for Personality Assessment
and Research at The University of California in Berkeley (Mac-
Kinnon, 1960). With a psychoanalytic theoretical bias, these stud-
ies emphasized motivational and temperamental characteristics.
Some of the salient findings were that highly creative persons, at
least in the groups examined, are inclined to be strongly interested
in esthetic and theoretical matters and that they tend to be highly
intuitive and introverted. As to intellectual status, most of the in-
dividuals were in the upper ranges of IQs,and within this range
there was practically no correlation between IQ and level of crea-
tive performance.
Another major approach, which has emphasized the intellectual
qualities that might contribute to creative thinking and creative
performance, has been made through application of multivariate
methods of factor analysis. The locale of this research has been the
Aptitude Research Project at the University of Southern California,
under the writer’s direction. Rejecting the prevailing doctrine that
intelligence is a single, monolithic ability, and also the view that
creative talents are something outside the realm of intelligence, the
studies began with the assumption that there are several, perhaps
many, distinguishable abilities involved. It was also assumed that
creative talents are not confined to a favored few individuals, but
are probably widely distributed to different degrees throughout the
population. Creative talents could therefore be investigated with-
out being restricted to observation of the gifted few.
The initial factor analysis started with a prior hypothesis as to
what distinctions were to be expected among abilities that should
be relevant to creative performance. Most of the hypothesized abil-
ities were demonstrated by a factor analysis (Wilson, et al., 1954).
Within a setting of exploration of other hypothesized intellec-
tual abilities, a general theory of intelligence and its components
known as the “structure of intellect” was developed. This theory
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Creativity: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
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Creativity: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
ABSTRACT Nineteenth century science neglected creativity, and the limited twenti-
eth century approach (to 1950) was largely anecdotal. Recently, research
has multiplied, although it has involved little experimental hypothesis
testing. Creativity comprises many discrete abilities which often do not
correlate very much with each other, and creativity and IQ correlate sub-
stantially only at lower IQ levels. Much work has been done in develop-
ing evaluative criteria for creative scientific production, and on teaching
and learning creativity. Future basic research should concern transfer re-
call, transformations, reclassification, elaboration, incubation, environ-
mental conditions, and motivation. The social consequences of releasing
creative abilities are potentially enormous.
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