A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF THE UFE STYLES
OF A GROUP OF CREATIVE ADOLESCENTS

Thai: for the Degree of Ph. D.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Robert Lewis Trezise

1966

 

£15515

0.

0-169

4'
-‘L—'“

1 L [B R A R Y
Michigan State
University

 

  

 

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF THE LIFE STYLES

OF A GROUP OF CREATIVE ADOLESCENTS

presented by

Robert Lewis Trezise

has been accepted towards fulfillment

of the requirements for

Ph.D

___'_ degree in

Date 7/8/66

k3

C

Education

h

ngflgew I/\\ ~Do\’- <7 '02 Q

 

I J Major professor

 

-v ——-—o~———er-»—v 'v—v-vi

Y

I...

I... . ,
. .i . V.

x .

. .
it. E-

x v

a . u:

 

 

ABSTRACT

A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF THE LIFE STYLES
OF A GROUP OF CREATIVE ADOLESCENTS

By Robert Lewis Trezise

In this study a group of 27 creative, adolescent
txoysa and girls were described in terms of their life styles,
tdiei;r childhood experiences, their values, ethical concerns,
arni cureative commitment. These descriptions were presented
txy Ineeuis of a content analysis of interviews conducted with
truesea1youngsters, through a presentation of quotations
exixraxrted from the interviews, and through eight profiles
of a representative group of the boys and girls. The con-
tent analysis and selection of quotations were based on
categgoxfiies derived from studies on creativity at the Insti-
turte (Df'jPersonality Assessment and Research (IPAR).

{The creatives described in this study were chosen
fronlga Jjarger group of 40 selected by Dr. Elizabeth Drews
for Stnld3fi; and this group of MO had, in turn, been selected
by heI-;fr<nn a group of 127 9th graders, who had been selected
on the Igagais of superior reading comprehension scores to
take part in an experimental social studies course. The l4
boys arxi 343 girls described in this dissertation were chosen

on the»laaf¥is of high scores on five scales of the Omnibus

PersonaJJitfif Inventory which measure personality factors
________’_.flfla,,l.

 

Robert Lewis Trezise

research has found to be associated with creativity.

The methodology was to conduct a content analysis
of transcripts of two-hour interviews that were held during
the summer of 1963 with the 27 creatives. As a basis for
the content analysis, a 39-item rating sheet was devised,
which was derived from the IPAR studies. The items relate
to childhood and family, cognitive and life styles.

Besides the data obtained from this analysis,
quotations extracted from the 1963 interviews and inter-
views held again in 1961.L were presented. These quotations
comprise a major portion of this dissertation; and, in
effect, are self-descriptions of the youngsters. The eight

profiles were based upon the interview data, as well as

other data available on these youngsters through Dr.

Drews ' studies .

An examination of the data suggests the following
as salient characteristics of the creative group:

1. These creative youngsters were found to have
ideas on a wide range of subjects; and they seemed to want
more opportunity to share ideas. Almost all expressed

intereSt in seminar-type classes.

2. They were highly sensitive to intellectual
dishonesty, eSpecially in their teachers, and were critical
of drill: repetition, and recitation-type classroom pro-
cedureS- They asked for more independent study Opportu-
nities and said they liked to discuss the broader impli-
cations of their subjects, the relationships between areas
of knowledge, and to focus on principles.

, They were critical of many things and sometimes
cal, and they seemed to be searching for positive

1
:zifiegyn They tended to be more critical of society at large

Robert Lewis Trezise

than teen-age society. Although they wanted to be autono-
mous and were somewhat rebellious intellectually, for the
most part they did not report rebelling overtly against
rules and laws.

4. Even though they expressed strong criticisms
of society, over all they seemed to be Optimistic about
man and his future. Almost all of these youngsters had
high aspirations and hoped to make worthwhile and sig-
nificant social contributions.

5. Almost all of the girls and over half of the
boys seemed to be interested in self-understanding and
intrOSpection and in understanding others. Similar
prOportions seemed to be socially introverted and indi-
cated that they perceived themselves as "different" from
other young peOple.

6. Almost all had at least one adult in their
families with whom they identified.

7. Almost all said they would like a kind of
intellectual course that stressed philosophical and ethical
issues.

A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF THE LIFE STYLES
OF A GROUP OF CREATIVE ADOLESCENTS

By

Robert Lewis Trezise

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

College of Education

1966

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes to extend his thanks to the
members of his doctoral committee: Dr. Marian Kinget, Dr.
Walter Johnson, Dr. Carl Gross, and the chairman, Dr.
Elizabeth Drews. He would like to express appreciation
especially to Dr. Johnson, for his criticisms and sug—
gestions; and to Dr. Drews, who has not only given a great
deal of advice and encouragement, but has been a very good
friend as well.

To my wife goes a Special word of thanks. She has
worked with me throughout this project, doing vast amounts
of typing, giving excellent suggestions, and, in general,

encouraging me in every way.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................... ii
LIST OF TABLES ....... .............. . .............. V
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION ............................. 1
Philos0phica1 Orientation ............. 1
Statement of the Problem ............. . 6
Models for Present Research ........... 6
Creativity: Its Historical Development
and Importance ..................... lO
Purpose of Study ...................... l7
Footnotes ............................. 19
II. METHODOLOGY ............. ..... ............ 23
Problems of Identifying Creative
Subjects .. .................... ..... 23
Method of Identifying Creative Subjects
for the Present Study .............. 26
Procedures ............................ 36
Footnotes ............................. A3
III. CONTENT ANALYSIS OF DATA ................. A5
Early Childhood and Family ...... . ..... 45
Cognitive Style ....................... 77
Style of Live ......................... 131
Footnotes ............................. 169

iii

Chapter Page

IV. CONTENT ANALYSIS OF DATA ON EDUCATION ..... I73
Footnotes .............................. 186

V. PROFILES OF EIGHT CREATIVE ADOLESCENTS .... 187
Jenny .................................. 187

Mark ....... ........... .......... . ...... 19A

Beatrice ........ . ...................... 200

Jeff ................................... 207

Lisa ......................... ... ...... . 214

Nathan .............. . .................. 220

Sarah ........ .. .................... .... 228

Arthur ................................. 235

VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ................... 241
BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................... 251
APPENDICES ......................................... 259
A. ................................. . ..... 260

B .............................................. 267

C ..... ........................... . ............. 272

D. .............................................. 276

iv

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE PAGE

1. Mean scores for boys on the Originality,
Complexity, Aesthetic, Theoretical
Orientation, and Thinking Introversion
scales of the Omnibus Personality
Inventory ..... ........ ....... . ......... 33

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Mean scores for girls on the Originality,
Complexity, Aesthetic, Theoretical
Orientation, and Thinking Introversion
scales of the Omnibus Personality
Inventory ....... .......... ............ 3M

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Mean scores for boys on the Originality,
Complexity, Aesthetic, Theoretical
orientation, and Thinking Introversion
scales of the Omnibus Personality
Inventory .................. .. ......... 35

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Philos0phical Orientation
Until the last decade, psychologists have tended
to dwell more on the negative aspects of human behavior
than the positive, even though a standard definition of
psychology* does not at all connote that it must dwell on
the darker—~the neurotic and psychotic--side of human
behavior than the brighter—-the self-fulfilling. There
is, in other words, nothing in the definition of psychology
that demands that it focus on mentally unhealthy human
beings rather than healthy ones. But as Drews has said:
psychology ... has chosen to work on the dark
side of the moon. The mentally healthy, supernormal,
and all that can be called self-actualizing have been
neglected. Psychology has been passive, if not inert
about studying healthy growth and self-actualizing
tendencies and suggesting forms of cultural intervention
that would foster such development.
In the present dissertation the stress will be on

the positive nature of man, and the creative person will

be looked upon as one who exemplifies positive growth and

 

*"Psychology is a branch of science which deals
with the mind, the self, the person and with the acts,
behavior, and the mental processes." Horace B. English
and Ava C. English, A Comprehensive Dictionary of Psycho—
logical and Psychoanalytical Terms (New York: Longmans,

 

 

 

 

Green and Company, 1958).
l

2

who is moving toward self-fulfillment.

Although psychologists have generally neglected
this positive aspect of development, in the last decade a
group of humanistically oriented psychologists, dissatisfied
with the negative emphasis in psychology, began to coalesce
into what has been called a "third force": and such peOple
as Gordon Allport, Erich Fromm, Rollo May, Abraham Maslow,
H.S. Sullivan, Carl Rogers, and others began to stress
the need for finding patterns of Optimum human development
which would not only help individuals to find purpose
and meaning in their personal lives, but to help them
discover meaningful roles in their world as well. The new
trend in psychology began to focus on what man can be and,
also, what he can become, which, to these third-force psycho—
logists, are complementary concepts. In fact, the concepts
of being and becoming are central to their psychology.
Both understandings must occur simultaneously and must be
seen as a dynamic way of experiencing existence, which,

" coming into being, be-

as May has said, refers to
coming."2 The group's concern with being and becoming is
apparent even through the titles of some of their works:

Allport's Becoming, Maslow's Toward a Psychology of Being,

 

Roger's On Becoming a Person.

 

It might be expected that these growth-motivation
psychologists, concerned with being and becoming, human—
istic in orientation, attracted more by positive human

behavior than negative--would be vitally interested in

3
the concept of creativity, since the creative process
may be taken as an act in which individual human potential
approaches being most fully realized, and in which the
person approaches most fully realizing his idiosyncratic
humanness. To these third—force psychologists, the
creative person is a "being" and "becoming" person; and
Drews, also a humanistically oriented psychologist and
educator, has, in fact, entitled one of her studies of the

creative adolescent Being and Becoming.3 It is this

 

work, which has shown the relationships that exist between
concepts set forth by the growth psychologists and the
development of creative adolescents, that has provided the
basic data for the study presented in this paper: and the

philosophical orientation of the Being and Becoming

 

studies are inherent here.

Among the psychologists who have been concerned
with growth motivation is Maslow--a humanistically
oriented third—force psychologist who has been vitally
concerned with the concept of creativity and who has shed
a good deal of insight into this human phenomenon. He
has used the term "self-actualization" somewhat synony-
mously with the concept of creativity. To him, the self-
actualizing person is one who is approaching the reali-
zation of his human potential; that is, he is moving
toward fulfillment of his idiosyncratic potential, is
finding means of expressing self, and is growing in his

own style and at his own pace.4 But Maslow's self-

u

actualizer is one who is moving in a direction that means
more than simply enhancement of self--he is one whose
direction of growth tends to relate to general social
change and the Spiritualization of mankind.5 Further he
is concerned with his moral and ethical development as
well as with the development of his abilities, skills,
and talents; and ideally, the self-actualized person is
represented by those whom Sorokin calls the most influential
men in history—-men who have founded great religions,
discovered eternal moral principles, and have been living
incarnations of sublime, unselfish love.6 In this sense,
then, Maslow's creative person is more than a person

who simply develops a skill to a high level; he is a
person with a certain moral and ethical commitment as
well. And the creative process is more than the funct-
ioning of highly trained and disciplined abilities; it

is a whole style of life.

The philoSOphical orientation of this dissertation
will stress, then, the positive growth approach taken by
the third-force psychologists. Further, the writer will
describe the creative person as a whole human being,
rather than atomistically. Yamamoto has pointed out that
among the workers in the area of creativity there is a
certain lack of rapprochement; and among the groups
that take quite different approaches to creativity are
the elementarians and the holists.7 The holistic group

believes, he says, that creative acts should be graSped

5

through more subjective and empathetic understandings
of the experience and interpreted in purposive terms.
The various groups that Yamamoto describes--the positiv-
istic holists, the non—positivistic holists, the non-
positivistic elementarians, and the positivistic elemen-
tarians——have, he says, different points of departure
in the definition of creativity, have differences in
assumptions and presuppositions, and have differences
in research strategies. Further, each group has its
own language, its peculiar way of Speaking about the
problem which is not readily understood by the other
groups of workers.8

Hence, to workers in the area of creativity
whose approaches are more elementarian, the present
dissertation may seem to be imprecise and unscientific.
However, while this writer is aware of the other approaches,
he is in agreement with Rogers, who, Speaking of the
scientific approach, says,"This tunnel vision of behavior
is not adequate to the whole range of human behavior."9
And he is in agreement, too, with Maslow, who has argued
that to assume that orthodox science is_the path to
knowledge—-or even the only reliable path--is philoso-
phically, historically, psychologically, and sociologically
naive; and, he says further, to place scientific approaches
before a more general-human view of life is an ethnocentric

philoSOphical doctrine more Western than universal.lo

6
Statement of the Problem

The problem of this dissertation will be to present
descriptions of a group of students who have been judged to
be creative on the basis of scores on a personality inventory
designed to measure some of the positive attitudes believed
to be associated with creativity. These youngsters will be
described in terms of their reported life experiences, their
life styles, and their values, ethical concerns, and creative
commitments. This description will be given by means of a
content analysis of interviews conducted with them, through
a presentation of the youngsters' own words in these inter-
views, and through descriptive profiles of a representative
group of these youngsters. Thus, an attempt will be made to
describe the young people in holistic terms, and these
descriptions will be based upon their statements about them-
selves. This investigation is somewhat atypical in that it
does not include experimental treatment of a group of subjects,
does not test hypotheses, and does not attempt to present
any comparative data. Models for the type of study
described in this dissertation will be described in the

following section.

Models for Present Research
The methodology followed in this dissertation will
be Similar to those whose approaches stress descriptions of
the individual. Among the psychologists who stress the

importance of the individual is Allport. He suggests an

7

explanation for the psychologist's preoccupation with
generalizations about human behavior:

-Since positivism seeks nomothetic generalizations about
behavior it is likely to regard curiosity about the
internal order of mind-in—particular as subjective and
"unscientific." It somehow seems more scientific to send
a platoon of white rats through a maze than to occupy
oneself with the complex organization of a concrete
personality.l

That the stress should be placed on individuals in
a paper on creativity seems to be entirely appropriate, for
the creative person is nothing if not an individualist.

Murray's approach, particularly as shown in A Study

of Lives,l2 has served as a guide for the approach taken here.

 

Murray's emphasis is on the individua1--the whole individual,
including his total environment, since Murray believes that
individual behavior can be understood only in terms of its
environmental context. Further, Murray's work has been con-
cerned primarily with "normal" individuals. Thus, in this
descriptive study an attempt has been made to describe the
total individual. Data was available from work being done by
Dr. Drews for her third study on The Creative Intellectual

Style in Gifted Adolescents.l3 Two in—depth interviews were

 

conducted with each youngster, and the interviewers made an
attempt to look into the interviewee's past experiences,
his present style of life, and his dreams for the future.
Further, the researcher had access to other data gathered
on these people by Dr. Drews, Since he worked with her

both informally and for one year as a research assistant.

He has observed these youngsters in their classrooms and

8
in informal gatherings as well as in the interviews. Even
since the completion of the second interviews, the present
writer has continued to meet many of these youngsters
and has, indeed, come to know them very well. The present
writer, then, in a modest way has attempted something in
the style of Murray: his approach has been to describe
these creative youngsters as total individuals, and an
attempt has been made to describe them in their environ—
mental context.

The writer haS drawn heavily, too, on the approach
used to study creative persons at the Institute for Person-
ality Assessment and Research at Berkeley (IPAR). Two
of the workers at IPAR upon whose work the present writer
has drawn heavily are MacKinnon and Barron, and references
will be made to articles and books by these men throughout
this work. The method used to investigate creative persons
at IPAR has been to bring creative men and women to the
Institute for extended weekends of interviews, group
activities, and testing; and from these meetings with
creative persons from many different professional areas
much has been learned about the creative process and
creative persons. But most important, MacKinnon's and
Barron's work during the past decade have provided a new
basis for the study of creativity. Unlike other workers,
who have studied the creative process more in terms of
Specific skills, they have attempted to describe creative

persons as total human beings--their values, their style

9

of life, their philOSOphies, their ethical commitment,
and their commitment to creative enterprizes. And like
Murray, they have concentrated on individuals, a not too
surprising fact, since MacKinnon was a student of Murray.
In this paper, not only has this basic approach been
followed--that is, creativity has been looked upon as

a total style of life, but also many of the findings of
MacKinnon and Barron have been used as guidelines. What
they have found to be true of the creative men and women
studied at IPAR has, in many cases'been found to be true
of the creative boys and girls described herein.

Another model for the present study is David
Mallery‘s High School Students Speak Out.1“ Although
Mallery is not describing a Specific group of adolescents,
his work is relevant to this study because he has his
young peOple Speak in their own words. In this paper
too the students speak for themselves. Perhaps too in-
frequently students are asked by educators what they feel
and think; and more often than not, even if their thoughts
and feelings have been sought out, they are then reduced
to attenuated brevities for the sake of statistical analyses.
In such statistical reports we read tables and figures
rather than the students' words. This is not to say that
statistical presentations are not valuable. But des—
criptive studies in which the students Speak for them-
selves and, hence, describe themselves, are at least as

valuable.

10
The individual approach used in this paper has
been used too in sociological and anthrOpological areas.
Oscar Lewis, for example, has given us great insights
into the poor of Mexico through his descriptions of

16

individuals in Children of Sanchez15 and Pedro Martinez.

 

 

Although the present study does not pretend to be as
"in-depth" as the Lewis books (Lewis tape recorded hours
upon hours of interviews), the idea used by Lewis of
interviewing and presenting data in the interviewee's
own words is similar to the approach used here; and as
one understands the Mexican peasant better after reading

Pedro Martinez, so (in a modest way) does the present

 

researcher hope that after reading the actual words of
the twenty-seven creative young peOple included in this
study the reader will better understand the creative
adolescent.

Having stated, then, the philOSOphical basis and
described briefly some of the models for this paper, it
may now be well to describe more completely the relevance
of the concept of creativity to society and to the individ-

ual.

Creativity: Its Historical Development
and Importance

Historical Development of Creativity: In 1950

 

Guilford, perhaps sensing a dissatisfaction among psycho-

logists--particularly humanistically inclined psychologists—-

11

with typical psychological experimentations, gave an
address before the American Psychological Association
in which he stated his intentions to conduct research
in an area that had heretofore been almost completely
ignored by psychologists in general--creativity.17 Guilford
said that creative ability Should be considered apart from
intelligence; and he discussed the abilities which he, at
that point, considered to be the component factors of
creativity: sensitivity to problems, fluency, ability to
produce novel ideas, flexibility of mind, ability to
synthesize and analyze, ability to re—organize and redefine,
ability to handle complexity, and ability toevaluate.l8
As can be seen, these are positive qualities; and as
president of the American Psychological Association and
a psychologist of eminence, Guilford's Speech and the
research that he then pursued, were highly influential.
And though his work was essentially correlational and,
thus, in a fundamental way, different from the third-
force psychologists' holistic approach, it did serve to
make psychologists aware of the possibilities of research
in this area. As a result, many began to turn their
attention away from the negative and toward the more
positive growth areas.

About the same time influential humanistic psycho—
logists began to receive more attention. In 1954 Maslow

published Motivation and Personality,19 and at about

 

the same time MacKinnon began a series of assessment

12
studies of creative and productive adults at the Institute
for Personality Assessment and Research at Berkeley.20
And in 1958 Anderson edited Creativity and Its Cultivation,
a symposium on creativity which included the thinking of
some of the most outstanding psychologists in the field,
such as Rogers, Maslow, and May.21

In 1962, capitalizing on the great increase of
interest in creativity, Getzels and Jackson published a
highly influential book, Creativity and Intelligence,22
which, though the research techniques in it have been
criticized,23 created great interest and was widely read
and quoted, particularly by educators. The idea the
Getzels and Jackson research presented was that creativity
and intelligence are quite different abilities, and even
further, there seemed to be almost an antagonism between
the two. At least, that interpretation came to be widely
attached to the book; and the authors, if they did not
mean this interpretation to be made of their work, did
little to correct it. However, whatever the merits of
the book itself, it did serve to turn educators' attention
to creativity.

Importance of the Concept of Creativity: Why the
concern among educators today for creativity? For one
.reason, the creative person is becoming ever more essential
to our society. We live in a highly complex, rapidly

<3hanging society-—a society of far-reaching social and

‘technological develOpments; and as Gardner has said in

13
Excellence, just to sustain this society is going to
require the use of the most highly trained and creative

talent available.24

In fact, he says, the search for this
kind of talent is going to be one of the most significant
phenomena of our times. Eleanor Roosevelt, too, in her
survey of the world scene in her last book, said that
in a world of rapid change and change which takes us in
unforeseen directions, only the creative mind will be
able to cope:
Undoubtedly, one of the most vital elements in pre-
paring the young to meet and c0pe with questions that
cannot now be foreseen is this: unless peOple are
willing to face the unfamiliar they cannot be creative
in any sense, for creativity always means the doing
of the unfamiliar, the breaking of new ground. It
is from this creative element, which we should be
stimulating now, that all the new ideas of the future
will come. 5
Bruner has also pointed out that our chance of
survival as a democracy depends upon creative thinkers.26
Passow, speaking of the critical manpower Shortages in
our times, says that it is not competence that our society
lacks, but imagination:
Perhaps our most frightening shortages are not in the
general supply of scientists but in those rare persons
with imagination, creativity, motivation, competence,
and education who can contribute something fresh and
basig to our understanding of man's relations with
man. 7
.And when Rogers ponders the question, "Why isn't conformity
as a style of life as acceptable as creativity as a style
of‘life?" he answers himself:

In my estimation such a choice would be entirely
reasonable were it not for one great shadow that hangs

14
over all of us. In a time when knowledge, constructive
and destructive, is advancing by the most incredible
leaps and bounds into a fantastic atomic age, genuinely
creative adaptation seems to represent the only possi—
bility that man can Egep abreast of the kaleidosc0pic
change in the world.

Our modern-day society, then--complex, ever and
rapidly changing, filled with problems concerning the human
condition, on the verge, even, of self-destruction-—must
have more than competent minds available to deal with its
ills (and challenges); it needs creative minds as well.

But as Zilboorg has said, creativity thrives on imperfection
("A civilization that is very happy about itself and its
accomplishments is a civilization which is working against
the creativity of men.");29 and so, while the survival
of our society depends upon its creative contributors, at
the same time these very imperfections may very well inSpire
the greatest renaissance of creativity the world has ever
known, for the greater the need for creative men and women-—
and the need is great--the greater and more awesome may be
the response.

But creativity has become of vital concern to
educators and social commentators for another reason.

AS a counter-force to the growth of mass-culture in our
society, the threat of an impending 1983, and the "silent
conquest"30 of cybernation, there is an increased concern
for*the individual. Since there is always a tendency to

tnalue most highly what we believe may be in jeOpardy, in

Inid-20th century, we place an increasing value on the

15
individual because we see him threatened. But from another
standpoint, we might view this increasing concern for the
individual man and his potentialities as an indication
of the maturation of our society's democratic phiIOSOphy.
In short, even though conditions of modern society
seem to present a threat to the individual, there also seems
to be a widespread concern for him; and the current interest
in creativity is another manifestation of this social
trend-~for the creative man is, above all, an individual.
This emphasis on the individual can be noted also
in third—force psychology literature. Here we see not just
the theme of the basic rights of man, but the presentation
of an ideal kind of human development. AS we have seen,
Maslow speaks of the creative person as the self-actualizing
person, that is, a person who is realizing his highest
potential and becoming what he can be;31 and Rogers Speaks
of the creative person as the fully-functioning self32--
the person who is realizing the greatest potentialities
of his self-hood. And, as has been noted, Drews has
entitled her work with creative students the "Being and
Becoming" study; that is, the creative young person is
not only in the fullest and most vital state of being in
the here and now, but he is also always becoming, that is,
he is moving toward an idealized, almost platonic self.
All of these humanistic psychologists are vitally concerned
with creativity, because creativity is an expression of

self--of man's individuality. Buber says of the creativity

of man:
Every person born into this world represents something
new, something that never existed before, something
original and unique. It is the duty of every person
to know ... that there has never been anyone like him
in the world, for if there had been someone like him,
there would have been no need for him to be in the
world. Every single man is a new thing in the world
and is callgg upon to fulfill his particularity in
this world.

As was noted previously, the third-force psycho—
logists' emphasis on creativity is in many ways also an
emphasis on positive mental health. Rather than emphasizing
the negative aspects of psychology--a trend established by
Freud's preoccupation with neurosis, these psychologists
have emphasized the study of adjustment; and to them the
creative person who has found means of self-expression
is a person who has found a fulfilling way 0f life.
Anderson, in summarizing the symposium on creativity held

at Michigan State, which was later compiled into a volume,

Creativity and Its Cultivation, said of the essays in this

 

book:
The consensus of these authors is that creativity is
an expression of a mentally or psychologically healthy
person; that creativity is associated with wholeness,
unity, honesty,integrity, personal involgfiment,
enthusiasm, high motivation, action ....

Maslow's self-actualizing person is not merely a
person who has established a synergic relationship with
society, nor has he Simply realized his individuality--
he has achieved the most positive kind of mental health.35

Creative persons often fall short of the creative

ideal described by the third-force theoreticians. However,

17

creative men and women are sometimes in better mental
health than their contemporaries may think, and what may
seem to be poor mental health to their contemporaries may
be a kind of superior adjustment. Drevdahl and Cattell,
for example, have made this point:

The creative individual does not seem to be the sort

of person that one might describe as well-adjusted

in its more inclusive sense, rather, he appears to

possess what Mathew Arnold and other great griters

have described as "the divine discontent."3

It has been seen, then, that creativity has become

a much-discussed concept in the past decade for several
reasons: first, because of its social value; and, second,
because of its emphasis on the development of the individ-
ual. Considering the importance of creativity to both

society and the individual, the significance of studies

of the creative person becomes apparent.

Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to make a contribution
to an area where little research has been done. Although
a good deal of study has been done in the area of creativity,
relatively little has been done with young people. Eliot
Eisner said in 1961 that up to that time, less than three-

tenths of one per cent of the entries in Psychological

 

Abstracts were related to creativity; and those studies

 

'which were reported were concerned with the creative
adult—-usually the creative scientist, chemist, or mathe-

matician.37 Of all of the research projects reported in

18

the University of Utah Conference publications on creativity,
only one used children as subjects. And writing in 1965,
Drews said that "the psychology of human creativity is

only beginning to be written in terms of adults and is

still vastly neglected for the young person."38 Harvey

Lehman pointed out in Age and Achievement that many of

 

our greatest contributors have made their major contri-
butions in their late teens and early twenties,39 thus,
it seems particularly unfortunate that the adolescent
years have been neglected by students of creativity.
Further, there is a need for teachers to under-
stand these creative young people. Getzels and Jackson
found that the highly intelligent, relatively uncreative
students were more popular with their teachers than the
high creativesfLO Torrance has found too that creative

Al

youngsters are not popular with teachers, and Drews
has shown in her studies of able youth that both the
studious and social-leader adolescents are more favored
by their teachers than the creative intellectuals.42
The purpose of this dissertation, then, is to
contribute to the general literature on creativity by
describing a group of creative young people. Through

the descriptions presented, the reader will, perhaps,

better understand this type of youngster.

19
Footnotes

1. Elizabeth Monroe Drews, The Creative Intellectual
Style in Gifted Adolescents; Being and Becoming: A Cosmic
Approach to Counseling and Curriculum, Report II in a
series of three: Final Report for the Media Branch,

Title VII, National Defense Education Act, Contract No.
7-32-OA10, U.S. Office Of Education, "The Effectiveness

of Audio-Visuals in Changing Aspirations of Intellectually
Superior Students." Phase I. (East Lansing: Office Of
Research and Publications, College of Education,

Michigan State University, 1965), p. 58.

 

 

 

2. Rollo May, "The Origins and Significance Of the
Existential Movement in Psychology," Existence: A New
Dimension in Psychiatry and Psychology,eds. Rollo May
23 21. (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1958), p. 12.

 

 

3. Drews, Report II, op. cit.
Other reports in the series are:

Elizabeth Monroe Drews, The Creative Intellectual
Style in Gifted Adolescents; Motivation to Learn: Atti-
tudes, Interests, and Values, Report I in a series Of
three: Final Report of the COOperative Research Program,
E-2, U.S. Office Of Education, 'A Study of Non-Intellectual
Factors in Superior, (Average, and Slow) High School
Students" (East Lansing: College Of Education, Michigan
State University, 1964).

 

 

 

, The Creative Intellectual
Style in Gifted Adolescents: Process and Product: A
Reassessment of Students and Program, Report III in a
series of three: Final Report for the Media Branch, Title
VII, National Defense Education Act, Contract NO. 7-32-
OAlO-222, U.S. Office Of Education, "The Effectiveness
of Audio-Visuals in Changing Aspirations of Intellectually
Superior Students," Phase II. (East Lansing: College of
Education, Michigan State University, 1966).

 

 

 

 

A. Abraham H. Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being
(Princeton: An Insight Book, D. Van Nostrand Company,
Inc., 1962), p. 181.

 

5. Ibid.

6. Pitirim A. Sorokin, "The Powers of Creative Unselfish
Love," New Knowledge in Human Values, ed. Abraham H.
Maslow (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959), pp. 10—11.

 

7. Kaoru Yamamoto, "Creativity: A Blind Man's Report
on the Elephant,” Journal of Counseling Psychology, XII
(April, 1965), pp.wfi28L43D.

 

20
8. Ibid.

9. Carl Rogers, "Two Divergent Trends," Existential
Psychology, ed. Rollo May (New York: Random House, 1961)

P- 87.

 

 

10. Abraham Maslow, "Science and Self-Actualization,"
Manas, Vol. XVIII, July 28, 1965, p. 1.

11. Gordon Allport, Pattern and Growth in Personality
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961), p. 550.

 

12. Robert W. White, A Study of Lives: Essays on Person-
ality in Honor Of Henry A. Murray (Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1963).

 

 

l3. Drews, Report III, Op. cit.

14. David Mallery, High School Students Speak Out (New
York: Harper and Brothers, 1962).

 

l5. Oscar Lewis, Children of Sanchez (New York: Random
House, 1963).

 

16. , Pedro Martinez (New York: Random House,
1964).

 

 

l7. J.P. Guilford, "Creativity," The American Psychologist,
V (August, 1950), pp. 444-454.

 

18. Ibid., pp. 451—453.

19. Abraham Maslow, Motivation and Personality (New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1954).

 

20. A variety Of papers representing the work of MacKinnon
and his colleagues is available in the publication, The
Creative Person, a report on a conference held at the
Tahoe Alumni Center, October 17, 1961.

 

21. Harold A. Anderson (ed.), Creativity and Its Cultivation

 

(New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959).

22. Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson, Creativity
and Intelligence (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1962).

 

 

23. Paul A. Witty, "Recent Publications Concerning the
Gifted and Creative Student," Phi Delta Kappan, XLVI
(January, 1965), pp. 222-223.

 

24. John W. Gardner, Excellence: Can We Be Equal and
Excellent TOO? (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers,

19631 pp. 33-45.

 

 

21

25. Eleanor Roosevelt, Tomorrow IS Now (New York: Harper
and Row, Publishers, 1963), p. 67.

 

26. Jerome Bruner, The Process of Education (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1960), p. 10.

 

27. A. Harry Passow, Educating the Gifted,ed. Joseph L.
French (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1959), p. 198.

 

28. Carl Rogers, "Toward a Theory of Creativity," Creativity
and Its Cultivation, ed. Harold A. Anderson (New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1958), p. 70.

 

 

29. Gregory Zilboorg, "The Psychology of the Creative
Personality," Creativity: An Examination of the Creative
Process, A Report on the Third Communications Conference
of the Art Directors Club, ed. Paul Smith (New York:
Hastings House, Publishers, 1959), p. 31.

 

30. Donald N. Michael, Cybernation: The Silent Conquest
A Report to the Center for the Study of Democratic Insti—
tutions (Santa Barbara: The Fund for the Republic, 1962).

 

31. Abraham Maslow, "Creativity in Self-Actualizing Peo 1e,"
Anderson, Creativity and Its Cultivation, Op. cit., pp. 3—95.

 

32. Rogers, op. cit., pp. 69—82.

33. Martin Buber, Hasidism and Modern Man (Trans. and ed.
by M. Friedman; New York: Horizon Press, 1958), p. 139.

 

34. gnderson, Creativity and Its Cultivation, Op. cit.,
p. 24 .

 

 

35. Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being éPrinceton:
Insight Book, D. Van Nostrant Company, 1962):2p. l l.

36. John E. Drevdahl and Raymond B. Cattell, "Personality
and Creativity in Artists and Writers," Journal of Clinical
Psychology, XIV (April, 1958), p. 111.

 

 

37. Eliot W. Eisner, "Creativity in Learning," reprint Of

a paper delivered at the 16th Annual Conference of the
Association for Supervision and Curriculum DevelOpment,
March 13, 1961.

38. Drews, Op. cit., p. 270.

39. Harvey C. Lehman, Age and Achievement (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1953).

 

40. Getzels and Jackson, op. cit.

22

41. Paul E. Torrance, Education and the Creative Potential
(Minneapolis: The Modern School Practices Series, The
University of Minnesota Press, NO. 5, 1963).

 

42. Drews, Report I, Op. cit.

.4,

— s

CHAPTER II
METHODOLOGY

Problems of Identifying Creative Subjects

Studies of creativity present many problems. One
of the difficulties is the term "creativity" itself. It
is an elusive term that can be defined in many different
ways and from many different referent points. As Anderson
and many others have said,creativity may, on the one hand,
be looked upon from the point of view of product, while
on the other it may be looked upon as a process.1 Another
approach is to study the creative individual, and it is
this alternative which has been chosen as the focus for the
research to be reported.

Barron and MacKinnon at the Institute of Personality
Assessment and Research have stressed the personality
attributes Of the creative person; and rather than investi-
gating the skills Of the creative person, they have attempted
to describe his characteristics.2 Maslow, Rogers, Allport,
May, and other humanistically oriented psychologists take
a somewhat broader view and not only describe a creative
individual who is highly motivated to make original contri-
butions but add the dimension of a well-developed humani-

tarian-altruistic concern.3 These psychologists feel the

23

24
development and use Of talent does not lead to self-fulfill-
ment unless these talents are put to use for the social
good and contribute to the betterment of the world order.
Drews, combining the philosophy of the third-force psycho-
logists and some of the methodological approach of the
IPAR workers in her studies of "creative-intellectual"
adolescents, emphasized, in particular, their total life
style, including altruistic inclinations. In her reports
she notes that these youngsters have a drive to deal with
intellectual matters, to be contemplative and independent,
and to be oriented toward the theoretical, the aesthetic,
and complex and original approaches.“ Further, she finds
that many of them have a well-develOped social conscience
and a desire to find a way to exercise this.

In the identification of creative peOple Operational
definitions must be made, and groups of creative persons
identified by using these definitions. But even when an
Operational definition of the word has been made and a
particular type Of creativity defined, the task of identi—
fying subjects for study who meet the criteria is still an
onerous one.

In choosing creative adults to study, a frequent
procedure is for the researcher to ask members within a
particular professional group to choose those among their
peers who are considered outstandingly creative.5 This
was the procedure followed by Donald MacKinnon in his study

Of architects, and it is the procedure customarily used

25

at IPAR. It was also the approach used by Anne Roe in

6

The Making Of a Scientist. Other approaches are also used,

 

particularly when the study is to deal with peOple no longer
living. Certain researchers choose their creative subjects

on the basis of the Space devoted to a description of their

lives and work in reference books, such as encyclopedias

and various editions of Who's Who.7 For their study of

 

eminent creative contributors, Victor and Mildred Goertzel
chose those 20th century persons about whom at least two
full-length biographies had been written and which were

in the collection of the Montclair, New Jersey, Public

8

Library. Also used as a criterion in the selection of
creative subjects in such studies are the numbers of arti-
cles which they have had published in professional journals.
In many Of these approaches to a selection of a group of
creative adults, the creative product--agreed to be out—
standing by either the profession Or the larger society--
is used as the criterion. In other words, the creative
persons are chosen ad hgc—-after they have demonstrated
themselves to be creative through the production of an
outstanding work.

In the selection Of a group of creative young peOple,
however, these approaches are not Open to the researcher.
Few youngsters, except in the case Of an extremely pre-
cocious child, such as a Mozart, or, more recently a Carolyn

Glyn,9 roduce creative works that receive widespread
P

recognition. In selecting creative children and youth, the

26
researcher cannot rely on a universally acclaimed painting,
opera, mathematical contribution, scientific innovation,
or a seminal book or article as a criterion, nor will there
be biographical data available.

Fortunately, the adults who have been studied pro-
vide guidelines for the study of younger creative subjects.
The studies Of adult creatives have revealed that when
certain attitude, interest, and value measures are employed,
these peOple Often have similar reSponse patterns. The
researcher may assume, therefore, that if these same measures
are used with younger persons, those whose response patterns
are similar to those of the adults may be judged to have a

creative potential.

Method of Identifying Creative Subjects
for the Present Study

The present study uses the information collected
by Drews in her research on the creative-intellectual style.
She identified a group of young peOple in her third studylo
by using instruments developed at the Center for the Study
Of Higher Education and also measures develOped in her
previous research. Her work and this study have been heavily
influenced by the third-force psychologists. This group
has, to a large extent, discussed and portrayed an ideal
or prototype of the creative person. In contrast, CSHE

and IPAR have found, by direct assessment of selected

creative peOple, that certain characteristic personality

27

and character factors can be ascribed to this group. In
her research, Drews hypothesized that if it is true that
certain attributes are found to be associated with adult
creatives, then these same attributes, if found among
adolescents, might indicate potential for creative life
styles and perhaps eventual productivity. This approach
has been used in the present study. The youngsters described
herein have been selected on the basis of attitudes, interests,
and values which are comparable to those Shown by the creative
adults in the CSHE and IPAR studies.

Having made this general statement concerning the
method Of selecting youngsters for this study, it will now
be well to explain in detail how the selection was made.

During the 1960-61 school year, Dr. Drews made a
study Of 400 able adolescents to determine differences
among them in terms of creative attitudes, interests, and
values.ll She found that self-descriptions and test data
were remarkably consistent and that the more creative
adolescents, called creative-intellectuals, could be dis—
tinguished from the less creative in much the same terms
that MacKinnon distinguished more creative from less creative
architects. Following this research, She received another
grant to investigate whether a Specially designed educational
program would foster creative attitudes and behaviors. To
determine this, a new course for ninth grade social studies
was devised. This was tested in the Lansing Public Schools.12

The social studies class involved in the experiment was a

28

semester course in which Dr. Drews and her staff used ten

films, the "Being and Becoming Series,"

which they produced,
and an experimental, Open-ended "Four Worlds Textbook,"
which they developed, as well as innovative classroom
techniques. These innovations and the efforts of able
teachers transformed a traditional careers course to an
horizon-widening, value- and attitude-centered one.13
The four Lansing junior high schools were involved in the
study, with experimental and control classes in each school.
All ninth graders who were reading at least two grades
above the ninth grade reading level were included in either
the experimental or control group.lu

The experimental and control groups were pre- and
post-tested on a number of measures, most of which assessed

interests, values, and attitudes; and the results Of this

study are reported in Being and Becoming: A Cosmic

 

Approach to Curriculum.15 However, Dr. Drews continued

 

her interest in the characteristics of the students them-
selves as well as in school program adaptations. Through

the use of a personality inventory, the Omnibus Person-

 

ality Inventory (OPI), the Student Interest Survey obser—

 

 

vations Of the youngsters in the classroom, and other
devices described in detail in Reports I, II, and III of

The Creative and Intellectual Style in Gifted Adolescents,

 

She identified about 40 youngsters who seemed to be parti-
cularly creative and whom She wished to study further.

All were interviewed and many of the details of this under-

29

taking are to be found in Report III. It was from this
group that the youngsters described in this present study
were chosen. Since one of the instruments used by Dr. Drews
to select her creative intellectuals was the 92;, and since
it was used further in the selection of the youngsters for
this study, it will be described below in considerable
detail.

The OPI was developed at the Center for the Study
of Higher Education.16 Although the instrument is not gener-
ally available, Dr. Drews received permission from Dr. Heist
to use it for her studies Of the creative-intellectual style
in adolescents. Specifically the developers Of the instru—
ment were Paul Heist and Phoebe Williams, who produced their
first version of the inventory in 1957. The test was de-
signed to measure such personality factors as Openness to
psychological growth and a strong motivation to learn--
qualities associated with the creative process. The scales
were drawn from other inventories and from research by other

agencies. The format of the 300-item Inventory is similar

 

to the format of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality

 

Inventory, from which about half of the original OPI items

 

came. However, while the purpose of the MMPI is to measure

 

psychopathology, the purpose of the OPI is to measure more
positive personality factors. More mature, highly educated
persons attain higher scores on the scales within the Inven—

tory than those with less education.l7

Dr. Drews used five scales Of the OPI as criteria

30
in order to select her group of 40 creative youngsters out

Of the experimental population of 127: Originality (9),

 

Complexity (Cg), Aestheticism (Aes), Theoretical Orientation

 

 

 

(29), and Thinking Introversion (T). personal communication
h18

 

with Dr. Heist and other researc indicated that creative

adults and college students possess to a high degree the
qualities measured by these five scales; hence, an assump-
tion in the present study is that students who receive high
scores on these scales are also likely to be persons with
a greater potential for creative thought and activity.
Further explanations of these scales follow:
The Originality scale "measures a tendency toward
highly organized but individual ways of reacting to
the environment. Characteristics of high scorers are
independence Of judgment, freedom of expression, rebel-
liousnessi rejection of suppression, and novelty Of
insight." 9 The scale was adapted from research by

Barron and Gough at the University Of California Insti-
tute for Personality Assessment and Research.

 

The Complexity scale was also adopted from the work
Of Barron and is designed to distinguish between peOple
who "perceive and react to complex aSpects of their
environment and those who react to more Simple stimulus
patterns."2O High scorers are more independent, liberal,
critical, unconventional, and they are "potentially
more original and creative; they welgime the new and
the different in their experiences." Low scorers
tend to be compliant, conservative, accepting of authority
and tradition, and Simpler in their organizations of
perceptions.

 

The Aesthetic scale is a measure of interests in
this area and was an outgrowth Of the fact that analysis
of the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values showed
a correlation between aesthetic values and intellectual
commitment.22 The high scorers in this area seem not
only to have an affinity for beauty in the realm of
the arts, but with them ideas and theory become things
Of beauty as well. It would seem that with highly
purposeful, creative workers Beauty and Truth are
synonymous.

 

 

31

The Theoretical Orientation scale was also derived
from the Study Of Values. In a study of National Merit
Scholars, it has been demonstrated that students with
high-order scholastic talent score high both in Aesthetic

 

 

 

and Theoretical values. The scale "measures an interest
in science and in scientific activities, which includes
a preference for using the scientific method in think-
ing." Persons who score high are generally logical,
rational, and critical in their approach to problems.

 

The Thinking Introversion scale of Evans and
McConnell was incorporated into the OPI unchanged with
respect to content, although the respOEse form was
changed from a Likert-type response to a true-false form.
"Persons scoring high on this measure are characterized
by a liking for nglective thought, particularly of an
abstract nature. High scores in this area suggest
an interest in a variety of areas, especially literature,
art, and philosophy. While low scorers on the scale
tend to be extroverted types who have a preference for
overt action and who evaluate ideas on the basis Of
their practical, immediate appreciation,high scorers
tend to be less dominated by objective conditions and
generally accepted ideas.

 

A picture that emerges from the pattern, then,
suggests that those who attain high scores on these scales
are generally rational, critical, and logical in their think-
ing patterns and that they have an affinity for the abstract
and aesthetics; indeed, their chosen work is likely to be
seen by them as a matter of Beauty as well as Truth. They
also have a liking for the complex, the "too-difficult."

And their thinking tends to be fresh and original.

With this instrument, then, Dr. Drews selected her
group Of creative students. The present study, however,
was to be a descriptive study of a smaller group of creative
youngsters, and the writer decided to make further selections
from Drews' group choosing again on the basis Of the five

scales of the OPI. Specifically, youngsters were chosen

32
for study who scored at least one standard deviation or
more above the mean of the 127 experimental students in
the Drews' study on three out of five Of the OPI scales.
The scores were obtained from the post-eXperimental test-
ings.

To recapitulate: The pOpulation Of creative adol-
escents for this research was chosen by making use of guide-
lines established in several studies of adult creatives
(MacKinnon, Roe, Heist). Drews had employed these in three

studies Of the Creative Intellectual Style in Adolescents.

 

The present report draws from the pOpulation which She
experimented with and described in her second and third
studies. In the second study, 127 experimental students
(who were chosen as being superior in reading comprehension)
were assessed by tests, Observations, and work samples.
From this group, 40 of the most creative were chosen for
further study and became the focus of her third report.
From this group, 27 youngsters were chosen for the present
study. The 27 scored at least a standard deviation or more
above the mean of the total experimental group on three
out Of five of the OPI scales, and it is these youngsters
who will be described.

The names* of the 27 boys and girls and their OPI
scores are to be found in Tables 1 and 2. Since the students

in the original experimental study were a select group—-

 

*The names used in this study are fictitious.

33

that is, youngsters of above-average reading ability, it
is probable that the mean scores for this group are higher
than they would be for an unselected group.

TABLE 1. - Mean scores for boys on the Originality, Com-

lexity, Aesthetic, Theoretical Orientation, and Thinking
Infroversion scales Of the Omnibus Personality Inventory

 

 

 

 

 

lo
6

Aes To Ti

Mean Scores A7.60 55.05 40.02 50.78 46.62

 

 

Students

Jeff 21* 12 :2 .62 .62
Eldon 57 .II .51 57 57
Joe 53 51 27 62 55
George '57 67 47 '66 '59
Nathan '57 '63 45 52 '59
Mark '53 66 49 62 '6?
Rex 'EI 67 37 '66 '68
Morris 'H9 '36 51 6O 58
Keith 54 53 'SI 56' 62
Curtis 62 56 39 66 59
Franklin '65 .67 47 '55 :gg
Robert ._2 .73 37 .69 .57

*Underline scores indicate those at least one
standard deviation above the mean score for boys in the
total group. Scores were attained in the Spring of 1963.

34

TABLE 2. - Mean scores for girls on the Originality, Com-
plexity, Aesthetic, Theoretical Orientation, and Thinking
IntroverSion scales of the Omnibus Personality Inventory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_C_9_ ' Aes go Ti

Io

Mean Scores 49.25 54.56 50.63 46.97 49.98

 

 

Students*

Georgia 56** 64 61 66 54
Edith 66 69 '5I '58 55
Muriel 60 1T7 54 72 61
Lisa '68 58 69 5B '72
Julie 66 69 5E '55 ‘66
Carol '66 '7I 47 58 '58
Mildred '55 67 54 57 '69
Hilma 70 '7I 69 60" .65
Debbie 56 62 64 '48 E
Sarah '56 62 56' 66 70
Nancy '62 51 61 39 '62
Beatrice '56 62 4'5 62 57
Jenny _E. E .28. it. 18*

*Five girls who met the criterion were unable to
take part in the study.

**Underlined scores indicate those at least one

standard deviation above the mean score for girls in the
total group. Scores were attained in the Spring of 1963.

When one is selecting a group of persons to study,
desirable subjects sometimes elude the criterion established
for the selection of the group. In the present study, this
was true in the case Of two boys. Through Observations of
these boys in class discussions, their interviews, and
investigation of other available data, the researcher be-
lieved that they seemed to be highly creative persons.
However, their_gPI scores did not meet the criteria. (See

Table 3) In Spite of this, the boys were included in the

35

study. Two factors must be made clear in defense Of

their inclusion. First, the OPI scores these boys attained
were considerably above the mean. Only Arthur's complexity
score fell below the mean. Second, the scores these boys
attained on the OPI in other testing sessions (in the fall
Of 1962 and again the year following the 1963 testing)

were high. It would seem, then, that the scores these boys
attained in the Spring of 1963 perhaps represent them on
"an Off day" or "in a slump."

TABLE 3. - Mean scores for boys on the Originality, Com-

plexity, Aesthetic, Theoretical Orientation, and Thinking
Introversion scales of the Omnibus Personality Inventory

 

 

 

9_ CO Aes TO .2;

Mean Scores 47.60 55.05 40.02 50.78 46.62

 

Students
Waino 53* 58 47 55 23
Arthur 52 53 45 55 5

*Underlined scores indicate those at least one
standard deviation above the mean scores for boys in the
total group.

The final group to be included in the present study, then

is as follows:

Boys (N 14) Girls (N 13)

Curtis Morris Sarah Lisa
Waino Keith Mildred Edith
Joe Jeff Hilma Julie
Mark George Nancy Carol
Arthur Eldon Muriel Debbie
Rex Robert Georgia Beatrice

Franklin Nathan Jenny

36

These boys and girls, then, were the total group
included in the study. After the group had been selected,
other available data was checked; and the teachers who
took part in the Drews' experiment, as well as the research
assistants who sat in at least ten class discussions in
each of the junior high schools, were shown the list, and
general agreement was reached that the youngsters on the
list were, indeed, young people whose attitudes, interests,

and values could be described as creative.

Procedures

In the summer of 1963, approximately a half a
year after the experimental social studies course, the
group of youngsters chosen by Dr. Drews were interviewed
by Miss Arlis Thornblade, a young woman who had assisted
Dr. Drews in the research which was reported in the second
study. The interview schedule that Miss Thornblade used
was devised by Dr. Drews and her associates and was an
adaptation of a schedule develOped by MacKinnon. It was
designed to elicit information about the interviewees'
early childhood, family, and elementary school experi-
ences; their adolescence and junior high school experi-
ences; and their interests, Opinions, and attitudes. (See
Appendix A) Each interview took two hours or more to
complete. The interviews were tape recorded and tran-
scriptions were made of the tapes. AS has been noted,

only 27 of these interviews have been used as a basis for

37

this study.

In the summer and fall of 1964, the youngsters
were interviewed again. Again the interviews were at least
two-hour sessions, and they were again tape recorded.

The interview schedule for this series of interviews

related less to the youngsters' past experiences and more

to their present thinking and style of life. The sections
of the interview schedule included self-awareness and aware-
ness of others, aesthetic and cultural interests, thinking
style, social concern, and views on education. (See Appendix
B) Half of the interviews this time were conducted by the
present writer, and the others were conducted by another

of Dr. Drews' assistants, David Kanouse, a recent graduate
of Reed College who was that summer preparing to enter

Yale Law School. Although complete transcripts were not
made of the tapes Of these second interviews, the writer's
task was to transcribe those sections which touched directly
on those questions posed in the first interview. It can

be seen, then, that the present writer had the advantage

of being able to draw upon two sets of interviews conducted
about a year apart.

Several months after the second series of interviews
was completed, the writer began his analysis of the accumu-
lated data. A rating Sheet, also based on MacKinnon's work,
was devised by him and Dr. Drews. (See Appendix C) This
rating sheet was designed for the purpose of conducting a

content analysis of the transcriptions of the first inter-

38

views. The rating sheet was comprised of 39 items, each
of some relevance to the creative process; and these items
have become the basis of the central chapter of this
dissertation, Chapter III.

