Creative Genius (Ochse, 1990)

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Creative Genius(Ochse, 1990)

• Social Background

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• I. Definition (Ochse, 1990)
• A. "Create"
• 1. Latin 'creare' which means 'to bring into
  being'.
• 2. Most definitions suggest that creativity
  involves
• a. bringing something useful into being
  that is
• b. original (new, unusual, novel,
  unexpected) and also
• c. valuable (useful, good, adaptive,
  appropriate).

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• II. Historical Perspective (Chapter 1)
• A. From Greeks to modern day, genius was
  conceived as something breathed into a human
  agent by divine force.
• 1. 'Inspire' literally means 'blow into'.
• B. People who have been recognized by expert
  opinion as having contributed something of
  original value to the culture (Ochse, 1990, p.
  4).

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• Two Types (Kac)
• a. Ordinary
• A fellow you and I would be just as good
  as, if we were only many times better.
• b. Magicians
• Even after we understand what they have
  done, the process by which they have done it is
  completely dark.

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• The difficulty, to anyone in his right mind,
  would have stopped them cold and caused them to
  abandon the problem. But Nash was different. If
  he had a hunch, conventional criticisms didnt
  stop him. He had no background knowledge. It
  was totally uncanny. Nobody could understand how
  somebody like that could do it. He was the only
  person I ever saw with that kind of power, just
  brute mental power.
• ABM, p. 161

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• C. Galton's study of Genius and 'productive
  creators'.
• 1. Believed that intellectual activity
  depends on biological processes which are
  genetically determined.
• 2. Considered outstanding success in a
  profession or artistic field as a reliable
  measure of superior genetic potential.
• 3. Three key ingredients
• a. Capacity
• b. Zeal
• c. Tendency to Work Hard

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• 4. Galton's contribution.
• a. Reputation (not test scores) as a
  measure of genius.
• b. Two monumental studies of genius
  published in 1925 and 1926 (Terman).
• -. Although IQ (as measured by tests) is
  fairly stable
• -. giftedness is not necessarily
  actualized in creative achievement in adulthood.
• -. IQ predicts high income, marital
  happiness, health and stability,
• -. it does not predict transcendent
  achievement.

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• III. Social Background
• A. Incidence of creativity in societies
• 1. Since ancient times, it has been realized
  that clusters of geniuses appeared within
  relatively short periods.
• Golden ages (highly gifted people lived in
  one place at the same time)
• Dark ages (very little progress was made)

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• 2. Golden Ages
• a. Age of Pericles (5th c. BC in Athens)
• b. Ancient Sumerian and Chinese cultures.
• c. Renaissance
• d. Italian opera in 18th c.
• e. German music during 18th and 19th c.
• f. latter half of 20th c. electronic
  technology in America and Far East.

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• 3. Questions
• a. Are regional and temporal clusterings
  determined purely by chance? (William James)
• b. If not, what determines the incidence
  of creativity in a culture?
• c. Do great persons make culture?
• d. Or does culture make great persons?

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• 4. Havelock Ellis (1904)
• studied British geniuses depicted in
  National Portrait Gallery.
• a. Gave attention to racial factors.
• -. Blond, blue-eyed Nordic types had
  produced mathematical and scientific works.
• -. Dark-haired, dark-eyed Celtic types
  famous for verbal-social skills.

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• 5. Alfred Kroeber (1944) - American
  Anthropologist (and later researchers).
• a. Sample 5000 creative individuals
• living between 700BC
  and AD1900.
• b. Regional and temporal fluctuations due
  to chance? NO.
• -. They appear in definable clusters at
  particular places and times.
• -. Their occurrence differs significantly
  from what is expected in terms of chance.
• c. Incidence of genius fluctuates far more
  rapidly than the biological foundations of
  cultures do.

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• 6. Society must recognize important work by
  members of the same and neighboring disciplines.
• Cultural leaders must be sufficiently
  sophisticated to evaluate and monitor new ideas.
• 7. When the conditions of knowledge,
  materials, social support and incentives are met,
  the effects are often noticeable.
• 8. Certain breakthroughs become almost
  "inevitable".

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• 9. Scientific Examples
• a. Simultaneous, independent discoveries.
• -. Newton and Leibnitz calculus.
• -. Darwin and Wallace evolution.
• -. Joule, Helmholz, Thomson, and Colding
  conservation of energy.
• b. Simonton (1979) - History of scientific
  advances.
• -. 449 doublets
• -. 104 triplets
• -. 18 quadruplets
• -. 7 quintuplets
• -. 1 octuplet

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• 10. Importance of role models.
• a. Previous generation acts as role models
  and inspires others to greatness.
• b. Simonton (1978) Creative works
  created by a specific generation is significantly
  related to amount of work in only two preceding
  generations.

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• 11. Other factors
• a. Culture affects choice of careers.
• b. Role of living role models as well as
  achievement themes in fiction.
• c. Creativity does not vary as a function
  of affluence in the society.
• d. Creativity increases with
• -. urbanization.
• -. civil disturbances
• -. other indications of internal diversity
  and irritability.

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• 12. Distribution of creative products is
  very 'skewed'.
• a. A small number of persons create a
  large portion of valued objects, even when
  climate is highly favorable.

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• b. Moles (1968) - Of the 1000s of
  composers who have ever lived,
• only 250 have their works regularly
  performed.
• -. 36 composers produced 75.
• -. 16 composers produced 50.
• -. 10 composers produced 40.
• -. 3 composers produced 20
• (Mozart, Beethoven, Bach)

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• c. Lerner Triole (2000) Open source
  programmers.
• -. Less than one-tenth of 1 percent of
  open source programmers contributed nearly ¾ of
  all code
• -. Nearly ¾ made only one contribution.

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• d. Similar patterns hold true for other
  disciplines as well.
• e. "However favorable the cultural
  climate, only a few people are likely to account
  for most of the creative products of the
  society."
• "Culture does not make great men. It only
  offers, to those who meet other conditions, the
  possibility of becoming great."
• Pasteur Chance favors the prepared mind.

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• B. Position of creative achievers within the
  society.
• 1. Over the ages and in modern times,
• in different societies and in various
  disciplines,
• creators have come from
• middle and upper-middle classes.
• a. Especially from a segment of that class
  
• professional class homes.
• b. Why?

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• 2. Religious Denomination
• General Nobel
• population (U.S.) Laureates (U.S.)
• Catholic 4 1
• Jewish 3 27
• a. Catholics are under-represented and
• Jews are over-represented in samples of
  highly creative achievers.