Using this 39—item rating Sheet, the present writer
and Miss Joan Lenon, who was also on Dr. Drews' staff, as
well as being a staff member (with an M.A. degree) in the
Lansing schools, then analyzed the interview transcripts of
the 27 boys and girls who had been selected. They gave each
interviewee a plus, minus, or zero on each of the items on
the sheet. A plus was given if the interviewee showed the
quality mentioned in the item, a minus was given if the
interviewee did not exhibit this quality, and a zero was
given if the interviewee did not seem to reveal any feelings
concerning the item. For example, one of the items was
"Concern for individuality." If the interviewee seemed to
Show this concern in the interview, he was given a plus; if
he did not Show this concern, he was given a minus; and if
in the course of the interview the subject of individuality
was not brought up, or if it was alluded to but the inter—
viewee was noncommittal on the subject, he was given a zero{
For each of the 39 items, then, each of the 27 interviewees
received one of these ratings. Then percentages were compiled
for each item; that is, a percentage was found for the number
Of boys and the number of girls who reacted positively to a
particular item, another percentage for the number of boys

and the number Of girls who reacted negatively, and a

39

percentage for the number who did not react to this item.
An additional percentage was determined for the number of
boys and the number of girls about whom the two raters
disagreed about the interviewee's reactions. Thus, for
each item, four percentage figures were found for the boys,
four for the girls. (See Appendix D)

Miss Lenon and the present writer discussed the
possible range of responses to the items at some length
before they began their ratings, and they also discussed
the wording Of each item carefully so that they were certain
their interpretations Of the item would be the same. Further,
immediately after they had rated a youngster's interview,
they compared their ratings; and in cases of disagreement,
if one could show the other evidence in the interview
transcript which had possibly been overlooked when he made
his judgment, he would change his rating for that item.
These precautions perhaps account for the fact that the
raters agreed in a high percentage of the cases. With the
boys, the average agreement between the judges was 93 per
cent, with the girls, 96 per cent. These figures mean that
in the case of the boys, for example, the raters agreed 93
per cent of the time when they rated the interviewees either
plus, minus, or zero.

In Chapter III the results of this procedure are
presented. Each of the 39 items is stated, a rationale is
presented to suggest the item's relevance to creativity,

and the percentage figures relating to the item are given.

40
Thus, for example, the reader may find the percentage of boys
who seemed to be concerned for their individuality, the
percentage who do not seem to be, the percentage who did
not refer to this quality, and the percentage of times the
raters disagreed in rating them on this item. The same
figures may be found for the girls.

A part of the plan Of this dissertation was to
present descriptions of the boys and girls in their own words.
Therefore, after the ratings had been completed, the researcher
read the transcripts Of the first interviews again and
extracted from them virtually all of the statements and
comments that related to the 39 items of the rating sheet.

In other words, anything that the students said that related
to any of the items was extracted, and all Of the statements
that related to the same item were placed together. Further,
the writer took the students' words from the partial tran-
scriptions he had made of the second interview series, and
these tOO he placed in one of the appropriate 39 categories.
However, since the rating sheet was designed to relate Speci—
fically to the first interviews, it would be expected that
most Of the statements came from that series of interviews.
At this point the writer had extracted hundreds of quotations
from the interviews, and each one had been placed in its
appropriate category. Many Of the comments could be inter-
preted to relate to several of the items, but these were
placed with the item to which they seemed most germane.

Since it would not be feasible to present all the comments

41
in this study, representative quotations were selected.
But since a purpose Of this dissertation was to describe
these youngsters in their own words, representative samples
selected remain Sizeable. The quotations appear in Chapter
III, with the percentage figures. It is the hope that by
reading these comments, the reader will come to understand
how creative boys and girls feel on a number of tOpics
which relate to creativity.

Chapter IV contains excerpted comments made on the
subject of education, primarily in response to one of the
items in the first interview. Since this dissertation will
be read mainly by people in education-—and, indeed, it is
largely for the sake Of educators that such a study is made--
a separate chapter has been devoted to this topic.

Immediately following the task of extracting the
quotations from the interviews, the writer began compiling
the data for the eight profiles that appear in Chapter V.
The four boys and four girls who were chosen for the profiles
seemed to be representative of the various creative styles
encountered in this study. The researcher relied upon many
different sources Of information in writing these descrip—
tions: the interviews, Dr. Drews' files, their teachers,
their friends, and incidental social encounters. Although
the writer is aware that the impressions presented in the
profiles are not strictly in the scientific mold, still they
are based upon quite extensive encounters with the young

people-~both "indirect encounters" through the available

42
data and direct encounters. Further, the profiles have
been read by others who know the youngsters, including
some Of their teachers, and they have concurred with the
over-all "pictures" presented.*
The final section, Chapter VI, summarizes the study

and also includes implications for educators.

*Some of the details of the youngsters' lives have
been somewhat altered in the profiles to preserve their
anonymity.

43

Footnotes

1. Harold Anderson, "Creativity and Education," College
and Univeristy Association for Higher Education Bulletin,
YIII (May 1, 1961).

2. Frank Barron, "Originality in Relation to Personality
and Intellect," Journal of Personalipy, XXV (December,

1957), pp. 730—742.

3. See Anderson, Creativity and Its Cultivation,op. cit.

 

4. Drews, Report II, Op. cit., p. 12.

5. Morris I. Stein, "Creativity and the Scientist," The
Direction Of Research Establishments, Part III (London:
‘Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1957), pp. 1-19.

6. Anne Roe, The Making of a Scientist (New York: Apollo
Editions, Dodd, Mead and CO., 1955).

 

7. J.M. Cattell, "A Statistical Study Of Eminent Men,"
Popular Science Monthly, LXII (February, 1903), 359-377;
Francis Galton, Hereditary Genius (New York: D. Appleton
Company, 1870), and Harvey Lehman, "The Chemist's Most
Creative Years," Science, CXXVII (May 23, 1958), pp. 1213-
1222.

 

 

8. Victor and Mildred Goertzel, Cradles Of Eminence
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1962), pp. vii-x.

9. Carolyn Glyn, Don't Knock the Corners Off (New York:
Coward-McCann, 1963).

 

10. Drews, Report III, Op. cit.
ll. Drews, Report I, op. cit.

12. The grant was made through the Media Branch, Title
'VII, Of the National Defense Act, Contract No. 7-32-0410-
140, U.S. Office of Education.

13. For a complete description Of the experimental course
see Drews, Report II, Op. cit.

14. Ibid., p. 165. The California Reading Testy Advanced
Form (the comprehension section)’was the test used to measure
reading level. The mean reading level Of the experimental
group was 12.32, and the mean I.Q. was 123.38. (Calif-
ornia Mental Maturity Test)

15. Ibid., pp. 184—196.

44

.16. Paul A. Heist and Phoebe A. Williams, The Omnibus
IPersonality Inventory (Berkeley, California: Center for

PEJde Study of Higher Education, University Of California,
1957).

 

13?. Unlike the well-known Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study
cxf Values, the scale titles of which are similar to the
CIPI scales, the OPI allows the testee to score high on
£111 Of the scaleST— On the Study of Values the testee
HHASL make a choice between two possibilities on each
fixtem; hence, a high score on one Of the six scales
cienmhds a low score on one of the other scales.

 

IE3. Paul Heist and Harold Webster, "Differential Character-
ixstics Of Student Bodies: Implications for Selection and
Eitudy of Undergraduates," Selection and Educational Diffe-
rwentiation (Berkeley, California: Center for the Study of
Itigher Education, University Of California, 1959).

Jonathon R. Warren and Paul A. Heist, "Personality
Itttributes of Gifted College Students," (Berkeley, Calif-
ornia: Center for the Study Of Higher Education, University
of California). Mimeographed paper.

19. Warren and Heist, Op. cit., p. 7.
20. Ibid.

21. Ibid.

 

22. Gordon W. Allport, Philip E. Vernon, and Gardner Lind-
zey, Study of Values: A Scale for Measuring the Dominant

_Ipterests in Personality, (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Company,
1960), p. 10.

23. Heist and Williams, Omnibus Personality Inventory
_y@hual, Op. cit., p.

24. Ibid.

 

25. Kahn and Cannell have said that the presence of
.recording equipment is not likely to be a deterrent in an
interview. Robert L. Kahn and Charles F. Cannell, The
jQynamics Of Interviewing: TheorprTechnique, and Cases
(New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1962), p. 240.

 

CHAPTER III
CONTENT ANALYSIS OF DATA

There are two aspects Of this chapter: First,
percentage figures indicating how the 27 youngsters re-
sponded to each of the 39 items on the rating Sheet will
be given (these percentages are listed in Appendix D as
well); and, second, representative quotations from the
interviews which relate to each item will be presented.
Further, a brief discussion suggesting the relevance of

each of the items to creativity will be included.

Early Childhood and Family

The literature on creativity suggests that as
youngsters, creative persons Often had an adult, usually
within the family, with whom they closely identified and
from whom they received support and guidance. Harold
McCurdy has suggested that in the childhoods Of the
creative adults he studied, there inevitably was at least
one adult, usually within the child's family, with whom
he closely identified and received early training and
inSpiration.l

In the present study, the first item read: "Inter-

viewee identifies with one parent or with close relative."

45

46

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive... ............... .79%
Negative........... ....... . 7%
Insufficient evidence ...... 7%
Raters disagreed..... ..... . 7%

For the girls:

Positive......... ......... .92%
Negative ................... 8%
Insufficient evidence...... 0%
Raters disagreed ..... . ..... 0%

Waino may be taken as an example of a boy who ident-

ifies with his father, who apparently received a fine edu-

cation in his native Estonia:

I can talk to him about anything under the sun, and he
has something to say about it. Most of the time it is
something concrete.

Rex was one of the few persons in the study who expressed

a strong antagonism toward a parent-~in this case his mother:

But

My mother never listens to a word I say. All I ever
get from her is that school isn't as good as it used
to be. She's thoroughly convinced that kids in school
now are idiots. She will never listen to me. Before
she didn't want to, and now there isn't anything in
common. I know my mother better than she knows me.
She doesn't know me hardly at all.

he says of his stepfather:

I like my stepfather a lot more than my mother because
he's one person who, all the time, will listen to me.

Franklin expresses a respectful attitude toward his father:

And

My father's a chemical engineer now. He just got a
little raise recently. He's been head figure down at
the Oldsmobile lab for a while. He's very successful
as far as I'm concerned. He's nice--a nice person, and
a very intelligent person--very active.

Jeff reveals similar feelings:

My father traveled a lot. But when he was home, I en-

47

joyed a lot of the same things he did. I enjoyed work—
ing with him; and when he was home, I Spent as much
time as I could with him. My mother was around a lot,
and I think she was the one I told most Of my problems
to.

Arthur, whose father does not live in the home, refers to

his mother throughout the interview. His feelings are re-

vealed in the succinct:

And

I like to talk to my mother. She is old and knows a
few things.

Robert, whose father is dead, says similarly:

Interviewer: What sorts of things are you apt to dis-
cuss with your mother?

Oh, anything under the sun. Anything that bothers me,
or if there's something I just want to say. I know
she's been a real mother and father to me, and that's
not too easy.

Franklin says of his mother:

My mom's very encouraging. She's not over-bearing or

that type of person, but She's been very encouraging.

She's tried her darnedest to be a good mother, and she
succeeds very well too. Believe me, I need encourage-
ment to get me to do anything.

Morris Speaks well of his father in his interview, but he

also talks Of his grandfather's influence:

And

My grandfather was a real whiz with figures. He was
an accountant. He used to try and Show me a little--
brain busters you might say. This was about when I
was ten.

in the case of Nathan there is an admiration for one

Older brother who represents a rebel type, and antagonism

toward another Older brother who represents conformity.

When asked whom he admires, he answers:

My Oldest brother, well, he's married and successfully
teaching, and, well, this is society's criteria for
success. But my own personal criteria view would be

48

my youngest brother because he's more or less what I'd
like to be like--a rebel.

In the case Of Curtis--the only boy whom both raters in-
dicated a negative—-there seemed to be little feeling to-
ward either parent. The father is away most of the week
on business; and when he comes home on weekends, he sleeps
mostly. The mother reads quite a bit, but Curtis expressed
little feeling about her. However, Curtis was a taciturn
type, and there was more a lack of feeling expressed con-
cerning any member of his family than any definite antagonism.
Jenny discussed in considerable detail her relationship with
both her father and mother; and she says of her relationship
to them:
It's always been kind of a mother—son, father-daughter
relationship in our family. My mother always says in
her fits of anger, "You like your father better than
you do me," and things like that.
Interviewer: IS it true?
Yeah. But my father's good for one thing, my mother
for another. You need her for sympathy and stuff like
that, and you need him to have a good time and laugh
about life and not let it get too serious.
And she continues:
Nobody could touch me--up until about the eight grade.
I was really my father's pet, and nobody could ever say
anything bad about me or do anything to hurt me. Buddy
(brother) couldn't tease me within my father's earshot
without getting really reprimanded.
Lisa says:
Both of my parents have something to Offer me, intellect-
ually as well as giving me love and such. But I guess
I'm more like my mother in ideas because in thinking

Of ideas I'm more complicated. I'm always questioning,
and I think I'm more like her in that way.

49
And although Edith says of her father that he provides "an
essential power" in her family, and she has a "strong tend-
ency toward him" it is her mother with whom she feels the
closest ties.

I just hOpe I can be like her when I grow up. We
moved into a nicer neighborhood, and she started in
with bridge and stuff like that. And some Of the
ladies are kind of small; and she just got tired of
it. She'd get home and she'd just feel kind of sick
inside, and SO she started in volunteer work. Now
she's playing with blind children, and she worked in
the nurseries there and the escort service and every-
thing. But she still felt kind of bored because we
kids are growing up, and she started going to school
and studying psychology.

Edith, who says that she saw God in her bedroom one night,

says she gets into some difficulty with her father over

her "mystic powers." But her mother seems to understand:
I feel we have a really close friendship. I don't
know of anyone who has one as close as ours. My mother
is going to school now studying psychology, and I read
all of her books.

And Mildred comments:
Every once in a while we sit down and talk. We do it
more now because I'm older. We have more of the same
interests now that I'm older.

Julie Speaks of an aunt:
That's how I'm mostly like her, independent in think-
ing. I like to do things that are different. I don't
like to do ordinary things.

Sarah:
I could always get along with my dad. There are times
when I can't get along with my mother; but if I go to
my dad, I usually get my way. I can usually talk to
him.

Throughout her interview Debbie talked about her father,

and she revealed an Obvious admiration for him. The father

50
is a 4-H worker, and Debbie Spends a great deal of time
helping him with Speeches he is called upon to make and
in taking part in that organization herself. When asked
whether she considered herself to be more like her father
or her mother, she says:

I would like to think it would be my father, rather
outgoing, but at times I think I take more after her.

Dad and I got together and talked about it (4—H Speech),
and he brought me a lot of things home to read. We
discovered we had SO much in common about our feelings
toward other peOple. Like, if we're watching a movie
on the late Show, and the hero is killed. Dad and I
just Sit there and cry away and later we talk about

it. We also feel the same about handling peOple.

It seems apparent that it is her social, outgoing father
whom she most admires, even though she sees her own shy-
ness as being more like her mother's. Beatrice, whose
parents were divorced, had the good fortune to be raised
largely by grandparents who provided her with a stimulating
environment, particularly the gregarious, book-loving
grandfather:

I got on this kick Of wanting to go out and talk to
peOple, when every Saturday I'd go out with my grand-
father to bars, etc; and we'd Sit and talk to everyone.
My grandmother worked during the day. It was my job
to see to it that he got back in time to pick up my
grandmother in time. My grandfather could have gone
far in business if he hadn't had such a soft heart.

He is real good at meeting people. My grandfather is
against labor unions-—he thinks they've gone too far.

My grandfather couldn't stay home for two minutes,
always has to be on the go. He reads all the time—-
magazines and all kinds Of books. He sends me books
that he thinks are good, and I give him books I think
are good.

I like to go out and talk to peOple and find out what
they're talking about. I'm trying to develOp a knack

And
her

the

And
was

aso

or s
with
ship

girl

51

Of talking to anybody. I still go out with my grand-
father sometimes on Saturday.

When I went with my grandfather on Saturday, we used

to talk about things which were happening. I don't
mean little things. I mean we used to talk about things
like the U-2 spy and things like that, that were big
news, and interesting things to me and to him that
weren't in your own world.

Georgia, who went on at length about her hatred for
father, says that her mother tries to protect her from
father's tantrums:
He said he was going to kill himself, so my mom called
the police. He's sort Of different since then, I think,
because he's a little more calm. He doesn't yell as
much. It's sort of nerve-wracking on us, and him, and
everybody in the household. But my mother sort of makes
up for it. I guess he gets jealous because my mother
pays more attention to me.
with Hilma, whose parents were Estonian emigrants, it
her brother who provided most Of the companionship in
mewhat lonely childhood:
At first we lived right by the park, and we Spent all
our days at the park. And I remember that Waino and

I were always happy. We never had any big fights or
anything like that, but we were never really close
until we moved to Lansing. Because we had moved and

it was new, we didn't have too many other friends.
Waino has only had one or two real friends and it is

the same with me. I think we are rather close.

But whether the girls identified with mother, father,

ome other member of the family, in all of these cases--

the one exception--home was a place where companion-

could be found. Even in the case of Muriel, the one

whom the raters felt did not reveal a close feeling

to a member of the immediate family in the interview, there

were

no particularly antagonistic feelings expressed--

52
simply an unreSponsiveness to the questions directed in
this area. In this reSpect she was like Curtis.

Decidedly, then, the over—all impression one re—
ceives from the young peOple in this study is a feeling of
close relation with, if not both parents, at least one
parent or a parent substitute. There are cases in which
the child expresses a definite antagonism toward one parent,
as is true in the case of Rex's feelings towards his mother
and Georgia's feelings towards her father; but in these
cases close feelings toward another member of the family
seem to somewhat compensate.

0n the whole, the homes of these young peOple can
be called "favorable," which, says Johnson, has been found
to be the most usual condition of homes of eminent, creative
men and women.2

Perhaps it is true that a creative youngster, who
may not follow the teen-age paths in school or elsewhere
and who is very much the individual, needs at least one
place as a refuge, a haven of safety; and this may be his
home or at least one parent. At least in the case of these
youngsters, many of whom are considered if not eccentrics,
at least loners by their peers, an adult in the home pro-

vides this source of security and support.

It has been shown that most of the boys and girls
in the study had at least one adult in their lives--usually

a mother or father——with whom they were able to identify.

 

 

 

53

But beyond the parents, did the youngsters' families as
a whole unit seem to represent'mothem a similar refuge?

In their study of eminent creative persons, Victor
and Mildred Goertzel found that families of the creative
were not necessarily cohesive.3 In many of the cases they
investigated, the homes were troubled and turbulent. At
the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research it has
been found too that highly creative persons Often come from
unhappy homes. But MacKinnon points out:

Although they may often describe their early family
life as less harmonious and happy than that of their
peers, one cannot know for certain what the true state
of affairs was. In reality the situation in their
homes may not have been appreciably different from that
of their peers. The differences may reside mainly in
their percEptions and memories of childhood eXperi-
ences ....

The item related to this read: "Family autonomous
as a unit, forms a close-knit, functional unit with which

interviewee identifies as a whole."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive ................... 43%
Negative ................... 29%
Insufficient evidence ...... 21%
Raters disagreed ........... 7%

For the girls:

Positive ................... 69%
Negative ................... 31%
Insufficient evidence ...... 0%
Raters disagreed ........... 0%

Jeff, a boy who seems to be remarkably close to
all members Of his family, even his junior—high-school-age

sister, summed up his family by saying:

54
We do just about everything together.
And in many different ways, Jeff's comment was repeated
again and again. Keith said when asked if his family

Operated as a unit:

I think we Operate more as a unit. Like when we travel,
we travel through Michigan all over and out Of state
in this area. I think we work as a unit.

Mark says:

You get free board for 20 years, which is worth about
$20,000, so you have to do something. Oh, I get fun
out of it, but it's just that sometimes I don't like to.
I don't like to play tennis and stuff like that. But,
then, Of course, there's a little turning about here
because they have to do things that I like to do too.

Sarah describes her family's activities:

We used to go a lot Of places. We still do a lot of
things today. The whole family is together. We visit
points of interest. Like just recently we went to the
air Show in Kalamazoo. Dad likes to take us different
places. He's been a great help to me throughout the
years. Both he and my mother have helped me, inspired
me; and we have a lot of fun. There are times when

we don't get along, but we usually have a lot of fun.

And Debbie talks about her family studying together:
I think our whole family--my mother, father, and I--
are all going to take French together sometime. We're
going to find some course where we can all take it
together.

Mildred:
Almost all the things we do, we do together.

Julie:
I know that each of us likes different things, and yet,
we like many of the same things. We enjoy being tO-
gether.

Edith:

In our family, we can all criticize each other, but we

v .—. .
p\.¢ A~

. .
an .5 2w

 

. o

 

vs» ... ..V

 

55

don't take it very seriously. There's no Offense.
And if one person gets down, we all pitch in and help
him get through things. It's very, very close.

Hilma stresses the communication in her family:

And

We take vacations together and we do most of our things
together. Our parents have always kept close track

of us and what we were doing. I think it is a good
idea. At least they care about me. They want to know
what I am doing. Of course, I don't always tell them
everything, but I tell them enough SO we can communicate
and they know what is going on.

She continues:

I think I'm close to my family. I love and reSpect my
parents. Of course, this is in varying degrees accord-
ing to my mood. But, I think I do need them. It would
be foolish to say I didn't at this stage of the game.

I can always go back to them. I know that I can always
have somebody that will love me regardless of what I've
done. I'm still their child. I think you need parents.
Often you realize that you're actually nothing, but to
them you're something.

In the present study, then, although slightly less

than half in the case of the boys and slightly more than

half in the case of the girls came from homes in which the

families did seem to function smoothly as a unit, many Of

the

homes were disunified--at least, this is the way the

youngsters apparently perceived them. The reasons for the

disunification varied: in several cases the parents had

separated; in other cases, although both parents were

present in the family, the family as a whole Simply didn't

seem to find mutual enjoyments or did not communicate. In

still other cases there was Open friction. However, since

the

majority Of the youngsters were able to establish a

successful relationship with at least one member of the

family, the lack of a strong family cohesiveness did not

56
seem to matter. Perhaps it is not so important that the
child be able to identify with the family as a unit as
it is for him to be able to relate to at least one member

within it.

While the families of some of the creative youngsters
might be unified and cohesive groups; still, a family that

II

over-stressed "togetherness, and that blurred individuality
in the interests of the family whole, might work against the
creativity of any of its individual members. In other words,
it was felt that within a closely-knit family the mother
could be actively engaged in particular interests of her

own, the father would have interests of his own, but that
both would reSpect, and to some extent Share, the other's
interest. While it is difficult to determine this factor
without interviewing the mothers and fathers themselves, an
attempt was made to find in the data indications of this
factor. The item read: "Mother and father autonomous; each

respects other as a person in his own right."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive ................... 36%
Negative ................... 21%
Insufficient evidence ...... 29%
Raters disagreed ........... 14%

For the girls:

Positive ................ ..62%
Negative... . ........... 8%
Insufficient evidence ...... 23%
Raters disagreed ........... 8%

Mildred says of her parents:

57
My father reads and he likes books, but my mother likes
them more. She's the kind that Sits up all night read-
ing. My father's more the outgoing type. He likes
the outdoors. He doesn't like to Sit still.
Hilma, whose parents received their professional training
in their native Estonia, discussed the fact that her father
had his master's degree in chemistry and was interested
in things scientific, while her mother's interests were
more human-centered—-and for this reason She continued to
pursue her profession of nursing. Muriel's parents differ
in a similar way:
Father is a draftsman at Oldsmobile, and was a chemist
in Scotland. Mother is artistic. She attended art
school and likes to work on character sketches.

And Speaking on this point, Jenny says:

We're worlds apart--my brother, my mother, and I. But
you can be worlds apart and still love each other.

Edith says similarly:

We're all individuals in our family. Mother and Dad
have never lost that. We're each a person, and we
each have ideas and goals. We never lose sight of
this. You know, we're not any package plan.

Julie says of her parents:

My father enjoys his activities very much, but he
enjoys family life too. He's very successful in what
he does. And then my mother is very successful in her
business world. Before she was married she always had
a good job. I'd say they were both successful in their
own ways.

Lisa points out that different interests pursued during

the day can be mutually complementary in the evening:
When my mom comes home from college, she'll start
talking to my father. A year later he'll remember it

and look it up in her books.

In the case of Debbie, too, her parents' vocations mean

58
complementary interests. In her family, the mother teaches
school, and the father is involved 4-H work, and says
Debbie:

Therread a lot of the same books. Their professions
demand that they read, and they read together.

In this area, the girls' parents seem to have more individ-
ual autonomy than the boys'. However, this may be more a
difference in perception than actuality. The girls, creative
and ambitious themselves, may see in their mothers a de-
sire for autonomy, while the boys, somewhat uninterested in
this stage of life in whether or not their mothers lead a
somewhat independent life or perhaps considering their
mothers' activities as being of little interest to them,
may denigrate this factor in their interviews. Or perhaps,
creative girls need mothers who function with greater
autonomy than creative boys. Indeed, such a mother may

set the example for a young, creative girl to follow. In
the case of boys, the father's example may be sufficient;

in the case of the girls, perhaps not.

In Cradles Of Eminence, about 350 Of the 400 eminent

 

creative persons discussed came from homes that the Goertzels
considered to be unusual.5 Since creative persons are those
who do not conform to the usual pattern, who do things
differently, it is not surprising that these researchers
found them often times to come from homes that were "diffe-

rent."

59

In the present investigation, it was felt that
perhaps a high percentage of the creative youngsters also
might come from homes that were "different." The item
read: "Family is different (from other families interviewee
is likely to have come in contact with)."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive ................... 64%
Negative.... ............... 21%
Insufficient evidence ...... 7%
Raters disagreed ........... 7%

For the girls:

Positive ................... 54%
Negative ................... 38%
Insufficient evidence ...... 8

Raters disagreed ........... 0%

In what way were these homes different? Arthur,
for example, is the youngest in his family, and he has
four sisters and two brothers. His parents separated when
Arthur was two, and at that time his mother came to Lansing
from Oklahoma. A family of strong convictions and individ—
ualism, Arthur admires them even though they are "kookie."
One Sister is a nun, another is in and out of a state mental
institution. The mother works. Arthur is given a great
deal of freedom, but he enjoys his home--"It's a funny
place," he says. In the case of Nathan, the parents come
from Syria and Nathan is the youngest of a large family.
The family runs a small retail store that stays Open many
hours, and so family life revolves around the store. Nathan

works in the store too, but he resents being the "baby" of

60

the family. Robert's father was a minister, but several
years ago, when Robert was eight, the father died. Robert
and his mother are very close, but still she seems to main-
tain a firm hold on her son and attempts to guide him into
Christian activitieS--and eventually the ministry. Robert
says:

It seems that now I'm sort of growing apart from my

mother a little bit, because as I get older, I do

things that-~like youth groups at church, and goof

around with kids at school—-things like that. But I

still think she's got a good hold on me, and I've

got a good hold on her.
Waino, the boy from Estonia, comes from a family that has,
in a sense, descended the social ladder. Both parents
seemed to have received a fine education in their native
country, particularly the father; but when the family
tmigrated to the United States, the classical education
did not mean as much, and the father now works as a
laborer. However, the father's interest in learning con-
tinues, even though his education has advanced him little
in his present life. And having received a classical
education himself, the father is critical of the American
schools, which to him seem to lack discipline and standards.
Perhaps Waino's cynicism derives from his father's disap-
pointments in life.

With the girls, Hilma like her twin brother, has

a "different" home, although it had a somewhat different

effect on her than on her brother. Beatrice comes from

a broken home, which for her meant Spending much of her

61
life with grandparents and, later, almost raising her
younger brothers and sisters.< Although She looks upon
the incident with a good deal of humor, several years ago
she and her grandmother read in the paper about her mother's
forth—coming marriage. And this was the first either of
them knew of it. Jenny's family is equally "different."
The father, an individualist to the point of being eccentric,
an intellectual who has refused to conform to any of the
usual vocational patterns; the mother, less of an intellect-
ual, but more of a humanitarian. Georgia's home life is
pure misery. A father with paranoid tendencies makes her
life a hell; and her mother, apparently as intimidated by
the father as the children, attempts to Shelter Georgia

from the rages.

However, it is sometimes true that peOple who are
"different" do not see themselves as such. Thus, another

item on the rating scale read: "Subjectperceives family

 

as different (says so in interview)."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive .................. 29%
Negative ...... . ........... 43%
Insufficient evidence ..... 14%
Raters disagreed .......... 14%

For the girls:

Positive .................. 54%
Negative..... ............. 23%
Insufficient evidence ..... 8%
Raters disagreed.... ...... 15%

Mark was asked by the interviewer if his family

had

62

exceptionally strong beliefs--stronger than most

adults, and he answered:

Rex

And

for

she

The
her

ing

Yes, definitely.

Interviewer: Do you feel that their beliefs are
stronger than the average family's,

Much more so.

Do these cover all areas, or do they concentrate on
one area,

All areas.
comments sardonically:

0n the whole, I've had a pretty successful family.
Mother's been married three times and all that.

commenting on his family, Arthur says:

Recently my sister had what is popularly known as

a nervous breakdown and Spent some time in a West
Coast State Hospital. She is unmarried. I have four
sisters. We have an interesting line-up. One is a
nun; another is insane; the other is--she likes to
think, but she's so orientated toward politics that
she can't think. That's the trouble with our family--
we go Off--zealots. Everyone's out for themselves

in our family. There's nothing to really hold it
together.

And Jenny's family life would provide material
a Gothic novel. Asked what her grandmother was like,
anSwered:
I stayed away from my grandmother. She was diagnosed
as a schiZOphrenic. Any minute this woman could come
at me with a big knife, so I didn't bother her.
grandmother was suffering from grief from the loss of
husband, and was later institutionalized. And Speak-
Of her father, Jenny says:
Oh, he is a nut. That's the only way to describe my

dad-~he's a nut. His appearance is nutty. He Shaves
his head. And he never wears any shoes or a shirt.

But

And

And

63

And he cut the hair on his stomach one time down in
a strip. And he has a big pot belly. He doesn't
give a damn. To other people he is very unsocial,
except to peOple he likes. 'He is very, very,
intelligent. He has a big superiority complex,

too, I'm afraid. He hates bosses. He goes into
tantrums and calls them whatever name he can think
of. And he always makes them a little less intelli-
gent than he.

On the more positive side, she comments:

I think our family thinks more about things than most
families.

Debbie says of her childhood:

I feel I'm quite a bit different from kids who were
raised with other children. I was raised almost en-
tirely with adults.

Georgia describes her home life:

Well, I hate to talk about this, but my father and I
don't get along. We never have. He's the outdoor
type. I sometimes wonder if there isn't something
wrong. It must be something that happened to him
during the war because he doesn't trust anybody. He
can never trust me, and he never trusts my mother.

He doesn't even trust the people he works with. And
when something happens, he always keeps harping on
it. He's sometimes nice and considerate, but most of
the time he gets upset over everything. He thinks
everyone's against him. I don't care what happens to
him. I despise him because he never lets me do what
I want to do. If you only knew what it is like. The
only time we ever have any fun is when my mother and
I are home alone. My mom She understands and helps

a lot.

Hilma, whose mother--a nurse--works nights, says of her

home life:

I think we have sort of a different relationship with
my father than a lot'of other people because my
mother worked at night. My father sort of became a
mother tOO--fixed our dinner and put us to bed. He
has been doing this ever since my mother started to
work. She has always worked so my father has always
been home in the evening. We have been with him a
lot of the time.

64

And she continues:
Frankly, I think Waino and I have been left alone to
a certain extent to do things in our own way. Like
father has always stressed to do well at school. But
I don't recall my parents ever making me do something
that I didn't want to do. I've been left on my own

and have been very independent. I think my parents
haven't tried to encourage me either way.

In the Goertzels' study, about half the eminent
Creative persons studied came from homes in which one parent
or both were strongly opinionated.6 The Goertzels Specu-
lated that the children in these homes "caught" the con-
victions of their parents and had carried them on. In the
present study, an attempt was made to determine if the
parents had strong convictions. The item read: "Parents

have strong convictions."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive.............. ..... 50%
Negative ................... 36%
Insufficient evidence ...... 14%
Raters disagreed...... ..... 0%

For the girls:

Positive...................69%
Negative...................3l%
Insufficient evidence ...... 0%
Raters disagreed........... 0%

Keith describes his father:

My dad works at Reo. Actually he never got a formal
education. He just went to night school and took a
lot of night courses. But he's always talking to me
and telling me about these values. He always used
to sit down with me and talk about what I'd like to
be. He'd give me some of the values that he thought
were important in life.

And his father is the type who will go to the trouble to

r:
s:

\

fine.
. so

 

65
take a stand:

We're having some trouble right now. They're building
a small factory right behind our house, and they make
a lot of noise. And my dad is real perturbed. We
wanted to find out what it was so that we could fight
it. SO we go down to the zoning board. We ran all
over, and nobody knew about it. And he doesn't like
the way everybody says that the individual should give
way to the majority. He sort of agrees with this, but
he doesn't like the way they do it. How can they take
over your land by condemning it? He doesn't agree
with quite a few things in government. Democracy!

Asked what his mother has stressed in raising him, Robert
says:

Obedience from my mother and from other people like
elders. But one thing that's really been stressed is
church going.

George:

They have always stressed learning. They think you
should learn as much as you can in life.

Waino's father is somewhat cynical about Americans:

He is a normal person. Usually he is quiet, eSpecially
when he is with Americans. I heard him say that when
he first came to America he thought he should try
harder and really become Americanized. But, now he
really doesn't care. He is happy and is satisfied with
what he is. Even if he does make a few mistakes, they
can go to Hell. That is his attitude.

Sarah's statement about civil rights:

One thing they haven't stressed is that you're better
than anyone else. They have brought us up that all
men are created equal like Lincoln said, and that we
have no right to treat Negroes the way people down
South are treating them. Since we have been brought
up this way, we feel that this is wrong. They've
brought us up with the feeling that we Should be kind
to others around us.

Mildred says of her family:

I think we're all for the human race. We like to see
the underdog get ahead. That's the general feeling
in our whole family. The major tOpic that we've been
talking about when the whole family gets talking, is

 

\

 

I I

'r

o...

1|)

66

the race issue. Everyone thinks it's absolutely
ridiculous. They don't understand why those peOple
do it. My mother said she'd die if one Of us girls
married a Negro. Well, right there, that's the whole
thing. She believes in integration in schools and
restaurants, but she wouldn't prefer to have them live
in the neighborhood. Well, I wouldn't mind.

Jenny's father has strong opinions about many things, among

them, intellectuals:
My father thinks that most intellectuals are fakes.
They go around trying to impress peOple with their
wordiness and how much they have read. This disgusts
him.

And on religion:
Religion is one of the things stressed most. The under-
standing Of religion rather than to accept it just be-
cause it's written. And, be a good Christian, but don't
be a narrow-minded Christian.

And in Julie's family:
My parents feel that it's necessary to get to really

know your own family before you get to know and under-
stand other people.

There has been considerable evidence that out-
standing performers are first borns more than sheer chance
would allow. In his studies, Terman found that a high
percentage Of his outstanding children were the eldest in
their families;7 and as far back as 1904, when Ellis
published his study of 1030 men of genius, he found that
one of the factors favorable to the development of genius
Seemed to be being the Oldest in the family.8 And Anne
IMDe found in her study of eminent psychologists and
EHrthropOlogists that there was a high incidence of first

boarns.9 Roe speculated on why first horns are likely to

n;

ms

‘t
~~

67

be outstanding. First, they are generally found to be
more intelligent; but perhaps even more important: first
borns are likely to be over-protected and, then, seek to
compensate by being more independent. Further, She says,
first borns are likely to be given more responsibility,
which, she feels, gives the child more the kind of self-
discipline he will need in order for him to develop his
creative potentialities in constructive ways.

In the present study, 43 per cent of the boys and
54 per cent of the girls were first borns. In this group
too, then, about half of the groups were the eldest in

the family.

The raters also read the interview transcripts
in order to discover the extent to which the parents of
these creative young peOple seemed to exert career
pressure on their children. The item read: "Lack of
strong career channeling pressures on child."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive ................... 43%
Negative..... .............. 21%
Insufficient evidence ...... 36%
Raters disagreed ........... 0%

For the girls:

Positive ................... 46%
Negative...... ............. 23%
Insufficient evidence ...... 31%
Raters disagreed.. ......... 0%

It must be said, however, that these figures are
Exxnewhat misleading. The 21 per cent of the boys and 23

Per‘cent of the girls who indicated some parental pressure

68
in the area Of careers indicated that the pressure was
very slight. Parents of some of the young peOple expressed
some hOpe that their children might go into some professional

area; but the image of a "stage-mother type,"

pushing her
child, attempting to realize her own thwarted desire for
success through the success of her child, did not emerge

in a single case. Only in the case Of Robert, whose mother
hOped he would enter the ministry, and Georgia, whose
mother hoped she would enter a profession so She would
never have to be dependent on the whims of a tyrannical
husband (as she was), were there any signs Of any pressure.
This is not to say, that the parents of these children were
indifferent to the future of their children; they were
interested in them doing well-~but in the area of phpip
choice.

A common reSponse when asked what their parents
wanted them to do was: "They want me to do what I want to
do." Jeff said:

My parents aren't going to say, you have to go to

college. They just say, if you go to college, you"re
going to have to get good grades.

In the literature on creativity, the word "freedom"
appears with regularity. The creative mind thrives on an
environment which allows it to range widely, to go where
it will, to explore multiple and uncharted areas.

Some writers have seen the creative, unfettered,

 

 

'r1

1

69
and free mind as the highest form of aliveness; and as
N.J. Berrill puts it, the free mind is almost the divine
in mind.10 The Goertzels found in their study of the
childhoods of outstandingly creative persons that a
greater degree of freedom was Often permitted:
As children they had more freedom to travel, to engage
in self-initiated projects than did many other more
conventionally reared children in their own times.ll
Anne Roe found too that the scientists studied had consider—
able freedom when they were young.12 In fact, she says,
many of the men first became dedicated to science when
they were given the freedom to explore on their own in
laboratories. When they found they could discover things
on their own, they became addicted to the field of science;
and she says in another place that among the young creatives,
it is vital that a sense of freedom and independence be
encouraged, not frustrated.13
Thus, it can be seen that freedom plays a large
part in the development of creative abilities. But, even
more, creative youngsters not only thrive on freedom, they
898111 to demand it. Several years ago, in the summer of
1963, the present researcher interviewed about a dozen
mothers of gifted, creative high school peOple; and with-
out exception all the mothers mentioned the fact that
their children had always had--even from infancy--an
umlSually strong desire to be on their own, to be inde-

Pendent, to be free agents. These mothers sometimes said

that, it could even be something of a hurt, from a mother's

70
standpoint, to feel her child pushing away, seeming to say,
"I don't want you. I want to be on my own."

It was with this factor in mind, then, that this
item was included in the rating sheet. It read: "Desire
to roam and explore and freedom to do this (when young),"
The emphasis here, it should be pointed out, was on freedom
to roam and explore the physical world. It was felt free—
dom Of movement may be a concomitant to freedom of the
mind, and the child who has the freedom to roam and explore
may also have freedom of the mind as well.

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive. ........ . ......... 43%
Negative............ ..... ..50%
Insufficient evidence ..... . 7%
Raters disagreed ..... ...... 0%

For the girls:

Positive ...... .............38%
Negative.. ........ . ...... ..38%
Insufficient evidence ...... 8%
Raters disagreed... ........ 15%

Robert says:
Up until I was in the fifth grade, I wasn't ever
allowed to go out after dark at all. My parents
have been very protective because of kidnapping and

disease and things like that. When the polio epidemic
broke out, they wouldn't let me out.

Arthur resented the restrictions placed on him when he was
a child:

When you're young you can't do anything because you
have to lead a scheduled life.

Jeff says on this matter:

My parents never worried about me and never said you
are to stay in the block until you are SO Old. They

71

let me go where I wanted to. As long as I can remember,
as long as I asked, I could go where I wanted to.

Rex comments:
There were no restrictions, but always a time to be
back. I traveled around more than most people though.
I rode my bike until it fell apart.

Mildred's remark is a rather typical one:
There were certain places I could go and certain places
I couldn't go. They didn't keep us right in the yard
or anything. They just told us we could play in a
certain area in the neighborhood and with certain kids.

Interviewer: Did you ever feel rebellious?

Yes, I think I always did. But I reSpected my parents,
so I just did what they said.

On this matter, Jenny remarks:
I had to tell my mom where I was going every time; and
when I was little, I'd have to report home about every
half hour. That was just when I was eight or nine.
Since I've been Older, my mom lets me out all day-—
just as long as she knows where I am.

Lisa reveals throughout her interview that her mother was

a rather fearful type:
When we moved here, my mother was really frightened
when we went around the block to the store. All the
other peOple's children who had been used to living in
the city, would go further. My brother wanted to be
with his friends, so he ignored the boundaries and
went on expeditions.

Beatrice was given considerable freedom too. She disapproves

of restrictions:

Children should have a chance to explore-~find out right
and wrong on their own.

One of the most common findings in studies of the

childhoods of geniuses is lonelineSS——or an affinity for

72
being alone. Anne Roe found in her studies that the scientists
she interviewed said that as children they Spent a great deal
14

of time alone, and in Yoder's study of fifty great men's

childhoods, he found that solitary play was repeatedly
described. Yoder said:
Instead Of joining in the usual childish games Newton
preferred to play with his machines, Darwin with his
collections, Shelley to read, Stevenson to make clay
engines, and Edison to mix chemicals. 0f Byron, it
was written: "The love of solitude and meditation
is already traceable in the child."
Yoder's conclusion is that solitude seems to have played
a rather striking role in the lives of the great men he
studied. Either by nature or by opportunity, they stayed
a great deal alone. Phyllis Greenacre, from a psycho—
analytic vieWpoint,says:
The child of potential genius is inevitably a lonely
child, no matter how many peOple surround him. For
he is a child who senses his own difference, feels
isolated and inferior thereby: or, if he becomes aware
of his gift, is still isolated, finding the greater
sustenance in fantasy until his abilipy begins to be
realized in some definite expression.
John Stuart Mill tells that his father kept him completely
isolated from other boys, so that he grew up in a world of
brilliant adults and never realized that he was superior
to any other child.17 Harold McCurdy studied twenty men
who wereestimated by Cox to have IQ'S of over 160 and about
whom sufficient biographical information was available.18
When he attempted to find Similar childhood patterns among

these peOple, he was able to identify three common factors;

and among these factors was isolation from other children,

73

especially children outside the family. As a result of
this isolation, says McCurdy, a rich efflorescence of
fantasy developed. Being alone, these children built
elaborate fantasy worlds, and apparently their ability to
exercise their imaginations, accompanied by high level
ability, carried them to high creative heights as adults.

It would seem, then, that loneliness-~either
enforced loneliness or self-imposed loneliness--is indeed
a common factor in the develOpment of creative abilities.
A child who is alone develOpS his imaginative powers to a
higher degree than a child who is much with his fellows.
In fact, the world of actual playmates is likely to be
inhibiting to a child with a rich imagination; his mind
leaps ahead of the inventions of his friends; he does not
enjoy being held back by their more mundane games.

The item relating to this factor read: "Much
evidence of being alone when young."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive........... ......... 64%
Negative.............. ...... 29%
Insufficient evidence....... 0%
Raters disagreed..... ....... 7%

For the girls:
Positive............. ..... ..62%
Negative....................38%
Insufficient evidence....... 0%
Raters disagreed............ 0%
Curtis, explains why he likes to be alone, both
out of school and in school:

I really would rather work by myself than with other

74
peOple. I like to do things my way and try it out
and see if I can do it my way ... and just think by
myself, sort of. It's easier for me to work by myself
than with other people. I like the freedomEMD that I
can do what I want.
When asked if he takes part in class discussions, he says:

I don't too much. I just pretty much keep to myself
in classes, too.

On this matter, Waino says:

I Spent lots of time--I usually did everything alone.
I would spend my time alone.

Interviewer: Would you ever choose to Spend time alone
when you didn't have to?

Yes, I would choose to spend time alone.
When Joe was asked if he remembered Spending most of his
time with adults or with children his own age, he answered:

Mostly alone. I just had games I made up with myself,
and I just played them.

And when Mark was asked if he Spent more time with adults
or other children when he was younger, he said:
Adults.
Interviewer: Spend much time alone?
I don't think that's a very good way to phrase that.
You should have said did you spend much time not alone,
because I was always alone.
When George was asked what experiences about his develOpment
stand out in his mind, he said:
I think when I am by myself I can do whatever I want.
That way I can learn what I want because I don't have
so many interruptions when I'm reading a book. I'm
real interested in different things. Mother wants me
to help get supper or my brother or sister wants me,
and I can't get anything out of the book. SO, I wait
until I'm by myself, and I can do a lot better.

Rex:

75

I mean you can be in the middle of Yankee Stadium and
be alone. That's sort of like the way I was.

Jeff describes his affinity for being alone:

When I was younger I wasn't very interested in Sports.

I had to be forced to play. So usually I Spent most

Of my time alone. I would enjoy working along, and

I would Spend most Of my time working downstairs alone--
with wood, electronics, and I had just as much fun alone
as I did with peOple around me. If they didn't like
what I was doing, I didn't pay any attention to them.

So I didn't have many friends. But I've changed in

that now--at least I hope I have. I try to be more
outgoing. You can't expect everyone to like what you
like all the time. I think I'm a different person

now because of that. I can enjoy being by myself even
now more than most peOple.

Keith says:

I like to get alone more than a lot of other people I
know. There are a lot of people who, if they're alone,
will call up someone, but I'll just find something to
do by myself.

Robert:

I was an only child so I had to spend quite a bit of
time alone.

Nathan comments:

I don't join any group especially. Actually, I like
to be by myself. I'd just as soon be by myself than
go to a party. In fact, I don't like to go to any
parties. I just don't like being around people. When
everybody is in bed, I often get up and walk around;
or go up in some apartment building they're building
and just sit down or prowl around.

Hilma describes how She likes to be with her parents:

Some peOple don't like being with their parents, but
I like being with mine. I feel sudden urges to just
be by myself. I don't think I've ever had a bosom
friend or anything like that. I don't think I've
missed anything really.

Mildred comments:

Once in a while, I used to like to go in a corner and
just think. I mean I wasn't really thinking then, but

76
I just liked to Sit by myself once in a while.
Nancy says:

I was alone a lot. I didn't mind being alone. I liked
to read, and I Spent some time with friends my own age
too. I think I Spent a lot more time alone than some
kids did.

Muriel:

I was mostly with myself. I knew what I liked and
peOple didn't. The kids were doing things that weren't
interesting to me at the time.

Jenny, the star in an underprivileged school, recalls:

I went to a school which was in a poor district. I

was on the top, which I didn't even bother to think
about. But other people do. I never got mixed up

with my peers at all. They thought I wasn't their

peer. They kind of looked up to me. Betty was in

grade school with me, and I spent a lot of time with
her. But then she moved away, and I was left completely
alone. And with all those people looking up to me.

She continues:

When you want to be alone, people are always there.
You can never get anything done.

There are shades of Thoreau in Edith's comment:

I liked to be alone when I was young. We'd spend the
summer at the lake, and we were about the only cottage
for quite a ways. I used to go back in the woods and
Spend hours there--just walking. I discovered a lot
Of things. I've never had any fear of being alone.
And even now I like to be alone. If I'm around too
many peOple for too long a time, I just feel cramped.
And this is when I like to get alone and think.

Lisa says:

I felt just as if I were alone, and everyone else were
pretending and plotting against me.

Carol:

I liked to be alone with a couple of people. I don't
like crowds very much.

Beatrice says she was brought up in an adult world:

77

I lived with adults. I didn't Spend much time with
kids my own age because there weren't any kids. I
was the only child, and I was alone all the time.

Her mother worried about her:
My folks used to think that I had too much independence,
because I didn't want to be around with them. My mother
was separated, and I was alone all day long. I did
whatever I wanted to and they felt that I had too_much
independence. But I don't think it ever hurt me.

And she concludes:
I think I'd throw children out on their own a little
bit. That's what was done with me. I got into trouble
sometimes but it was all right. I had to keep myself
entertained and do work. Being alone helps you to
learn to think on your own. It's important to be alone.
I enjoyed having my summers to myself. I even liked

the times when I had to sit around and wonder what to
do. It gives you a chance to think.

Cognitive Style
A part of the interview conducted with the creative-

intellectual young peOple had to do with their cognitive
style and their attitudes towards intellectual matters and
the scholarly dimension. AS Drews has suggested, among
the creative young people She has studied, there is a strong
affinity for philosophical-intellectual pursuits. She says
of them that they have:

... a drive to deal with intellectual matters; to be

contemplative and independent. (They are) oriented

poward pheopgtical, aesthetic, complex, and original

pproac es.
In the studies Of creative persons conducted at Berkeley,
it was found that when the subjects were administered

personality inventories, they often obtained the highest

scores on what Heist has called the Thinking Introversion

78
scale. High scales on this scale

indicate a preference for reflective thought, parti-
cularly of an abstract nature. High scorers are
interested in ideas and concepts, and they tend to

be less influenced by external conditions and commonly
professed ideas than are low scorers.

Allport, Vernon, and Lindzey, in their Study of Values,

 

included what they called the Theoretical scale. The
theoretical man, they say, pursues truth:

In the pursuit of this goal he characteristically takes
a "cognitive" attitude, one that looks for identities
and differences; one that divests itself of judgments
regarding the beauty or utility of Objects, and seeks
only to Observe and to reason. Since the interests

of the theoretical man are empirical, critical, and
rational, he is necessarily an intellectualist, freq-
uently a scientist or philOSOpher. His chief aim in
life is to order and systematize his knowledge.

Evidence suggests that creative persons score high on this
22

 

Study of Values Scale.

In the present study, an attempt was made to deter-
mine the degree to which a philosophical orientation seemed
to be important to this group of creative youngsters. The
item read: "Thinking introversion (philosophical orien-
tation)."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive ....... .. ..... ..... 57%
Negative........... ......... .29%
Insufficient evidence........ 0%
Raters disagreed... .......... 14%

For the girls:

Positive... ........... .......77%
Negative............ ..... ....l5%
Insufficient evidence. .... 0%
Raters disagreed. .......... 8%

When the interviewer asked Eldon what he thought

Pfld
uh

a:

....

79

was wrong with most people, his response was "A loss of

a sense of values." And he continues to Show throughout

his interview his interest in ideas:

I often think about an idea and write it down in a
little notebook I keep. Like the conflict of interest
discussion we had in social studies class. I wrote
some more ideas I had down in the notebook. In the
eighth grade I got into the habit of writing down any
idea that came to me that I thought was important.

And Lisa says:

I like to dream about abstract things that you really
can't give an answer to. You could have one yourself
and someone else may have an entirely different view.

Muriel:

Sometimes I wonder if society is worth helping. Some-
times you want to close the door and keep it out.
Sometimes you feel like you have to go on a crusade and
change society, but it doesn't really work. Society

is a kind of all-conquering-they. Even if I had it

in my power to change things, I wouldn't know what to
do. I don't know whether I could change things for

the better. Maybe they're better as they are.

Mildred:

And

I like to be by myself a lot and then, too, I like to
be with the kids. But after I get done playing, I
always like to get by myself. There are times when

I like to be quiet and just think.

Julie:

I think mainly about things around me like why is that
tree out in the front lawn so big when the one down

the street is so little. Then if I thought about it,

I usually come through. I mean, I liked things I could
think about and maybe find a solution. And the things
I couldn't find a solution to bothered me.

Related to philOSOphical orientation is the item

which reads: "Concern for and questioning of religious

issues (versus non-questioning acceptance)H'

A ran . y .. S. .

 
 

 

80

Percentages for the boys are:

Positive ......... . ......... 64%
Negative...................29%
Insufficient evidence ...... 7%
Raters disagreed ......... .. 0%

For the girls:

POSitive ................... 62%
Negative ................... 15%
Insufficient evidence ...... 15%
Raters disagreed ..... . ..... 8%

Rex, a boy with a scientific bent, says he must
turn to religion for the ultimate answers:

It means a lot to me. I question almost anything and
try to find the logic behind it. My mother is not
too enthused at all. I don't have too much chance

to go to church because they never do. Next year
I'll be driving and I'll probably be going to church
on my own. I was born a scientist. After all this
study, I can't just see all that stuff falling to-
gether.

Waino, on the other hand, says:

That's why I don't like Christian religion too much.
It has too many unacceptable contradictions to it.

Robert:

If you don't believe in one thing, you can pretty well
destroy everything else you believe in. Belief is
complete trust--no doubts. Going to church and Sunday
School is important. If after I've given my children
the background, they choose not to go; that will be
all right. But, I'd do everything to keep them in.
They'd go to church regularly as long as I had control
over them, because I believe it's the true way.

Morris expresses skepticism:

To my parents, religion is very important. To my
sisters--well, they like to look at all parts of it.
They've read a lot on religion, and I don't think they
believe in God. But they lead a Christian life. We
used to go to a Catholic Church, but to me it was
almost like idol worship. I couldn't see it.

And Mark:

And

81

Interviewer: Do you find yourself thinking about re-
ligion at all?

I didn't until I went to church this year, and then I
quit going.

You still think about religion?

Naturally. It's a problem to ponder.

again Waino:

Religion? God? What place has religion in this world
anyway? Well, religion has no place in the business

world or in any job unless your manager or your close
associates are fanatics.

Eldon comments:

I would raise children with independent minds. They
should believe in something. Brotherhood of man.

God. But believe in something. My parents did this
for me. If you don't have anything to look to in life,
there isn't any reason for living. Looking toward a
higher being gives meaning and purpose to life. If
you run into rough parts of life, you might turn to
some higher power and find faith.

Arthur says:

And

I once belonged to the Catholic Church. I went for
reasons unknown, but mostly because of family commit-
ments. I began to read things, see, and I began to

see the picture a little better. I read something

by Thomas Aquinas--something that's as biased as it

can be--on the belief in God, and I read a lot of other
things. I read things by Bertrand Russell, and I
began to see that you should reSpect truth above every-
thing else. I'm not an atheist. I'm more Unitarian
than anything else. I don't go along with these guys
who shout that they don't believe in God. PeOple be—
lieve in God because it answers a lot of unanswerable
questions for them.

he continues:

I don't believe in God anymore. I think I used to,
but I think the majority Of people are stupid. There-
fore the majority of people are religious.

If you don't believe and it turns out that there is a
God, you will go to Hell. If you do believe, and it
turned out that there is a God, you will go to Heaven,

'vf

 

And

82

if you are a good believer. You can't falsely believe
because if there were a God, He would know. He would

know if you didn't believe in Him. SO, if you don't,

you don't.

I believe that God was something that people made up
when they were too tired or too confused to find out
what really happened. Darwin was a worker. He would
go back, find, trace, and work to find out if he could
get a logical basis for belief. But these people just,
well, believe.

again Eldon comments:

The Bible is all I've had time to read every night or
so.

Interviewer: Have you taken on reading the Bible this
summer as a personal project?

Yes. I'm trying to figure out what it is all about.
I want to try and connect in my own mind the old Testa-
ment with the New.

Nathan is confused:

When you get in high school, you start learning about
everything. Then you look at the Bible. It tells

you that Adam was created from a bit of dust and that
Eve came out of his bone. This is such a contradiction
between what you learn in school and what you learn

in the Bible. I just have a hard time making up my
mind which I am supposed to believe.

George:

I try to figure out how Adam and Eve were made. This
friend of mine, who is quite strong on the Bible,
doesn't believe in evolution. All this scientific data
that they have over in EurOpe on these different people
and how they evolved--I was trying to figure it out

how these two fit together. Evidence points to the
Neanderthal man and the Bible says Adam and Eve. I

was thinking what's the connection between the two.

Sarah:

There are times when something the pastor has said
doesn't set right, and then I wonder. Which way is
right? There are points that make you wonder if your
way's right. There's no way of knowing just which way
is right except to live what you believe and believe
what you live. I guess that's what we do.

83

Georgia:

I question religion more than it gives me strength.

I've never gotten much strength from being religious.
I always wonder what happens after you die. I guess
everyone doeS--it's nothing new. But, I have my own
ideas. I wonder what God really is? Is there a God?

Carol:

I believe in certain things, and I haven't found a
church yet that believes exactly as I do.

Interviewer: Have you thought a bit about religion?

Oh, I've thought about it. I have a lot of questions
about it.

When you have a question, to whom would you be apt
to turn?

I usually turn to the Bible and use myself to reason
it out.

Nancy is bothered by her own doubts:

I wonder about it a lot. I worry about it when some-
times I don't believe like I should. I'm more doubtful
than I Should be about it. But I think it's a strength
too. It's awfully complicated. It's a strength but

I worry about it. I don't know what to do.

Debbie:

And

It strengthens me. It's a feeling you have to have,
yourself. It doesn't torment me. I have a lot Of
questions about my religion, but yet I know. I just
have that burning fire inside of me. Sounds kind of
weird, but that's what it is.

Beatrice talks about religion at length:

My poor catechism teacher. I had her so confused she
couldn't even remember if there was a God or not. She
tried to make us believe that the Catholic Church is

the one true church. Most people who study seem not

to believe in any one particular religion. Even Lincoln
said he believed in God, but not in an orthodox religion.

I go to church every Sunday because it helps me not

to forget. You need someone to look up to. PeOple need
a God. Before you believe in something, you have to

see why it is necessary.

84
There are a lot of things against the Catholic Church
with all their money and power. Religion is more or
less a business and like all businesses, you have to
have the peOple pay the way.

I think it's unique how people try to make it different
when it is really basically the same.

I feel that peOple have always needed a God. They're
an animal, and even animals look up to something.

I have trouble accepting all the dogma of the Catholic

Church. I'm in favor of birth control which the Church
is against.

Also of concern to the raters was the youngsters'
valuing of intellectual and cognitive matters. The item
read: "Values intellectual and cognitive."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive .................... 79%
Negative....................14%
Insufficient evidence ....... 0%
Raters disagreed ............ 7%

For the girls:

Positive .................... 69%

Negative.. ..... ...... ....... 15%

Insufficient evidence ....... 0%

Raters disagreed ............ 15%
Rex says:

I like to collect things in my mind, rather than to
actually collect Objects.

Arthur:

I've taken on a new interest in critical analysis.
I've been reading people like E.E. Cummings, Edna
St. Vincent Millay, Carl Sandburg, Hilda Doolittle,
and all the tribe.

Mark says when asked why he likes to experiment:

Why do I want to do them? Because they're interesting.
Some day you might find something that's new and

And

And

Rex:

85
surprisingly a way to come about ideas.
he continues:

I like technical books--no waste—~no plot. I can't
tolerate novels. Anything that is read for just read-
ing, rather than for learning, I can't stand. Text-
books have too much redundancy. You couldn't write

a literature book that would be worth writing because
literature isn't worth learning. If you want cheap
entertainment like Perry Mason, watch it on TV. Don't
read it. I can't even watch an hour of TV. I get
bored. I don't want to learn to enjoy it because I
would take too much time away from things I already
like to do. There is already too much to learn. I
am absolutely mad about scientific things.

again, Arthur:

I read Plato, Sophocles, Aristophanes, and Aristotle.
I usually read in about a series of four things. This
time I read the Origin of Species, the Communist
Manifesto, Utilitarianism, and something else. That

 

 

 

was tricky.
Answers to questions are first found by asking them.

I like to read about peOple in sports who have a lot
of class. We have a lot of books in the house. I
read a Bertrand Russell book, but I was knocked out
because someone stole it. That man really Speaks his
mind. Libraries don't appeal to me very much. I
hear about books from peOple. I have an Oxford Book
of American Verse that I really like to read.

 

 

Poetry isn't too had. A lot of people are afraid of
it. Some people are afraid of brains. A lot of peOple
are afraid of money, good looks, or you know. If
something's perfect, they're afraid of it. A lot of
peOple are afraid of somebody intelligent. Anything
superior, I think, they shun.

Franklin likes the intellectual game more than physical

games:

I suppose it takes a certain amount of competition

and skill to play a game of football, but it takes a
lot more mental agility to play a game of chess. Some
people say they feel better when they're physically
fit. That's just a state of mind.

.,

...

86

Eldon:

And

I like math because if I'm wrong, I can reason out
why I'm wrong. This is true in science too. But in
social studies and English, this isn't true. There's
no great unity, and there are exceptions to all the
rules.

he continues:
I like my mind best, and some of the attitudes my
parents have given me. And the shape my body is in.

I like that. I didn't like the shape it was in before.

Sometimes I wish I could say to heck with grades and
just concentrate on learning something.

Jeff's values:

I think I value most just learning things. AS far
as society values—-maybe it's money. I don't value
money except as a way of acquiring.

Nathan says:

You might say I lean toward the intellectual type.
My interests include almost all areas of knowledge
and avant garde material in these areas.

I'm concerned about a racial issue or a test ban treaty,
but a lot of peOple just aren't concerned about things
like this. It's not pOpular to be intelligent. I

mean, just like we should let grownups think about

this sort of stuff.

I like to read and learn new things. I like to learn,
but I don't like this kind of work where you've got
to write things down--memory work.

Sarah says she prefers the academic subjects to the others:

And

Rather than singing or being in a gym class, I'd rather
be in a math class, or English or social studies.

Hilma talks about her intellectual interests:

I like to discuss about anything. I like to discuss
books we have read or ideas. Something that we can
really communicate and I can feel the idea that we
are communicating. You don't really get this sense
by talking about clothes or what you have.

I always like to read, and I've always been curious
Since I was about nine. I started taking books out

87

of the adult section. They weren't supposed to let
you do it, but I did. I don't see why they don't.

I've been reading Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Faulkner,
I like Faulkner a lot. And Ayn Rand--I like that a
lot because it is extreme individualism. I've been
reading a lot of books on architecture by architects.
I've been reading some books on anthrOpology. Once
in a while I'll pick up a novel and skip through that.

Mildred:

My girlfriend called me up the other day, and we talked
about Vietnam for about an hour. I like being able
to talk on an adult level.

I think a lot. Before, I don't think I really had
any solid Opinions. You don't know much about a
subject until you study it. I know I have a lot of
definite Opinions on subjects.

I never started reading until this year. Really read-
ing a book for what it means and not what it appears
to be.

Muriel:

I have a panel of debaters in my mind, and when I
don't have anything to do, they have a debate. Some
times they come to blows.

Some ideas simply can't be made simple. They are very
complex and can't be wrapped up in neat little parcels.

Knowledge as a whole is so insignificant. Sometimes

I wonder if the knowledge that we do know is important.
Is it really true? There may be something entirely
wrong with our whole base of knowledge. I like to
study other cultures to find out what other peOple
think. What has civilization done for the world? It
has taken people away from nature and made us very
callous. Is civilization important? It has created

a way of wiping everything out.

Beatrice, the girl with an intellectual grandfather whom
she talks about a great deal, says:
NO one reads in my family except my grandfather and
I. I try to read a different book every week if I

can.

Before, I was looking at things on a more local level,

88

now I'm looking at things more broadly. I guess I've
matured. I'm more interested in what's going on
beyond the bounds of my little life.
I feel you should know more about what's going on
around you because how are you going to be able to
think about it objectively, if you know not what really
is? That's a problem.

And Lisa:

I don't read with a passion anymore but I still love to
read.

An important part of the creative process may be
dissatisfaction with the present, the status quo. Mathew
Arnold once called creative persons "divine mal—contents."
Before the artist--or any other creative person-—can create

the new, he sometimes must "destroy,"

in a sense, the old--
or at least be skeptical of it, question it, see its faults.
Drews has said that the creative youth She has studied
are likely to be skeptical. Describing them as a group,
she has said:
This is a skeptical group. However, they combine
skepticism with a deep-seated idealism and a tendency
to probe basic issues. They frequently see the dis-
crepancy between people's expressed beliefs ang their
actions. And this discrepancy disturbs them.2
A creative person, then, is likely to be one who questions--
even the truisms that are almost universally accepted. He
does not accept cant; he does not accept without questions
what others may accept as unquestionable. The item read:
"Skeptical of ideas, critical, not easily impressed (eSpeci—

ally with traditional ideas or slogans)."

The percentages for the boys are:

89

Positive ................... 57%
Negative ................... 21%
Insufficient evidence ..... . 0%
Raters disagreed .......... .21%

For the girls:

Positive ................... 46%
Negative ................... 23%
Insufficient evidence ...... 23%
Raters disagreed ........... 8%

Mark comments when asked if he considers himself a
cynic:

In a way. The thing is that there are so many things
to be cynical about. And you could invest a couple of
life-times at it and still not come up to do enough.

He is also skeptical of humanitarian and welfare programs:

They grow up and turn into "wine-noses" and lushes and
murderers, and they get on your tax and welfare rolls.
They vote for all the wrong guys. Like with the Negroes—-
you try to give them an equal chance, and it goes to

their heads. There's such a tremendous amount of peOple
who don't want to help themselves.

Nathan saw through some of the sham of schools:

I think I had most of the teachers fooled. In the little
notes that they wrote home on the report card, they
usually said, 'David is a trustworthy boy and a good
citizen," and all this.

Arthur is skeptical about ideas from the adult world:

When I get to be President, I'm going down to high
schools. That's where I'm going to get ideas. Young
peOple are a lot more creative, and they think a lot
more than those old factory workers. That's what I'll
do.

Rex has a healthy skepticism of tests:

I don't go with these tests. You're being pigeon-holed
for the rest of your life because of the results of one
little test. I don't like what they put in these I.Q.
tests. An 1.0. test is put out by society to see how
well you fit the way society wants you.

Mark is also critical of novelists:

90

I don't read novels. When you take into account who
wrote them, you usually find out he's a nothing. When
you buy their books you're promoting this type of
condition. They're Slobs. They constantly rebel
against society whether there's a reason or not.

And Rex is critical of his mother:

I don't ask questions too much any more. After all,
peOple don't listen. My mother never listens to a
word I say. All I ever get from her is that school
isn't as good as it used to be. She's thoroughly con-
vinced that kids now in school are idiots.

Mildred is critical of people who will not recognize facts:

I was arguing about capital punishment with this local
lawyer. He believed in it, and I didn't. I went to
encyclopedias, magazines, and books and I wrote up this
editorial. I gave him all these facts. He just said
you've got a lot of good points, but I still haven't
changed my mind. He said I could Oppose him with facts,
but he wouldn't agree with me because he had one fact
that he really believed in. I couldn't understand that.

Lisa:
It's sort of comica1--people rushing so fast today,
expressways going to get to places sooner. In the mean-
time, they're spoiling all they want to see.
And again Mildred, when asked if she disagrees with the
authors of the books she reads:
Oh, yes I disagree with authors. Teachers stress too

much that the people you read are authorities and
can't be disagreed with.

Muriel:

I sometimes wonder if we aren't some kind of self-
important ant?

Beatrice:

Of course, the Catholic religion is against this. They
feel that when women get married, it's to raise a family.
I don't agree with our church in a lot of things, but
this is ridiculous.

 

be

a“

91
Jenny:
I can see myself working for people that are getting
screwed. They are the have-nots and the underdogs.
I can see myself raising their standards because this
goes along with my values. They are peOple who really
deserve-—or at least they ought to have a chance. I
can see myself doing this.
And her critical mind again and again turns her to icono-
clasm:

Brotherly love is good for people who can take it. I
can't. I don't think my brothers are worthy of love.

I never saw the use of history too much. I never agreed

with the people who said, "If you don't pay attention
to history, it will repeat itself."

Fluency has been seen as one of the qualities of
the creative mind.2u The creative person seems to have
the ability to think of simply more reSponseS--he can go
on at a greater length. His talk is likely to follow a
process that cyberneticists call ”positive feedback," in
that each idea sets Off a whole string of related ideas in
something like geometric progression. This fecundity of
mind is clearly seen in the Calvin Tomkins interview of
Buckminster Fuller in which Tomkins says of this genius:

... Fuller seems never to have forgotten anything he

ever knew, and his command of statistical detail is
awe-inSpiring. Perhaps the most amazing aSpect of

these monologues is that, no matter how long and
labyrinthine the digressions that crOp up along the

way, he invariably returns sooner or later to the primary
subject of his discourse, and everything turns out to
have been relevant.

The item on the scale relating to this read: "Has

lots of ideas."

92

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive ................... 71%
Negative ................... 21%
Insufficient evidence ...... 0%
Raters disagreed ........... 7%

For the girls:

Positive ................... 77%
Negative ................... 23%
Insufficient evidence...... 0%
Raters disagreed ........... 0%

Arthur's ideas may be somewhat bizarre:

And:

His

This is my plan for birth control, or, rather for death
control. Legalize suicide and make a survey of every
person that exists. Ask him if he wants to live, what
he does, and if he's contributing to the life he leads.
These peOple that are just taking up little plots and
really serve no useful purpose, are out of the question.

A lot of peOple who are classified as insane and retarded
have a great capacity for feeling.

feelings on the race issue are not unlike James Baldwin's:

There are obvious wrongs being done to minority groups.
PeOple don't have a right to kill peOple or to make
jokes of other peOple. I don't even want to talk about
it. It's not a question of minority groups. It is a
matter Of wrongs being done to peOple.

Waino's ideas are sometimes misanthrOpic:

There will always be racial discrimination. There
always has been. There is a difference between the
races. Northern EurOpe supplies the brains for EurOpe,
and not just for EurOpe but for the whole world. There
has always been a superior race to my way of thinking--
the Teutonic.

Franklin, on the other hand, is more humanitarian:

I don't want to be a scientist. I'm strongly interested
in human welfare. The well-being of the entire family
of man. I hate anything that destroys man's dignity.
I'm not a tough-minded realist.

He continues:

93

I never read any technical material. I don't think I
have one book in my whole library that has anything to
do with anything other than imagination and things in
history. I'm not the least technically inclined. I
don't even read newspapers.

On physical education:

Rex

One

I'm sort of a lazy person, and I'd hate to have an
ambitious wife. I hate anything active. That's why
I think the gymnasium should be turned into all kinds
of things-~cinders, mostly.

sounds Jungian:

I think it would be pretty good if they would let boys
cry once in a while. That's why it's something like
over 50 per cent of the people in the houses for the
mentally ill are men. You can't expect too much if
they're never going to have a chance to let off steam.
Girls are usually more well-balanced. A rather large
percentage of the girls seem like somewhat of a tom—
boy. I mean they've had a chance to get both sides of
life.

might disagree with his ideas:

PeOple have to take care of themselves. Hitler, him-
self, didn't do anything. If I tell you to shoot some-
body, I'm not the one who is doing anything. If, be-
cause Of the conversation, you went out to shoot some-
body, that's your trouble. Hitler, as far as I know,
never killed anybody.

0n unions:

Unions work for better working conditions because work-
ing conditions aren't taxed. Pay is.

Franklin, the anti-physical education young man:

The whole destiny of the race is to get less and less
physical, and our ultimate evolution is going to be a
brain made up purely of one large brain. Our entire
system of mobility will be one little moving organ
someplace that can push things for us and build every-
thing we need. In the future it will seem as silly to
them to lift an ashtray as it does to expect men to
lift car bodies. Our brains will grow larger and larger.
Our destiny lies in our mental and not our physical.
Why people care to keep the physical being alive is
more than I can understand.

94
And:

The Civil War was the last of gentleman's war, and it
was the first of the mechanized wars. It's a terrible
thing, but it's a lot of fun to read about. There's

a little war in all of us, I think.

Mark's enjoyment of baseball is rather unique:

There was this one advertisement for a baseball book.
It told about how players were rated and everything.
So I sent in and got all these pamphlets, and from
there I worked up my own game. I went through and
rated all these players and everything.

He is sometimes epigramatic:

What I hOpe to get out of college is getting out of
college.

And:

I get close-minded very fast. I find if you don't get
close-minded fast, things can begin to create in—roads.
Before long, you're not yourself.

He is a rugged individualist:

Society was designed just to protect itself. Ever since
the beginning of the earth, societies have come and
gone. They've started out bad and ended up worse. And
some other societies have come and taken over, and con-
tinued Oppression. A society has never really helped
anything. It's always been an individual.

When asked if he could have anything he desired, he will
not be tricked into a faulty answer:

I've always thought about that question. I figured
it would take about six years to completely write out
an answer that would be explicit enough. Some peOple
would wish for the golden touch, or for unlimited wealth,
and they would find out that nobody likes them. The
only way that you could make the answer properly is to
just wish for contentment.

Nathan admires the man who thinks for himself:

An artist, a scientist, or a writer, I am sure, have
their own ideas and do their own thinking. They aren't
so easily led by other people. Also I think they care
about other peOple. They don't just step all over them.
They'd rather step around them.

95

Jeff on social changes:

Things are happening so fast, but no one is thinking
about the effects of this advancement. Then they find
themselves with problems that result from the changes
and they worry about them. And all the time they are
creating new problems.

Work has become so specialized that people can't see
the results of their work, and thus they don't see the
value of work because they can't see the whole.

He discusses the problems of the haves and have-hots:

Society is going to fall into the hands of an intellectual
elite. They are the peOple who have ideas and make the
changes. But who are these changes benefitting? They
benefit the people who make the changes——the elite. And
the poor guy—~the ordinary worker--isn't benefitted by
these changes. They're on the outside. They don't

make the changes, they don't benefit by them. Like auto-
mation, what are you going to do with these people?

Give them doles? That isn't good because peOple have

to have some purpose. They can't go through life doing
nothing.

Sarah ruminates:

When I think of being in a city—~to see just bricks,
concrete, and no nature anywhere, and people hurrying
here and there--I sometimes wonder how man can live in
this kind of world. It's just a world of dead things.
It reminds me of a program I saw on television. The
girl was a mermaid in the sea. And she was so surprised
that there were so many dead things around us. Every—
thing in this room is dead except you and me. Yet,
actually they aren't dead. Books hold precious thoughts,
and through them we get ideas of other peOple; and
through them, we expand our own. But man-~sometimes I
don't see how he can stand to live in a world that's

so rush, rush and all concrete and steel.

Hilma Speaks of war:

And

I think the nuclear bomb is horrible. I don't want

to die that way. I feel this horrible sense of help-
lessness. I want to erect these beautiful buildings,
and then all of a sudden, they're all gone. Your idea,
your ideal, human life, and beauty is gone.

on being objective:

If you were to be strictly objective, some people would

96

call this wishy-washy. They want to see both sides of
the story so much that they really hold to nothing.

I think people reSpect more a person who will stand

up regardless of what people say and regardless of the
holes in his theory.

Mildred on prejudice:
Adolescents aren't as prejudiced as adults. Adults
develOp this mental block, and they have a harder time
looking at things. Teen—agers still haven't settled

in their Opinions, and they are more open to new ideas
as a result.

On the coming society:
PeOple are thinking more these days and are becoming
more non-conformist. We're going to have Greenwich
Villages all over the U.S. Society binds too much, but
people are breaking away.

And she burbles:

I've got so many ideas in my head that I just don't
know which one to turn to first.

Jenny says:
I don't think that it's what I'm going to do for society.
I don't know what I'm going to do. If I were a poet,
let's face it, it's not going to be for other people.
There is no need in me to reach out to these people.

But She continues:
There is a governing body in the United States that's
working for the have—nots and I praise the Lord for
the Kennedy administration.

Carol observes:

PeOple on one city block collectively are like peOple
on another city block; but individually they're different.

Julie on critics:
So many people say a critic is bad because they say
bad things. But generally a critic will tell you the
truth the way he sees it, and that's important.

Debbie on education:

Education means just about everything in life. You

97

learn always. Today you're smarter than yesterday.

You walk down the street and see a bird fly; and you're
different. You see some picture that strikes you.

This is education. You learn to appreciate. Education
is not just school.

Beatrice brought Dreiser's The Tycoon to the interview with

her:

 

I was walking past The Tycoon and I happened to notice
it, so I pulled it out. I also read Hawaii this summer.
I believe in the philOSOphy of that book. All men are
created equal and what all men do, reflects on everyone
else. I liked the beginning. It was poetic.

 

Having almost raised her younger siblings, she can Speak

with some authority on children:

And:

And:

ReSponSibility is one of the big things to build up

in a child. Some kids don't know what to do if mother
isn't there to tell him. A child should be allowed to
develop in his own way.

Most adults are informed about what they have to be
informed about.

The more you talk with peOple the more you realize by
the reaction you get from them where you are, what group
you belong to, and at what station you are in life.

Very closely related to the preceding is the ability

to grasp others' ideas and expand upon them. A creative

person is likely to have the ability to carry an idea beyond

its

original condition. The item that related to this read:

"Grasps others' ideas and expands upon them."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive .................... 79%
Negative...... .............. 14%
Insufficient evidence ....... 0%

Raters disagreed ............ 7%

98
For the girls:

Positive. .......... .. ...... 85%
Negative ................... 8%
Insufficient evidence ..... . 0%
Raters disagreed ........... 8%

Quotations from the interviews that illustrate this
ability have already appeared. But to take another example,
the interviewer said to Mark:

In other words, the classroom Should be competitive?
That's right. But, I didn't necessarily say that the
classroom should be competitive, but just the peOple.
Having the classroom competitive is that you put a
big scoreboard up on the wall with neon lights going,
taking or picking you up on the Spot--just where you
are. That's having a competitive classroom. Having
the people competitive is completely different.

And when Sarah was asked if at any time a person would
necessarily develOp a need for other peOple, she answered:
Well, I have two different opinions here. You see,
being part of a group is going along with what they

feel is right rather than what you feel is right. But
to be needed is something that everyone needs-—to love
and to be loved--that's one of the great needs of every-

one. But yet that's different than being part of the
group to me.

Students of the creative process have noted that
creative persons are likely to have a certain psychological
orientation; that is, they are likely to be intrOSpective,
self-critical, and critical of others. They are interested
in their own psychological make-up, are honest in their
views of themselves, and are equally as perceptive in under-
standing the psychological make-up of other persons. Frank
Barron, for example, has said that the creative persons

from many different professional areas have shown an excep—

99

tional self-awareness.26 And Donald MacKinnon has said
that the creative persons studied at IPAR have been found
to be persons who can look inward with considerable objec-
tivity and honesty. Creative persons do not avoid intrO-.
spection; they do not repress. MacKinnon writes:

.. one of the most striking things to be noted about
creative persons is their unwillingness to deny or
repress things which are unpleasant or troubling ....
They reveal clearly ... that (their) personal soundness
is not an absence of problems but a way of reacting to
them.27

The creative person, then, is one who has an Openness about
himself: he is not afraid to look inward, he sees himself
and his works with honesty, and therefore, he has a con-
siderable capacity for self-criticism.

In the present study, the item relating to this
factor read: "Psychological in orientation, given to self-

analysis and analysis of others, self-critical."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive.... ............. ....64%
Negative... .................. 29%
Insufficient evidence... ..... 0%
Raters disagreed ............. 7%

For the girls:

Positive ...... . .............. 92%
Negative.. ..... . . .......... 8%
Insufficient evidence. ...... 0%
Raters disagreed ............. 0%

The boys in the group who did not seem to be psychological
in orientation were those who were more scientifically
oriented and more "thing-centered" than "peOple-centered."

Mark, however, is interested in science and tech-

lOO

nology, but still he is interested in peOple. When asked

if his analysis of people amounts to a kind of study, he

reSponds:

And

When you can, it's more fun if you can see through
people. You can find out what their backgrounds are
and run across a few things when they drOp something
here and there in their speech. And you can put your
puzzle together and find out what a person's like in-
side. It's hard to do this; but after many years of
practicing at it, you can find out what peOple are
actually thinking.

on the subject of his identity:

I don't truly feel that I have an identity of myself.
I feel nebulous. I can't accept the fact that I am
something. I feel that I am nothing. NO identity
for myself. I don't feel like a people. And I don't
know that I'd like to find out. Perhaps I am a robot.
I feel that other peOple know they are peOple when
they walk down the street, but I don't. I feel just
weird when they say "hi" to me. Do I look like them
when they're saying "hi" to me? Do I convey the same
expressions? If someone were to ask me who I am, I
don't feel as if I could answer. I know you're you,
but I don't know who I am. I know you're a peOple,
but I can't see that I am.

Curtis, scientifically oriented, likes to think about peOple

too:

I like to think about why peOple behave the way they do.
Like psychology and things like that--I like to think
about why people do things.

Arthur on the subject of himself:

What I mean is, I'm insane.

He identifies with Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye:

And

 

He reminds me a lot of me. Last page-~that's what does
it. That's cool. That's really a great ending that
really smashed me.

on "significant others:"

PeOple who influence you tend to do so by wanting to
make you do the things they have done, or not do the

lOl

things they haven't done.

Franklin worries:

I like to have people around me. I'd never be a hermit
or introvert, but certainly not the extrovert. I always
like to walk out feeling I've made an impression. I

get nervous about what kind of an impression I'm going
to make. I'm not as worried about making a good im-
pression as not making a bad impression.

When asked whom he feels most like and most unlike in his

family, Rex says:

And:

Let's say, I'm quite a bit different. I tend more to-
wards my mother who's rather intelligent. Otherwise,
I'm quite a bit different than she is. In fact, I
think she rather despises my intelligence .... I know
what she's like, and she's always downing my stepfather
for being ignorant. Usually I know better because I
know both of them. In fact, I know her better than she
knows me. She doesn't know me much at all.

Most peOple are afraid to let themselves go. I think
that's why more men are maniacs. I mean, be quiet,
keep to yourself, don't cry, don't do anything. Keep
your emotions, except anger, behind you. No wonder
they go nuts. It would do a lot of good if once in a
while they could get out there and cry in public, but
that's shameful.

Jeff analyses his own natural affinity for liking to be

alone:

I like to be alone, but I guess I do more things than

I used to. I found out that if I was always going to

be by myself, eventually I wouldn't be happy. There's
always times you want to be with other people--and if
you don't try and push yourself-—I don't mean push your—
self, but try and interest yourself in things that other
peOple are interested in, then they're not going to be
interested in you.

Keith discusses a case of hero worship:

My cousin had an important influence on me. I used
to idolize him and everything he did. He was a big
guy and athletic, but he was thick-headed. He wants
to be a race driver right now. And he kind of woke me

102

up. He wasn't doing anything, and I could be doing
something. I couldn't let him influence me.

Nathan stOpS in the middle of his interview and looks at

himself:

And:

I try to be Spontaneous, but I feel myself straining

to be Spontaneous. I can see my mind wandering. I
don't know what I feel deep inside. And I keep wonder-
ing if what I say gives an impression of what I am to
the person who listens to this tape. Who am I? Am I
what the person who listens to the tape thinks I am?

Everyone is always straining to put on facades. They
strain to be funny and strain to be serious. They're
never their own simple selves in this complex world.

On the subject of moods:

Mother says I'm terribly moody, and I have to agree
with her. I go through changes every day. I go from
depression to feeling very good. I have a million
fronts that I can put on. I can always feel myself
putting on fronts. Maybe this is because I don't feel
at ease with peOple. I feel that I can't really talk
to peOple.

Mildred analyzes others:

I feel critical of people all the time. But I never
say anything that I feel about people. I look at some-
one and try to figure him out, but I never say anything.

Nancy discusses why She doesn't Show her emotions:

She

I think too much about what other peOple are going to
think of me. Sometimes I don't do things that I would
have done, otherwise. That's one reason why I don't
show my emotions too much. I'm afraid of what people
might think. My mother says you have to be yourself
to be at ease. And that is one thing I have an awful
lot of trouble with. I get nervous when I get around
peOple that I want to impress. And it hinders me, but
I can't help it.

continues:
Your real self is the person you would like to be.

The life of the party is actually a very different
person when he gets off by himself. He just puts on

103

a front when he's at a party.

On the subject of her moodiness:

One of my main problems is that I'm so moody. I'm
terribly moody sometimes for no reason. Sometimes I
don't feel like a person at all--neither sad nor happy--
just blah. I get sad over things that I worry about.
When I have done something that I think is worthwhile,

I begin to feel happy.

Lisa talks about herself:

And:

And

I can never find out what kind of person I am.

I can't seem to make myself one kind of person.
other comments:

Outwardly, I appear to be on an even keel, but I do
feel moods.

You can't really tell what people are like on the in-
side by observing them from the outside.

I like best that I can really see things about myself
and other peOple.

Muriel tells about how her teachers used to see her:

She

And:

When I was down in the grades, the teachers used to
write on my report card that I was shy and introverted.
Well, that never did me much good. I would read those
reports and say, "Well, that's too bad, isn't it?"

But I wasn't going to do anything about it. I don't
think it helped me to have people tell me about it.

My teacher once saw me in a group of kids, laughing and
talking. She wondered if that were really me. I was
no shrinking violet then.

too is moody:

I'm very happy or very depressed. Sometimes I'm jump-
ing around and feeling wonderful. These moods happen
very Often. Sometimes I think it's just wonderful in
the morning, and something terrible happens and I'm
depressed.

PeOple are kind of artificial. I've some friends like

104

that. They don't even know their real selves.

Jenny discusses the subject of egotism:

She

I think you can take criticism a lot easier if you're
not egotistical. I think there is a dividing line
between conceit and egotism. And I think mine maybe
is more conceit.

analyzes her parents:

My mother has an inferiority complex. She feels she

is less intelligent than my father. She says she feels
inadequate when we talk about theories. She is practical
and I think nursing has made her that way. She is con-
cerned with how other people feel. My father and I
aren't.

Jenny:

And:

The thing I like most about myself is intelligence.
And, Oh God, I have so many things I don't like, it's
hard to pick.

I'm kind of cynical, I'm afraid. They say cynics are
never happy, but I'm happy. I've got a deep-seated
pessimism about me.

Carol says:

I think about what I do more than I ever did. That's
natural. And I'm inclined to do it.

Georgia discusses her father at length, and concludes:

And

And

I know he's smart, even though he only went to the
eighth grade. He's really quite brilliant, but just
kind of wild. He never grew up. That's probably what
the matter is.

Debbie says about herself:

I like to shut myself up in my bedroom and do some self—
analysis.

Beatrice:

I'm highly sensitive. I'm fatalistic. Pessimistic.
I think I'm hypersensitive. Sometimes emotionally I
feel sad. Fight at home. I try to hide my feelings
because I'm a little sensitive. I remember quarrels

105

used to be major catastrophes, but I've gotten over
that. I don't let things bother me so much.

My philosophy doesn't change so much--it just expands.

When I look back over the years, I see pretty much the
same kind Of person.

In the quotations included in the preceding section,
it can be seen that many of the young creatives in the
present study have not only a psychological orientation,
that is, an interest in self-analysis and the analysis of
others; but further, these quotations Show a willingness
to disclose self to the interviewer. In these quotations,
and in others in this paper, an Openness about self is
apparent. This Openness, again is a trait associated with
creative persons. AS Donald MacKinnon has said:

It is the creative person's openness to experience and
relative lack of self—defensiveness that makes it
possible for him to speak frankly apg critically
about himself and his problems ....
The item relating to this quality read: "Willingness to
disclose self in interview; when interviewer questions or
probes, reSponds as to a challenge, cooperates in attempt-
ing to form explanations, does not become defensive or

treat matter as unimportant."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive ....... . .............. 43%
Negative....... ............... 50%
Insufficient evidence ......... 0%
Raters disagreed.. ........ .... 7%

For the girls:

106

Positive. .................. 100%
Negative....... ............ 0%
Insufficient evidence...... 0%
Raters disagreed.. ....... .. 0%

Arthur says:

I am no humanitarian, I know that. I don't know,

maybe I'll kill all the people or something. I'm not
going to be a Tom Dooley who will save you from the
wretched diseases. Because, I really don't care. I'll
probably just end up being a Greenwich Village philos—
Opher or something like that. I am depressed. I don't
know where to go because I don't want to help peOple.
I'm just indifferent about the whole thing.

Mark:

When I talk I feel that I am something. When I don't
I feel nebulous. When I talk I think of the power;
after all, I'm keeping up half of what's going on.

The responsibility--I'm keeping up half of something.
I'm inventing the parts that are going into something.
I have the control.

He reveals his fears:

Most peOple have some awesome experience happen to
them by the time they are 30 that dries up their Spirit.
Catastrophic inevitabilities. This tones down the
idealists and the Optimistic. It mows them down comp—
letely. There are two or three that can stand it, but
most peOple get mowed down. Boy, has this happened to
me! I can't stand it! Iflm clinging deSperately to
hope. These experiences scare me. They keep me awake
nights. They worry me.

Robert tells what he doesn't like about himself:

And:

I like the least that I'm large. I like the height,
but I could do without some of the width; and I don't
like my birthmark. I don't like the fact that once
in a while I tell a lie.

There are a lot of things that I've learned now that

I didn't know then. It seems sort of foolish that I
thought I was a brain. How there are so many things
that I realize that I've read and learned, that I
didn't have the slightest inkling of. It seems that I
was sort of stupid then, when I think of myself.

107
And Nathan tells about the trials of being the youngest child:

How would I raise my children? I would give them $500
and tell them to go Off and do their best on their own.
I'd like to go off by myself and make it on my own
without being coddled by my parents. I'm the baby Of
the family. They are over-protective and ignorant of
the fact that I have some intelligence of my own.

They dominate my life. I'm not trusted and treated
like a child. It's hard for them to accept that I've
grown up.

And his problems meeting peOple:

I can't stand small talk. I don't talk to talk. I
like to be saying something. But when I meet peOple
for the first time, I'm bashful. Since I can't talk
small talk, I am just rude to people.

He continues:

I would never want to get married. I couldn't stand
being with the same person. I wouldn't take the
reSponsibility seriously. But if I were a parent, I
wouldn't be so protective. I would certainly learn
from the mistakes made with me. I lead two different
liveS--I'm an angel at home and a rebel at school.
It seems easier to tell a teacher off than a parent.
I sometimes feel like throwing a brick through the
glass in the door of the classrooms.

I'd like to get away. I just can't stand it anymore.
When you come from a big family, have loads of relatives,
and have been coddled all your life, you think how
embarrassing it would be to run away and be brought back.

Hilma Speaks again of her fear of a mass society:

I don't like being in a crowd or big city because I
feel 10st there. I can't be me. I want to be recog-
nized and to recognize other peOple, and really feel
that I'm a part of something. It frightens me when I
drive past in a car and see all of these people that
I am never going to know, or understand, or know what
their feelings are about things. You just see them.
They're part of your experiences but you don't know
anything about them. It bothers me.

Jenny on the subject of her emotions:

I've never gotten too emotional about anything. I don't
cry when I'm hurt. I have to be horribly mad to cry.

108

Muriel:

I'm afraid of being laughed at, SO I'm leery about
putting things on paper. When you put them down,
they look like they are less than they are. I am the
only one who understands. Putting it on paper is
important to me, but others wouldn't understand. If
I put something really important down on paper, it
sort of destroys it. I don't want to do that.

Georgia says:

I don't like to get into other peOple'S problems. I've
got enough of my own.

When Debbie moved, She ceased to be the "star" of her class:

I might say that back in Mount Pleasant I was rated
one of the top students. When I got into seventh
grade in Lansing, I would have just loved to have been
at the tOp, but there were kids who were better than

I was. I couldn't get used to this fact.

Beatrice could be crafty:

She

When I was a little kid, and mother did something
wrong, I used to say that I was going home to Daddy.
All kids do that. They pull on whoever they're

living with. It was kind of a way of getting back

at them. I always used to say that--I want to go home
to Daddy.

described her usual cheerfulness:

I saw that my mother was going to get married when I
read it in the marriage license section of the paper.
Grandmother got all excited, but I remained calm.

I don't sink into moods. I think of myself as a happy
person most of the time. I try to be happy. My moments
of sadness are just momentary.

Barron and MacKinnon have found in their investi-

gations of highly creative adults at IPAR that their sub—

jects have an Openness to early life experiences. MacKinnon

has

written:

It is quite apparent that creative persons have an
unusual ability to record and retain and have readily

109
available the experiences of their life history.29
In the present study the item relating to this read:
1'Open to early life experiences, seems to seek to View
them in the light of their contribution to the self at
present."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive .................... 29%
Negative... ........ . ........ 64%
Insufficient evidence ..... .. 0%
Raters disagreed ............ 7%

For the girls:

Positive... ...... ...........92%
Negative........ ............ 8%
Insufficient evidence.. ..... 0%

Raters disagreed............ 0%
It can be seen in the areas that relate strongly to reveal-
ing self, there is a tendency for girls to be more Open
than boys. The boys are as willing as the girls to talk
about ideas and things, but apparently less willing to
discuss themselves with as much Openness.
This is not, of course, always true, Waino recalls
a childhood experience that seems consistent with his
later development:
I remember in kindergarten when recess came kids would
hide or stay behind the piano so the teacher couldn't
see them. This is what I usually did instead of play-
ing "Ring Around the Rosy" or throwing balls to persons
in a ring. I would sneak out and walk around. That
was the first time when I started thinking about how
vast the world was. That's about the first time I
ever started thinking about eternity and how vast
things are.

Rex tells about his childhood:

After I was about five years Old, I never saw too much

And

110

of my mother. She was rather sick, and I had to stay
with my aunt all the time. That's why we were rather
impersonal toward each other. We're almost in two
different worlds.

further:

I was a very submissive little kid. I was a perfect
sissy. I was scrawny and not too bright. If anybody
said, "boo," I went home crying. That's all changed
now. I never really started growing up until I was in
the eighth grade. I think a lot of it had to do with
my size. I don't come from a very tall family. My
sister used to boss me around--she was so much taller
than me. It's just reversed now. I got so I wasn't
afraid to say what I thought. I can finally fight back
for a change.

Robert talks about his early interest in chemistry:

When I was little my mom always used to let me get into
the kitchen cupboard. This got me interested in chemistry
because she let me have all the salt, pepper, and cinnamon.
I mixed in a big bowl. After that I got real interested
in chemistry. Then my father died when I was seven or
eight, so that sort of put a big hole in things. When

I was eleven, I started collecting chemicals.

He Speaks of his father's death:

And

I understood. I realized that he had cancer; I realized
the whole thing when he was sick. I wasn't around when
he died, but I realized it. I had full comprehension

of what was going on.

Nathan always comes back to a constant irritation:

I am the baby of the family, and I think probably that's
had an effect on me in growing Older. I'm probably a
spoiled brat. My mother just over-coddles me. I realize
this has been. I have had a hard time convincing her
that this is bad. I just don't have a chance to grow

up. I mean I just can't think for myself.

Hilma began to wonder about universal matters early in life:

I remember when I was about four or five years old, we
had an apartment; and on one side was the park, and on
the other side a busy street. I used to sit at the
window and think about the universe, and life, and what
I was really. I used to have horrible nightmares about
what I was. I thought, "Well, this is the universe."

111

I had my idea--not a theory, and I know it wasn't right
but I thought it was rather cute. I was about four years
Old and thought that all the stars were merely holes

that were punched by something, and at night they punched
out the holes so that the rays of light could come in

and they would look down at us to see what we were doing.
This was the idea of God, you know. He was watching down
on us. This was my idea of the stars, and I was trying
to explain it to myself.

Jenny's childhood was turbulent:

And

She

And

I remember when my grandfather died. I remember sitting
on the swing set with my brother, and saying that it

was better that he had died. He had been sick for three
or four years in bed so we were all expecting it then.

Interviewer: Did it make you cry?

NO, not at all. I was kind of worried maybe, but it
didn't. I never did. The only emotion I thought was
that it was good for him to be dead. The one thing
that bothered me, though, was that my father just about
broke up at the funeral, and I had never seen my father
break up about anything. He just hates funerals. He
gets green at funerals. He won't go.

she continues:

After my grandfather died, my grandmother moved in.
And, Oh, my God, my grandmother was a typical mother-
in-law. NO, she's not even typica1--she's worse than
typical. At first we tolerated her because her husband
died and all this, but later, those horrible fights

we used to have. That bothered me. Later on my grand-
mother flipped and was committed. I guess this left
quite an imprint.

recalls her grade school years:

I think what teachers in grade school liked about me
was my energy and enthusiasm. I sort of bubbled. I
gave it to them and they gave it to me.

when she found out she was highly intelligent:

I had a friend--my teacher. I still remember. I found
out from him my I.Q. was 158 and I knew this was pretty
high. It made me feel superior. This was in the third
grade.

Nancy talks about her first experience with death:

112

There was this man across the street from us and he
died very suddenly. That was the first person very
close to me. That was terrible on me. It really was.
I stayed home from school that day. I kind of wish
it would have happened before so I would have been
prepared for it. I've never been to a funeral in my
life, and I'm afraid it's going to be kind of hard.

Muriel, a strong believer in civil rights:

When I was in elementary school, in fourth grade I was
the only white girl in the class. I loved every one
of those kids. It doesn't make any difference to me.
I feel very strongly about this. So many people feel
they're inferior. Well, gee, what kind of a way of
thinking is that? It isn't fair. I get furious at
anyone who starts talking about Negroes in a condes-
cending way.

Lisa remembers how she felt when she was younger:

I had the funny feeling one time when I was small that
everyone was against me. The world seemed like make—
believe, and things were against me.

Childhood mysteries:

She

And

I remember when we moved, there was a huge tree in front
Of our house; and I used to talk to my brother about
moving it because we wanted to have a tree in the city.
I used to picture going into the city with this tree

in a truck. I wondered how come they wouldn't move it
for me.

remembers her early sensitivity:

I remember one little girl who was sort of pretty.
This one boy teased her and that really hurt her, and
she'd come in crying. Whenever somebody said anything
to me, I was really hurt. I didn't take it as teasing
but just as a comment; and I always remember it.

Debbie, a little girl who always wanted to please

remembers her guilt feelings:

I remember sitting up in my bedroom upstairs and really
wondering why did I do this and having guilty feelings.

Another of the items on the rating sheet that relates

 

 

113
to the general area of Openness read: "Willingness to Offer
ideas and disclose self without being asked."
The percentages for the boys are:
Positive.. ...... ..............29%
Negative............... ....... 50%
Insufficient evidence......... 7%
Raters disagreed..............14%
For the girls:
Positive ........... ... ........ 85%
Negative...... ..... ...........15%
Insufficient evidence......... 0%
Raters disagreed.............. 0%
This finding, then, somewhat confirms the results in the
other items that relate to Openness: the boys seem to be
more reluctant to be open about themselves than the girls,
who seem to be remarkably willing to reveal themselves.
Some boys, as the percentages indicate, were remark-
ably Open too. Rex, for example, initiates a question:
Why do peOple have to be at each other's throats? I
can't stand to see people fight. That's why I don't
watch TV very much. I don't like conflict.
Waino quite willingly reveals a sadistic streak; in fact,
he seems to revel in telling the following:
I have a very nicely, highly developed, intricate,
sadistic View toward things. I love seeing those things
go on. I remember watching this cool Old cat and this
baby bird that just cracked out of the shell and fell
out of its nest. This cat was playing with it. It
would reach out its paw and smash the bird and then go
around and leap on it. I sat there and watched for
fifteen minutes. I could have taken the cat away and
put the bird in its nest.
Any number of examples of Arthur's willingness to reveal

himself could be found. His suicidal tendencies, for example,

are revealed by him several times in his interview. The

114
following quotation has an air of bravado about it, but
still it is rather frightening:

I'm always reading something, and I can never do any-
thing. It might take me a half hour to read a little
magazine article because I read a couple of lines and
they drive me crazy. I can't stand it. I'll probably
commit suicide. Here's what I want to do. I break
into an armory, and I steal six grenades. Then, I
stand on this ledge and wait for all these peOple to
come around. Then I'll throw my grenades down and
just dive on the pile.

Many examples of Jenny's Openness could be found. For

example, when the interviewer simply asked her if she liked

her friend, Betty, she answered:
Yes, I like Betty. We're both out of the same bolt of
cloth. She is a little more radical, maybe. We both
have that urge to get away from people. We both--and
Phil too—-wou1d love to be sitting on top of a mountain
without anybody else and no one else would bother you.
I'd much rather go to Canada and sit out on a lagoon

in Lake Superior all alone than go to Minneapolis,
Detroit, or New York.

Does the creative person have many and varied
interests? In the present study an attempt was made to
discover this. The item relating to this read: "Has wide
ranging interests."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive. ......... ......... 79%
Negative.......... ...... ..21%
Insufficient evidence ..... ... 0%
Raters disagreed.. ........ ... 0%

For the girls:

Positive.. ...... ........ ..... 77%
Negative... .......... .. ...... 23%
Insufficient evidence ........ 0%

Raters disagreed.... ..... .... 0%

115
Apparently even among these creative young peOple, interests
do not necessarily range widely. However, with those who
do not seem to have wide-ranging interests, their interests
seemed to be somewhat intense in a more limited area. In
the case of several of the boys in particular, their interests
seemed to be exclusively centered on scientific pursuits
and technology. Jeff, for example, was asked what was the

last book he had read; and he replied, The Radio Amateur's

 

Handbook, a formidable volume of graphs, figures, and tables.
Such a strong focus on technology suggests C.P. Snow's
concern with the limitations of the technologists,30 and
even Rickover's.3l However, about three—quarters of the
group did seem to be people of wide-ranging interests.
They had been great readers as children, and most continued
to be as junior high school students. As Drews found in her
analysis, however, many creative students expressed a desire
to expand their interests, perhaps into the area of the
arts, but felt a lack of opportunity to explore such fields.32
The boys in particular were great hobbyists. Robert
said he liked math puzzles, science fiction, chemistry, the
trombone, church work, writing, electronics, and cartooning.
Mark describes his reading habits:
Right now I've got two accounting books and a geometry
book. And, last week I had computer books and the week
before that I had metallurgy. I've read Space books,
aeronautics books, car books, and the late history books
about our great financiers—-Rockefeller and all those
nice peOple. So, that's mainly what I read.

Rex:

I never know what I'm going to do next. I think if I

116

had my choice, I'd Spend all my life going to college.
I like chemistry, physics, and I like human nature quite
a bit. I'd like to be a psychologist.

Arthur:

Is there anything you really want to do with your life?
No. It's a mixture of umteen desires. I would like

to write; I would like to be a folk singer; I would
like to be a literature teacher; I would like to be a
psychologist; I would like to be a psychoanalyst; I
would like to be a wrestling coach; I would like to be
a farmer; I would like to be a fisherman; I would like
to be a postman. No, I don't want to do everything.

I don't want to work in a factory.

Jeff, whose interests center on technological subjects, says:

I decided you can't just be interested in one thing.
PeOple aren't made to be like that. You should be
interested in a lot of things.

His uncle had something to do with this:

Until I met my uncle, I never considered it important
to be interested in everything. My uncle was. I
considered it important to become good in electronics,
but I didn't consider it important to become interested
in everything else. But my uncle knew something about
everything. He wasn't an expert in all fields, but

he knew something about all fields and could enjoy just
about everything. Meeting him was one of the most out-
standing experiences of my life.

When asked what his interests are, Franklin replies: the
Civil War, Space travel, photography, tropical fish, rail-
roading, paleontology, and ancient history. Morris wishes
he could live longer so he could learn more about everything
he's interested in, which is everything extant:

Sometimes I wish that if there were only more time.
They say that future peOple are going to live a lot
longer. Well, I wish they would because then you could
learn everything. I'd like to learn everything but now
there just isn't time. And, I'd like to try every job
there is. If I had one wish, I'd like to be able to
live longer and learn all I want to, read all I want to,
and try all the jobs I want to.

117

And he continues:
.If I had a lot of time, I'd just go right to it. I'd
start reading all the things I'm interested in--like
everything.

Mildred has the same trouble deciding among interests that

Arthur mentioned:
A thousand, maybe a million interests, and I can't
decide which one to pursue. I tell my mother it's
possible to go through college and still not know what
I want to do. She can't understand that.

Muriel's interests are mainly anthropology, animals, and

her native country, Scotland; while Karen likes puzzles,

science fiction, horses, reading, and painting.

The creative person is more than alive to the
things of the physical world--he is aware of "the secret
fountains that Speak loud only in the night,"33 as well,
to use Theodore Reik's phraseology to describe the world of
fantasy. The creative person knows a great deal about his
universe, but he is equally attuned to the world Of his
imagination. Reference has already been made in this paper
to Harold McCurdy's article on creativity. It has been seen
that the eminent creative persons whose childhoods he studied
all Spent a great deal of time alone when they were children;
but the important point is, while these creative persons
as children were alone, they develOped an exceptionally rich
fantasy life, or, as McCurdy puts it, "a rich effloresence
of fantasy (was a reaction to) the preceding conditions."34

The dreams and imaginative creations of their childhood

118
became the stuff of their later accomplishments. It is al-
most axiomatic, one might say, to say that creative persons
must be dreamers.

The item in this area read: "Awareness of fantasy;
Shows fancifulness and whimsy."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive ............. . ....... 86%
Negative..................... 7%
Insufficient evidence........ 0%
Raters disagreed............. 7%
For the girls:
Positive ........... . ......... 77%
Negative..................... 0%
Insufficient evidence........15%
Raters disagreed............. 8%

It can be seen, then, that the young peOple in this
study Showed a considerable affinity for the world of fantasy.
However, the dreams of youth in the mid-60's are different
from the dreams of their fathers. These youngsters live
in a scientific age, an age of space travel; and it is
natural that their fantasies revolve around the fantasies
of science, Space, and para-science. For this reason,
the raters looked for another characteristic-—interest in
science fiction, the occult, extra-sensory perception.

This item read: "Awareness of and interest in the

occult, ESP, reads science fiction:

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive... .................. 86%
Negative............... ..... . 7%
Insufficient evidence.. ...... 7%

Raters disagreed............. 0%

119

For the girls:

Positive..... .......... ....85%
Negative ....... .. .......... 8%
Insufficient evidence...... 5%
Raters disagreed ........... 0%

Franklin, on science fiction:

And

And

Science fiction Offers the most chance for imagination.
Science fiction certainly Offers a great deal of area
for imagination, but it's easy to read. It usually
involves more interesting topics than other types of
fiction.

telepathy:

Telepathy. That's tremendous. There's no end to it.
As far as I'm concerned, we'll be telepathic by 1980.

Space:

I'm tremendously interested in technology and Space
and all the things that go into these new frontiers.
These are fields that stretch the human mind to the
limit and require both imagination and exact knowledge.
It seems to me that getting ahead in Space travel is
our most important national problem. I agree that we
should Spend billions on this venture. We have to.
This is the way tough-minded materialists look at things.
In the future when machines take over, we may have to
change our values. After all, cybernation is here to
stay.

Robert is interested in extra-sensory perception:

And

I did an experiment with extra-sensory perception once
with my mom. We were each in a different room, and I
drew a picture on a piece of paper. I don't know if
this is just because She was SO much like me, but I
drew a picture of a house next to a river with a tree.
And she was in the other room and she drew a picture
Of a house next to a road which looked very much like
a river with a tree. I was interested in that, and
I've read a bit about it.

on science fiction:

There's so much I like-—science fiction. There are

so many things science fiction writers think up. I
wish so much that I had thought Of it before, because
some of them are really great ideas for science fiction
stories.

120
Nathan says that his favorite authors in science fiction
are H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. Margie thinks about space:

Things set me to thinking. There must be peOple out
there in all that vast area of many, many planets.

Why Should we be the only ones there? That's why I'm
very much interested in flying saucers and things they
sight overhead. I just feel that there are other
peOple out there.

Sarah says:

All I do is sit and think. Like coming home from camp--
it had been a wonderful week and I was just riding in
the car. AS trees went by, I'd notice how much a tree
was like a person. They're straight and tall. A tree
will grow up and become, well, like an individual
person. Then, you see a group of trees that are part

of a group. Time is going so fast.

Hilma:

Sometimes I'll go in the backyard and read and day-
dream. It gives me a magical feeling. I like to day-
dream.

Jenny:

My favorite book? I think a thing called Three Hearts
and Three Lines. It's a fantasy. It's complete escape,
but it has so many things that are applicable to our
times that it is really wonderful.

 

 

And:
Science fiction is interesting to me more than anything
else. I like the ridiculous type of thing. I am taken
by vampire stories.

Muriel describes at great length the fantasy in The Lost

 

Tribe, and says:
It's kind of impossible but a nice thought.
She continues:

I read all the science fiction that was in our school
library.

Fantasia--the best movie I ever saw.

 

121
Julie:
ESP--there's actually no end to what the mind can do.
Carol has fantasies about Space:
I like to think about possibilities in the future--
like science fiction. Like having a tunnel through
the stars and things like that.

She writes her dreams down:

Sometimes I write those dreams down to write up into
stories. I've got a collection of them.

She continues:
I play with the girl next door. I end up being her
husband, and we have a lot of fun. Carolyn's the
little kid and over comes the whole bunch from next
door. Her older sister automatically becomes the
baby sitter. Her brother becomes the other kid.
Edith, interested in religion, is something of a mystic,
and several interviewees mentioned that She "has ESP,"

and apparently she has told a number of her friends that

she has visions.

Barron and MacKinnon have found that among their
creative subjects there was a marked affinity for matters
aesthetic. MacKinnon has written that among a group of
values (the theoretical, the economic, the aesthetic, the
social, the political, and the religious),

there are two values most emphasized by all the
creative groups. They are the theoretical and the
aesthetic .... The aesthetic permeates all of a
creative person's work. He seeks not only truth but
also beauty.35

Warren and Heist have found in their study of the person-

ality attributes Of gifted college students this same

122
affinity for the aesthetic values,36 and Drews has also
noted in her work with gifted adolescents that the creative-
intellectual gifted youngsters are more interested in
aesthetics than the less creative social leader and studious
types.37 Barron too has found that his creative subjects
have an affinity for aesthetics.38 He has said further
that the creative person is also likely to be a "complex

H
person,

and one of the four qualities he discusses which
he finds to be a frequent characteristic of complex persons
is that they are artistic.39

The item relating to the area of the aesthetics

read: "Aesthetic sensitivity; receptivity to beauty."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive... .................. M3%
Negative.....................43%
Insufficient evidence ........ 7%
Raters disagreed ...... ....... 7%

For the girls:

Positive ..................... 77%
Negative. .................. 8%
Insufficient evidence ........ 8%
Raters disagreed. ........... 8%

Mark, on the subject of beauty:

What do I think is beautiful: Buildings. I have seen
buildings that I absolutely fell in love with. They
are like paintings. They way they're arranged, the
colors in them, the visual impression, the meaning
behind them. And buildings have a use; they are not
phony and fake. Seeing beauty is like taking Opium.
You have dilations of certain muscles, and you feel
the tingle and tangle. You feel very light-headed
like you're just going. The blood pressure rises--
it's excitement, excitement, and you feel good.

I also love carS--the motion--they are the personifi-
cation of function. There is beauty in motion.

And

And:

123

Undulations of the wheels on the road, yes, yes, the
lights blinking, turning corners. I sometimes just
Sit on a corner and watch the cars go around. It's
just beautiful. Like the Beetles--when I hear rhythms.
I see pistons flying up and down and I feel I'm moving.
The feeling of motion, the feeling of beauty. And I
hear music when I see cars going down the road. It's
all of a piece. Beauty is usually exhilarating rather
than peaceful.

I love weird things.

I get such a feeling of power when I look at buildings.
It makes you feel bigger than you are. Good grief,
when I go out and see buildings, cars going around,
jets going overhead, and Gershwin's playing American

in Paris, all of a sudden I have to go out and so some-
thing. It's exciting. Lands, I have to go out and
make things more exciting. I feel awake. Things are
going around. I wish this would happen oftener. I
wish it would happen constantly. It makes me feel so
ambitious.

Arthur talks about natural beauty:

Anything that is natural is beautiful and anything

that is unnatural is ugly. This doesn't exclude man-
made things; if things were made with some kind of

idea in mind, they can be natural. The thing that
really knocks me out are things that have stayed the
same for years and years, like rock formations. The
Grand Canyon would knock me out if it weren't cluttered
with beer cans. Just one beer can would spoil it all.

PeOple respond to beauty nowadays a lot more because
they have to contend with so much ugliness like war,
politics, strikes, riots, like that. They freshen
when they see something that isn't ugly. But then
they go back to their homes and factories and forget
all the beauty they've seen. That's the way people
are.

Eldon, who plans to be an architect, talks about buildings

and

girls:

In architecture I like things that are uncluttered.

I prefer simplicity. I don't like this garbage they
put on buildings for decoration. The same thing
applies to girls. I don't like it when girls clutter
themselves up with artificial make-up.

124
And further:

If you're in a building that is all function, there
is nothing to look at. It's boring, and the job you
have to do in that building may become a chore.

Nathan on poetry:

I don't read poetry, but I write it. I like to write
it.

Jeff, on Skin diving:

Skin diving is a way to see beautiful scenery, because
it's a way to see a whole different world.

But on modern art:

I don't like modern art because it's not recognizable.
I have to be able to identify with something in order
to say it's beautiful. I prefer things that are natural.
It can be a great Spectacular scene, or a Single flower.

Sarah:

Beethoven is my favorite classical music composer.
His music that has been inspired by nature is one of
the points I like. Nature inSpired him to write.

I suppose rock and roll players are inSpired in a way
but I don't particularly care for the way they've
been inspired. It's like something's in a rut, or
going around with the rest of the crowd.

And:

Music is just like everything else with me. I enjoy

it a lot more when I'm by myself. Maybe it will hinder
me if I want to go someplace with it. I'm afraid I
can't change my ways, but I like it real well when I'm
just doing it for my own enjoyment. I don't have to
worry about the mistakes I make.

Mildred on beauty:
Beauty erases everything else from your mind. It
absorbs your whole soul, and you're there in it. You
can actually feel the beauty there inside you.

On poetry:

Poets don't write for a group. They write only for
individuals. I love to read poetry over and over.

125
And on Northern Michigan:

It's beautiful up there. People are fun, but I like
the scenery more.

Muriel:

There's something beautiful about every person. If
you look, you can see something beautiful in everyone.

And:

Animals are beautiful. Trees too. I like natural things.
Animals have their own grace. Each has its own kind of
grace. They are very individualistic. Sometimes I like
animals better than peOple.

Lisa likes to write:

I love to write descriptions, and I never get tired of
it. I can always describe a place, even if I havent't
been there.

Lisa has had a great deal of formal training in music, and
She has Spent several summers at Interlochen. Several times
She has been the recipient of musical awards. 0n modern
music:

Some people would say Off-beat, all the modernistic music.
It's like abstract painting. I really love it. I guess
you have to learn to like it, but I liked it right away.
First, I just liked it, but then I saw it has pattern
just as classical music has.

Lisa sees beauty everywhere:

Different things are beautiful in different ways--like

a flower or a skyline. I was standing on the Canadian
side near Detroit and looking across the water at Detroit.
It was a gray day, and the sight was beautiful. Looking
at beauty is an open feeling. It fills you with a feel-
ing of awe. To me, a leaf or a flower can be as beautiful
as something that's large and awesome.

Jenny has her strong likes and dislikes in music, as usual:

I like lots of Schumann and things he wrote. I like

Beethoven but I don't like Bach. I like Rimsky-Korsokov
to listen to, but I don't like to play things like that.
Have you ever played Debussy's Reverie? That's the kind

126

of thing I like.

Georgia:

When I feel sad, I play the piano. But I play the
piano anyway. It seems like you can console yourself.

Julie says:

And

I always get an A in art class. The teacher says I
have a real sense of design. He doesn't know how I do
it. But then I bring it home to my mother, and she
says, "What's that?"

Debbie:

Things that appeal to me very much are different types

of originality in architecture and maybe floral arrange-
ments. I have a cup and saucer collection, and I don't
collect them just as a hobby. I like to see beauty

in something different. I mean you're in a poor neighbor—
hood and the houses are older. But, you can make things
beautiful if you really try.

Going to an art gallery or going to a concert gives
you inspiration. Seeing what others have done gives
you a standard to work up to. When I go to a concert,
I get this feeling in my stomach.

We went to Washington and saw the National Gallery.

My sister and I Spent all our vacation money buying
reprints of the pictures in the galleries.

Guilford has theorized that one of the factors of

creative ability must be flexibility."0 The raters attempted

to discern while analyzing the interviews if the interviewee

seemed to be a flexible thinker. The item read: "Flexibility,

Openness to change; can modify ideas and opinions; attempts

to understand other's Opinions by putting self in their

Shoes; awareness of 'pointS of View.”

The percentages for the boys are:

127

Positive ..................... 6u%
Negative ..................... 14%
Insufficient evidence ........ 7%
Raters disagreed ............. 1M%

For the girls:

Positive ..................... 77%
Negative ..................... 15%
Insufficient evidence ........ 0%
Raters disagreed ............. 8%

Rex says:

I'll give in-—that's my trouble. I see so many sides
to a thing. I can gain something from anything. Even
a rap in the mouth-—I always seem to pull something
useful.

Waino:

Itdepends on whether a person can give me a better
argument than I can give him. Then I change my views;
otherwise I can't. I think a person ought to be able
to change his views and values.

Arthur says:

I think I'm pretty Open—minded, relatively Speaking,

but not as open-minded as I potentially could be.

When I have something that I really believe in, and

I read something or hear something contrary, I do like to
say something. I can't just let it pass.

Eldon says:

You can visualize some of the ideas that the other
kids have because sometimes I feel that I'm always
right. Then I look at somebody else's point of view,
I think about it, and then I say, "Well, maybe they're
right." Then, I like to talk about it and get their
Opinions. At first, I feel I'm strongly right; but

if they've got a pretty good story, I realize that
maybe I'm not right.

Franklin:

I hear all kinds of viewpoints that I didn't realize
existed. I enjoy hearing them.

Jeff:

I can argue both ways because I don't think I've ever

128

made up my mind. I can't say that I hope machines take
over the world, or that I hope that someday there won't
be any machines. I haven't really made up my mind. I
think I enjoy arguing against Jim just to see what he
thinks. It doesn't necessarily mean that I disagree
with him. It's just a way of learning.

And:

Usually during the discussion I don't change my mind.
Sometimes maybe by the next discussion I have a new
vieWpoint, but not during the discussion. I don't back
down.

He doesn't like rigid peOple:

I like people who are friendly and talk to you about
things you are interested in. I dislike peOple who
think they are smart, who think they know all the
answers. I Often times find myself in the wrong. I
change quite a bit, and I don't like people who don't.

Julie comments:

I dislike people who won't stick up for their rights.
I'm willing to listen; and if they have a point that
really is better than my point of view, I think I

would generally subside to that type of thinking rather
than just stay on my grounds whether I'm right or wrong.

Mildred:

I don't like to agree. That's one thing, because I
like a discussion that brings out some good points on
both Sides.

Carol thinks that closed—mindedness is as bad as being dead:

I think the greatest good would be tolerance. I mean
not be so quick to judge, but more ready to see the
different, and be ready to receive a new idea. I would
rather be dead than close my mind and live in a set
way. I wouldn't like being Opposed to ideas.

Muriel:
Adults are very dogmatic. Adolescents change their
minds. Sometimes I think my father's opinions are
terrible and dogmatic, but he won't change his mind.
I hOpe adolescents won't become dogmatic like adults.

One thing that's wrong with our society is that it's

129

a case of them and us; and the two groups don't communi—
cate. People don't understand what you're talking about
if you are on the wrong side.

Sarah on open-mindedness:

People don't look at both Sides. It's the same with
the democratic and communistic camps. I think there
are a lot of good and bad points about both. If peOple
would look at both sides, they would get a better view.

Jenny tries to be Open-minded when friends criticize:

When you like a person, it's constructive criticism and

you can take it. Maybe you're hurt because you didn't
think you were like that. But you will try to improve.

Beatrice:

And

and

The more I read, the more I understand and change my
Opinions.

on the two political parties:

I looked at the two carefully; I'm not liberal enough
to be a really good liberal Democrat, nor conservative
enough to be Republican. I'm still not sure about

liberal and conservative. There are things that I'm
liberal on and things that I'm conservative on.

One of the items on the rating Sheet read: "Memory
importance of reading before school years."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive............ ......... 57%
Negative.. ........ . .......... 36%
Insufficient evidence........ 7%
Raters disagreed.... ......... 0%

For the girls:

Positive ........... . ......... 31%
Negative.... ................. 62%
Insufficient evidence ...... .. 8%
Raters disagreed... .......... 0%

Mark said, when asked when he learned to read:

About three a little bit. My mother taught me and

130
then my Sister.
Waino recalls:

The first thing I remember reading was when I was about
four or five; it was before I was going to school, I
know that. One of the funniest dealings I ever had

was when Maw had her old shop, and She bought me a
comic book. I started reading it and found out that

I could make out the words.

Arthur:
Interviewer: Were you reading before you went to school?

Yes, I was reading. I wasn't reading Plato, but I was
reading Prayer Books and things.

Keith remembers his father helping him:

I started to learn a little bit before, but then maybe
that helped me catch on later. My dad always used to
help me, especially after I started. Maybe that was
where I got a little bit ahead.

Eldon:

I might have read a little bit before I started school,
but not an awful lot. I used to go down to the library
and look at a lot of books.

And Robert:

I could read my name and stuff like that and real simple
things in kindergarten.

Hilma:

I learned to read by reading comics. My mother would
read comic books to me. I would be reading advanced
material, or advanced novels, and at the same time,
put it aside and go and get a comic book. This went
on until I was about ten.

Edith recalls:

I listened to what my mother or father would read, and
I'd try to read the pictures. And when we first started
the dental floride thing they'd have comics on the
table, and I could understand some of the words.

131

Style of Life
Beyond the early life experience, home environment,
amid the cognitive style of these creative young people, the
gxresent investigation was designed to discover and describe
IJUEIT total style of life. That is, what are their interests?
rMJW'could one describe their social adjustment? what impres-
SjJDH do they convey to others as personalities? what are

tlieir goals? And what could be said about their general

OLrtlook on life?

It has already been seen that like many creative
puersons, many of the creative youngsters in this study
seuem to have experienced a good deal of loneliness or
exqaress a desire to be alone. But further, research has
iruiicated that creative persons tend to be socially intro-
\H3rted. Drevdahl, for instance, found that in a study of
agroup Of University Of Nebraska students, the creative
Eflarsons in the group appeared to be considerably more with—
<1Pawn and quiescent than the non—creative persons."l Anne
IhDe found too in her study of scientists that as a group,
'fldey tended to be introverted."2 Eysenck and Furneaux
fknand that high academic achievement was related positively
With high scores on an introversion scale."3 Drews also
fOund that among her gifted group, some--the social leader
tYpeuwere very outgoing socially, while the creative

intellectuals were much less socially inclined.u"

The item in the present study relating to this read:

132

"Social Introversion."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive.....................57%
Negative...... ......... ......43%
Insufficient evidence ........ 0%
Raters disagreed ............. 0%

For the girls:

Positive .................. ...77%
Negative.....................23%
Insufficient evidence........ 0%
Raters disagreed ............. 0%

Arthur, for example, says:

And

If there were anywhere I would like to go, I'd like
to go up to Canada and live. Get myself a cabin back
in nowheres way out in the empties.

Rex comments somewhat disenchantedly:

I like to get away from people; they're a pretty foul
breed. They're the only animal with a conscience, and
they don't use it. It's pathetic.

I just love nature-—it's so complicated and it doesn't
bark back like people do. It's quiet, mostly peace.

I think I could go for days and days in the woods.

I get so I hate peOple, and I hate houses after a while.
So, I go out camping.

Keith says:

I like to read, listen to the radio, read the neWSpaper,
and read books. Before I always used to have to be
with somebody, but now I like to do my homework alone
where nobody bothers me.

Eldon says of his mother:

My mother is more outgoing than I am. She gets along
with people very easily and makes friends easily. She
knows a lot of peOple.

He continues:

One of my problems iS talking to people the first time.
I'm not an expert conversationalist. I end up asking
them what school they go to, and what they take, etc.
Weather, Sports, and then I'm finished.

133
And Nathan:

I don't like to talk to people. I don't like to meet
new people. It's not that I'm timid, it's just that

I find it hard to talk. I find it hard to find things
to talk about.

Sarah says she prefers being alone:

I'm sort of Off by myself. I like to be alone more than
with groups. I would rather be in a little world of my
own where the things that I really like and enjoy are
around me. There's a poem I like. I don't know who
wrote it but it was telling about the things I need in
life. That's just God and sky and green, and then I'd
be happy. But most people wouldn't be happy unless
they're part of a group, but I'd just rather be by
myself than to be in a group.

Jenny's desire to be alone amounts to misanthropy:

I'd like to stress just how much the people around me
don't matter to me. They don't matter; they are SO
unimportant that maybe I'm preoccupied with it, I

would just love to live in a world all my own. I

read a Short story about life after an atomic bomb.

There were just two peOple left and this would seem

very dismal. I found myself envying them. This

really was appealing to me. They could walk around

the street without anything on. They could do exactly
whatever they wanted to. And they could create their
own morals. There weren't any morals. Their ethics
were their own. They didn't have to live up to society's
anything. There was no more society. This was Utopia
to me. I hOpe to find it some day, maybe on an asteroid.

Mildred:

I'm still Shy. I talk myself into not being what I
am now. I would just talk myself into being a little
more loud because that's what I have to do. And I
just think there's a person just like me. They're
probably just as afraid of me as I am of them so I
just kind of Shrug it Off and be myself.

Carol:
I don't make friends very much. I'll be nice to every—
body. I try to keep it like that. But I will choose

one person at a time.

And the wistful Lisa:

13A

It's natural for me to just look on. But then, I get
into the act because I have to, to prove something
to myself. But it's very natural for me to look on.

Debbie:

Not even with my own best friends, am I an extrovert.
Say, about three of them I don't mind talking to right
in the old crowd. Everyone's moods change. Sometimes
I just want to sit at home and not have anything to

do with anyone.

Beatrice:
I never extend myself to people unless they're someone
I really want to know. There are very few peOple that 1
consider friends.
I like to spend my time reading and watching television.
I don't like crowds. I have friends but most of them

are younger and I've always been around with adults
a lot.

The raters also looked for evidence of dating in
the interview transcripts. The item read: "NO dating
in adolescence, or if any, unusual patterns."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive ...................... 71%
Negative ...................... 7%
Insufficient evidence ......... 21%
Raters agreed ................. 0%

For the girls:

Positive ...................... 62%
Negative ...................... 23%
Insufficient evidence ......... 15%
Raters disagreed .............. 0%

Perhaps these figures are somewhat higher than
they would be among an unselected group of teen-agers of
the same age. Drews has found in her work with highly

creative young peOple that there is a lesser interest in

135
dating."5
IJathan, for example, gives a typcial response to the inter-
‘Viewer's question about dating:
I like girls and that, but I don't date. You know,
we joke around with them and everything in school,
but I haven't gone with anyone yet. I don't want to
be involved a lot.
Franklin, a rather obese boy who perhaps would not appeal
to a teen-age girl, says when asked who most of his friends
are:
They're all male, as far as I'm concerned. I don't have
any friendships with girls. I have very little in
common with them.
And Robert:
Since I'm a Baptist and Baptists don't really relish
their kids going to dances, I don't go in much for
that. That's one of the main places the guys can get
with the girls and I just haven't had that much to do
anything with them.
Nathan still has trouble with Shyness:
I'm pretty shy around girls. I mean, I don't date
girls and very seldom go to any parties and anytime
I'm around peOple, I become more or less a shell.
When Beatrice was asked how She was different from others
in her class, she replied:
They're more interested in the Opposite sex.
And Sarah, who said in her interview that She was saving
herself for just the right boy, says:
Rather than going on a date, I'd rather Sit home and
do homework. My sister would rather go on a date and
be with peOple, but I don't. I don't particularly
care for this. I'd rather be by myself.

Jenny, on the other hand, is very much the exception in

this group of youngsters. Not only has she dated consider-

136
ably, but She believes that she has found the man she will
marry:

It's kind of hard to say something like this because
I'm so used to being laughed at. PeOple laugh, but

in seven years I'll get married. When I'm 21 I'll

get married to Phil. To hell with other people if
they don't think I will, is all I say. Lots of people
say, "Oh, ridiculous, you never went out with anybody
else." But that's not true. I went steady with one
boy. I didn't even like him at the time. I've dated
lots of boys and I think I'm in love with Phil. I
know I'm in love with Phil. People that don't under-
stand laugh at me. They think, '0h, Jenny, you're
just a kid," until they want me to do something. Then
I'm an adult.

We have already seen that a considerable number
of the youngsters in the present study came from homes
that could be considered "different." But, further, do
the youngsters see themselves as being "different"? In
the present study the item relating to this read: "Aware-
ness of self as different from other young people by early
adolescence."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive... ................... 57%
Negative... ................... 14%
Insufficient evidence ......... 0%
Raters disagreed ..... .. ....... 29%

For the girls:

Positive.... ............... ...77%
Negative.... ..... . ............ 15%
Insufficient evidence ......... 8%
Raters disagreed........ ...... 0%

Nathan aSpireS to become an intellectual:

During the past year I've been changing quite a bit.
I've been doing a lot of thinking. My Opinions of
people and my attitude toward life have changed.

137

I've come to the startling realization that I'm kind
ofja weirdo. I'm more of a loner than I used to be.
I've come to hate hanging around people. I don't
think they can do me any good. This is all something
I've been formulating in my mind. I'm just not
interested in a lot of the things other peOple are.

I don't like to hang around in a crowd. I don't like
peOple. Put me on a desert island. PeOple bore me.
I don't like small talk. I don't like the average
things that people do; things that average people do
don't excite me. They are shallow, boring, ignorant,
ridiculous. There are a couple of exceptions. There
are a few people who seem to share the same basic
beliefs that I do. I tend to stick with these people
as much as I stick with other people. I guess I'm
selfish. I like to be with peOple I like. I don't
like to be with people who bore me. I suppose I bore
them too.

Mark says when asked if getting along with people is a
problem:

It just all depends on who you call peOple. In general,
it seems like after about three seconds, fifty or

Sixty per cent of the people can get to hate me very
easily.

Eldon:

I got good grades in grade school and never had any
troubles in that way. I liked Sports, but I wasn't
very good in them. I was too heavy and couldn't run.
I was slow and it used to bother me, because I was
beaten by some of the girls.

Franklin never liked to do what the other boys were doing:

A lot of the kids like to play ball, and whenever I
wanted to do something else, I used to feel different.
If I wanted to read, or listen to the radio or tele-
vision and they wanted me to do something else....

SO I didn't want to play baseball; if I didn't want
to play baseball I wasn't going to. I like to do
what I want to do.

Jeff:

I always felt that the other kids thought I was smarter.
I liked to go down and work on things that they didn't
understand a lot of times. I think that was part of
the reason I was alone. I tried to do things that most
of them didn't understand.

138
When asked how he got along with children when he was
younger Rex said:

I don't know. After a while I sort of tended not to
care much because they seemed to be rather juvenile.

Waino senses that he is a loner:

I don't get close to peOple. Most people can't stand
me after a while. I don't have very many friends.
I have acquaintances.

Morris, a boy who does not reveal his thoughts easily,
said to the interviewer:

I seemed to be more sensitive. And this is something
that's hard. Like something would happen that would
hurt me, not physically, but mentally.

Robert is diffident about Sports because he feels other
boys did not think he was a good player:

I don't like Sports SO much. Football is about my
favorite Spectator Sport. Other Sports,I like to

goof around with when there's nobody to look at me.

I don't like sports when there's a pile of kids around
always telling me I'm doing stuff wrong.

Sarah feels uncomfortable with youngsters her own age:

I got along with most of the kids, but just the way
they acted made me want to be an individual rather
than one of the group. I didn't particularly care
to be one of the kids. I liked to be by myself, and
I guess I became a little independent.

Those are the kind of people I can get along with——
adults. I can get along with kids my own age, but
they just don't seem on my level. I just don't seem
to get along with kids my own age as well as I do with
kids that are Older or adults.

Hilma:
She thought that because I was Estonian that I would
be different. Personally I like being different, and
being Estonian helps a little.

Jenny says:

139

To be honest, I've always had a superiority complex.
I felt above most people, which isn't good I know.

Beatrice:
I think I'm more interested in what's going on than
who's going with whom or who's going to get the car.
Lots of kids don't even know what's going on around
them.
Every person is different once you get to know him.
In some ways I feel different. I find that I'm more
interested in politics and know more about it than
most kids. I've had more responsibility than most
kids. For a while I was taking care of the house
all by myself and was alone all day when my mother
worked.

Lisa feels that her classmates always saw her as a superior

student:
I was Shy. Everyone always thought of me as the girl
who got good grades; they always thought of me in that
respect mostly.

And Georgia:
I always felt different, because I could always under-

stand what I read and I was always at the tOp of my
class in grade school.

The teen-age culture is, to many adults, a society
wherein group mores and folkways dictate behavior; and
there are certain prescribed fads, tastes, and styles of
behaving that, if ignored, set the adolescent apart as a
"square" or an "odd ball." The very term "teen-ager," as

Opposed say, to the term “young person,"

seems to suggest
a well-defined type rather than an individual. An adolescent
is not simply a young person, but a "Teen-ager"; and that

subtly sets him rather apart from the rest of the human race.

What, then, do creative young persons, who are apt

140

to be "different," non-conformists, individualistic, think

about the teen-age culture they find themselves a part of?

The

item read: "Critical of teen-age culture."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive .................... 43%
Negative .................... 29%
Insufficient evidence ....... 29%
Raters disagreed ............ 0%

For the girls:

Positive .................... 31%
Negative. .. ........... 23%
Insufficient evidence ....... 38%
Raters disagreed ............ 8%

Arthur cannot accept the sameness among teen-agers:

Rex

I never had that gang Spirit. Most peOple, they just
get so nauseating. There's nothing complex about it.
It's all the same--no difference between any of them.

comments on the class system among teen—agers:

I'll accept precedence in anything, but I hate the
upper crust at school, because the upper crust is

really down grade--nothing. All these kids are pOpular;
but if the teachers knew the pOpular kids as well as
some of the students do, they wouldn't be popular at
all. Most of these popular kids drive their dads'

cars and steal things all the time. A lot of the kids
in the upper set are always driving their fathers'

cars. One of them got his ribs broken by his dad
because he got caught.

Eldon on grades:

And

So many kids want the grades so badly and sometimes it's
just a matter of prestige. They will even cheat to get
good grades.

he continues:

Groups tend to form according to values. Some fellows
are those who are interested in prestige, some are
interested in athletics, etc. The honor students some-
times form a group of their own. It's hardest to become
a member of the prestige group. The other group really
doesn't care what other people think of them. Anyone

lul

can come in who wants to. The prestige group makes
the most noise; they have the highest Opinion of them-
selves, so they make themselves the most known. Too
many students are like fleas following a dog. Maybe
they'll follow the best dog.

Robert:

I think they're dating way too young. Twelve—year-
Olds walking around arm in arm. I think this is stupid.

Nathan is one of the most critical youngsters in the group:

Life is terribly complex, and no one seems to face

up to this fact. They make it so Simple. This is one
reason why kids bore me so. They don't see how complex
life is. They think only about weekends and the week's
dance.

Everyone says that I'm too young to be thinking of in-
tellectual matters. In fact, it's the same at school.
It's just not pOpular to be intellectual.

I think most peOple that I come in contact with would
be students who aren't as interested and aren't as
capable Of carrying on an intelligent conversation.

Statistics are always putting people into categories,
and the trouble is, the average adolescent is always
conforming to these categories.

Hilma talks about hypocrisy among teen—agers:

I know I am not completely honest toward other peOple
and I don't think other peOple are like that either.

To a certain extent, friendship is a matter of conveni—
ence. I have always thought it is kind of strange

like the pOpular girls, the cheerleaders, etc., will
stick together; but when they're by themselves they
will say, "I can't stand her," I know this happens.

I don't necessarily want to be a part of it.

Like Nathan, Jenny is very critical:

The average girl goes steady with one guy one week,

the next guy another week, and SO on. I think it's
ridiculous because they really don't like the guy.
They're just looking for a companion, and I think
that's the way most dating is for kids my age. Every-
body is going Steady--for a week. It's just utterly
ridiculous. It doesn't mean anything. They demoralize
the relationship. I'm no Margaret Mead, but this is

my own little vieWpOint of why lots of kids get into

142

trouble. They don't have anything else to do. I
mean if you have exhausted the thrill Of kissing a
guy or holding hands with him, what else is there to
do?

If you let yourself take up the other people's social
values--if I took up the values of the common, average
student at school—-it's not intelligence. It's popular-
ity and good looks.

People of my age don't think about anything worthwhile.
They just worry about dances and things like that.

The biggest fault I find with kids is that they are

SO hypocritical. They will say, "Jenny, I'm so glad
to see you," and then turn around and knife you in the
back. I mean, not to me personally because I don't
associate with them that closely, but I have seen this
done to so many people.

Carol cOmments on the status seekers:

The coldness between the kids; the pOpular, the not
quite so pOpular, the less popular, and the kids that
just don't have it--personality and looks-~Negroes,
Mexicans, and hoods. It brings back the Status Seekers
because it fits in with our school.

 

On the whole, though, one does not get an impression from
this group of youngsters of strong antagonism toward teen—
age culture. Several are strongly critical; others find
elements of teen—age culture to criticize; but for the
most part, these youngsters accept their teen-age society
for what it is and are not particularly acidulous in their

comments.

Creativity is, in a sense, an expression of man's
individuality. The greatest of creative men, such as
Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Beethoven, are, as N.J. Berrill

points out in Man's Emerging Mind, our great symbols Of

 

the creative individuality Of human beings; and, continues

143

Berrill, the greatest creative acts, even in modern times
of great group efforts, will continue to result from the
human mind working alone."6 He says:

The great creations and the great comprehensions,

where the monumentally Obvious is seen for the first

time, are always products or eXperiences of individuals

Operating alone, free rom intrusions and distractions

of other human voices.
And Paul Torrance, Speaking about creative children, says
that one of the reasons highly creative children Often
have special problems is that they must search for their
uniqueness, which may cause teachers and counselors, who
sometimes find non-conformity in their students trying,
to resent them. Creative children, says Torrance, reject
the demands of society to surrender their individuality."8
Robert Wilson has also noted the close ties between creati-
vity and individualism.49 He points out that as early as
1898, Josiah Royce, who reported one of the first research
studies of creative thinking, concluded that an examination
of the history of ideas and invention revealed that the
conditions which favor invention are those which favor the
social tendencies often called the general name, individual-
ism. Wilson continues:

In other words, the individual varies more in the long

run when the society in which he belongs expects him

to vary more, when variation is encouraged, and when

independence is favored by the social environment.50
Anderson too has discussed individualism in connection with

creativity. He has said:

Creativity will become even more important and meaning-
ful as reSpect for the individual becomes more wide-

 

1AA
Spread and meaningful.51
It seems evident, then, that a group of creative
youngsters would express in their interviews a concern for
their own individuality; and, in fact, place a high regard
on the matter of individualism in general. The item read:
"Concern for individuality."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive... ...... . ........... 6M%
Negative.. ................... 7%
Insufficient evidence ........ 0%
Raters disagreed ............. 29%

For the girls:

Positive ..................... 62%
Negative ........ . ........... 8%
Insufficient evidence ........ 15%
Raters disagreed ............. 15%

Mark, like a number of other youngsters in the group,
was a strongly conservative Republican; and like the others,
he reSponded to the "rugged individualism" appeal of such
conservatives as Goldwater. 0n the other hand, the Demo-
cratic Party, which they identify with a strong central
government which works against individualism, they saw as
an anathama. When asked in what areas he felt the Federal
Government was most infringing upon personal and individual
freedom, he answered:
Name one that isn't. That's a challenge. Just look
in the future at the things that you might not be able
to do. Eventually they're going to license thinking.
In order to carry people around in your own car, you
have to have a chauffeur's license. There are ways
that you could be sued tremendously for not having a
chauffeur's license. And everybody's got to have a

house, right? Why they have to put a tax on them to
make permits in order to build them.

And

And

145
he adds:

I don't care for group activities at all. The individ-
ual is the only thing.

he continues to discuss the individual in relation to

mass society:

I don't care what society does as long as it doesn't
bother me.

Interviewer: Why do you want society to leave you alone?

It's none of their business, is it? Trying to make
peOple conform. Society was designed just to protect
itself. It gets more social activities so that it's a
perpetual deal. It just keepscongratulating itself.
It's not out to do any good, if you ask me. Ever Since
the beginning of the earth, societies have come and
gone. They've started out as bad and ended up worse.
Other societies have taken over and continued Oppres—
sion. That's the way it happens. A society has never
really helped anything; it's always been an individual.

Arthur is strongly individualistic too:

And:

And:

Rex

The great tragedy of our time is that people don't
get to do what they want to do.

Everybody says that what I do contributes to the world
and to the cultural scene. I don't think that's
necessary. It's important to do what you want to do.
One person can't change the world, and no one group

of peOple can change the world. The thing to do is to
change your own environment to your specifications.

It really doesn't make a hell of a lot of difference.

That's what peOple usually do; they say, "Why should I

do it because nobody else is going to?" Or, "If I do,
I'll be the only one that does so it won't have any
effect anyhow." Well, they sure can't feel very strongly
about the thing or they would fight it tooth and nail

and get everybody else to fight it too.

dislikes IBM systems that classify people:

It's a little impersonal. There's got to be someplace
when you can teach on the basis of a student. That's

1116
why I don't like a big college because pretty soon
you're a number on an IBM card and that's all it is.
And I hate this.
And he dislikes peOple who do not act on the basis of their
own individuality:
You talk to these ninth graders, and everybody is doing
something because it's the thing. Nobody knows who
started it and nobody likes it. They put up with it
though. PeOple keep doing things, and they don't know
why they're doing them.
And he concludes:
I guess largely, I'm myself and not somebody else.
Too many people strive to be what society calls a
person. I'm going to be me all the way.
Jeff:
Personally, I think I try to be myself. I don't want
to be like this person or that person. I think each
person has his own quality.
Eldon:
I disliked writing papers in English this year because
we had to write papers from books, and I dislike writ-
ing when you can't give your own views. You just had
to write what you read in the book. I don't like that.
Somewhat wistfully, he seems to hang on to the freedom of
youth--a time when he can still be free:
I'm my own man yet.

But adulthood, with its pressures, is coming. And he says:

There's no such thing as an insignificant individual
unless a person feels he is insignificant.

Nathan aSpireS to individuality. It iS a mainspring of
his character:

Everyone has the potential to be individual, and
statisticians tell us not to be.

On conformity:

147

Conformity is boring; individualism is exciting. But
what scares me is that I don't know what I want to be
like. I don't know what to make of me. I suppose
eventually I'll fall under and conform. There are
family pressures to go to school and grow up to be a
decent guy. There are pressures from all sides. Some
day I feel I'm going to run out into the street stark
naked.

He continues:

I was quite uncomfortable to know that I'm awfully
unimportant compared to all the vast and many things
that happen to large numbers of people. Actually, I
found out that I am a nobody. But I know there must

be something I could do. Actually, I just considered
myself an individual and I didn't think or care about
anyone else. But as you find out how unimportant you
are, you have to think of other things and other peOple.

Sarah:

What have I learned in the last two years? To stand
aside from the group; I don't like the group pressure.
If you don't do what the group does then you're not

in the group. If you develOp this thing that you need
to be in the group, then you feel like you've failed.

I'm more or less alone because I have my own ideas on
how I Should be and so instead of following the same
pattern that everyone else follows, I make my own.

Hilma must be herself:

And:

And

My brother is a great expert on these things--how I
Should change so that I could get along with other peOple.
But whether I get along with peOple depends on the other
person in the first place. If they can take me as I am,
fine, but I'm not going to change just for them.

I've always wanted to be myself, and I didn't want to

be incorporated into a larger group or become a part

of something else. I was just me. Of course, peOple
have always left me alone to a certain extent to do what
I wanted.

again:
Even if I do the wrong thing, I thought it was the right

thing at the time. It just matters what I think, not
particularly what anyone else thinks.

1118
Mildred seems to have recently discovered individualism:

The individual can do anything if he starts early enough.
If I know what I've really wanted to do, then my consci-
ence will be free. But if I did something only because
society wanted me to, then I wouldn't feel right about
it.

And on girls:

The girl I admire the most is the most non-conforming
person I know. She has really broken away from our
little society and I really admire that. The way She
dresses, aCtS, and talks. She will stand up and say,
"NO" to the crowd.

And again:
I like to approach something on my own rather than have
someone tell me how to do something. I get a lot of
satisfaction out of thinking how to do something by my—
self instead Of someone telling me.

Muriel finds some individuality in being Scottish:
My mother says I'm full of false loyality to Scotland.
LI don't want to be an American citizen. I want to keep
my Scottish citizenship.

Jenny says:
I'm a strong believer in individualism and not letting
your surroundings influence you. I think that a person
is an individual and can be what he wants to be.

And Carol:

I don't deal in groups. I don't like them. I'm an
individual.

And with good sense, Lisa comments:
On little things that don't matter, I will follow the

crowd, but on the big things, the basic things, I wouldn't
follow the crowd for anything.

Previously it has been pointed out in this paper
that the creative individuals often must first be a critic

of the status quO, or even a destroyer of it-—a rebel, in

1119

fact. To the existentialist, as George Kneller has shown,
rebellion is a way of being one's own authentic self;52
and being one's own authentic self is an aspect of being a
creative person. DeHaan and Havighurst have said that for
a person to be creative, it is necessary for him to challenge
the customary way of doing something; and Since this is
tampering with the status quo, the creative individual
tampers with his social unit's common frame of reference
and threatens to isolate himself:

The creative individual implicitly denies the validity

of the whole or some part of the group's frame of

reference and thereby attacks its system of values

and security. This is the threat of the creative person

to the group.
Frank Barron has noted the tendency toward radicalism among
the creative persons he studied,5" and Bernice Eiduson has
similarly found among her creative research scientists a
quality of "marked intellectual rebellion."55

If rebellion seems to be an important phase of

creativity, what Signs of it do we have in the present group?
The item read: "Rebellion (questioning authority, Skepticism)

by early adolescence."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive...... .......... ....50%
Negative..... ............... 50%
Insufficient evidence ....... 0%
Raters disagreed ............ 0%

For the girls:

Positive.. .................. 23%
Negative.............. ..... .77%
Insufficient evidence....... 0%

Raters disagreed ............ 0%

150

Arthur is, perhaps, the most rebellious of the boys:

And

I was never cooperative. I had no father to restrain
me. I'm a criminal .... That which is illegal, I
usually do, if I have a chance to and I think I can
get away with it.

Rex comments when asked if he contradicted teachers:
Quite a bit. That's the same thing that bothers me

now. They figured I was a kid and wouldn't listen.
Some teachers do pretty stupid things.

Franklin's rebellion against his parents seems somewhat mild:

And

Sometimes I think some of the things my folks tell me
just don't seem right. I'll say, 'What's wrong with
this?" Then I'll go ahead and do it anyway.

Jeff:
When you have a lot of regulations, people begin not

taking them seriously. Thing gets to be that you can
break the regulation but you shouldn't get caught.

Muriel remembers a Similar type incident:

In the first grade the teacher gave us some questions

to look up in the encyclOpedia. I thought I'll put down
what I think about it. She didn't like my going and
writing down what I thought of it. She thought I should
look up and write down what somebody else thought.

Lisa:

Inwardly I was rebellious, but outwardly I was quiet
and calm:

Carol says:

And

I got into trouble a little bit. I didn't like keeping
still. I didn't like listening to the teacher always.
I did good work but I always got low marks on being
quiet and obedient.

Julie recalls:

I remember this sixth grade teacher. He didn't approve
of young girls wearing lipstick and I figured there was
nothing wrong with a pale, pale, pink. There was a
square dance for the Sixth graders and I wore that pale
lipstick on purpose, because he didn't want us to. This
bothered me. I just hate to be told something positively

151
just because the other person doesn't like it.
It can be seen from these quotations that for the most part,
whatever rebellion is expressed is somewhat moderate. Jenny,
however, is highly rebellious, perhaps even more so than
Arthur. Recalling her earlier years in school:

I refused completely to memorize dates. I said I
wouldn't and I didn't. I don't even know the date
the Declaration of Independence was Signed. I refuse
to do things like that.

She resents adult restrictions:

When you're at my age you're expected to grow up to
responsibilities of any adult by some people. They
expect you to be an adult, but they won't let you be
an adult. They give you the responsibilities but not
the pleasures.

She reacts against her mother's preachmentsz

My mother gets on me and says I Shouldn't think the

way I do about people and says, "You should think the
way I do." This kind Of stuff. Well, Mother, I mean
I'm not you. I'm not just a little miniature of you.

In the 5th grade, She and the teacher were in complete dis-
cord:

I had her first semester Of fifth grade and I think
there wasn't a day in which we didn't have a verbal
battle and one time I hit her. I was never the quiet,
whimpering, afraid-Of-the-teacher type, and She demanded
this. She wanted complete reSpect and fear and I
wouldn't give either of them to her.

Apparently, her earnest rebellion started early in junior
high school:
I used to be a sweet little thing sitting around and
saying thank you and not getting my clothes dirty.
This was through the 7th grade. And then my mother
started to say, "Oh, what happened to you? You used
to be such a nice little girl."

Phil is the boy she loves and plans to marry in seven years:

152

Phil was going to stay home with me and watch TV while

my folks were out. I asked my folks about this and

they said, "NO." This shocked me. They kept saying,

"What will the neighbors say?" It about floored me

when my father said no before I could even tell him

anything. And then he goes into this big, "I trust

you, and I trust Phil, but we have certain social values

we must live up to." We had this big fight and I said,

"You take your social values and live with them. I'm

going with Phil to the South Seas."

Jenny's rebellion is very marked, and Mark, Arthur,

Waino, and Nathan are also strongly rebellious. But most
of these youngsters are rebellious intellectually and not
socially; and, further, except for Jenny and to some extent
Nathan, the rebellion is not directed against their families.
And with Nathan, his rebellion is more verbal than actual.
Their families seem to be supportive rather than frustrating.
One has the feeling that these youngsters' rebellion will,

for the most part, contribute to their creative lives, not

cause them to end up in prison or as social outcasts.

Students of creativity have described the creative
person as one who has the ability to become totally immersed
in his work. One needs only to think of the great geniuses'
complete dedication to their work to realize that perhaps
a large share of their success derives from their tremendous
ability to lose themselves in their work. Bruner, in
describing the creative process, has said that the creative
person must feel free to be completely dominated by his
work:

Once into a creative act, the creation takes over. AS
the object takes over and demands to be completed on

153

its own terms, there is a new opportunity to express
a style and individuality. If the object doesn't take
you over and you are foolish enough to go on, what 6
you will end up with is something contrived and alien.5
Rollo May discussed the vital nature of the encounter in
the creative act, and, he says, no creative act--no truly
creative act--can lack a genuinely intense encounter.57
Words May uses to describe this encounter are absorption,
being caught up in, and wholly involved with. May says
that whatever one calls it, genuine creativity is character—

ized by an intensity of awareness, a heightened consci-

ousness. And in Human Potentialities, Gardner Murphy has

 

noted that the first phase of the creative process is:

... the long immersion of the sensitive mind in some
Specific medium which gives delight and fulfillment,
whether it be the world of color, tone, movement, Space,
time, the world of force and organization, the world

of images, of social relat%gnships, or the world of
contemplation and mystery.

In the present study, the item read: "Ability to
become immersed in work or projects (task-orientation,
ability to "lose himself" in subject at hand)."

V The percentages for the boys are:
POSitiveOOOOOOOO0.000000000007l%
Negative.....................lu%
Insufficient evidence........ 7%

Raters disagreed ............. 7%

For the girls:

Positive.. ................... 92%
Negative..................... 0%
Insufficient evidence... ..... 8%
Raters disagreed............. 0%

Mark's story perhaps illustrates this ability:

I Opened up a book, and I saw a picture of a blast

154

furnace that showed you how you could make it. SO I
built it, and two weeks later I took it to school and
got an A on it. Now I figure I've got all the equip-
ment so I thought I ought to be able to make something
with it. So I built a wrench and I've built blobs,
and I've built a nut. Eventually, I'll be able to
build something a little bit more complicated.

And Nathan says that his projects always get bigger as

he works on them:

A lot of times it will be a lot bigger than I thought
it would be. Lots of times I would choose a topic
because it seems like it would be hard and challenging.
AS you get into it, you find that it was more than you
bargained for. It usually started with a vast idea
that gets vaster. I usually find myself wanting to
write something three pages long, and I end up doing
something with twenty pages.

Franklin comments:

I read everything I can get my hands on when I'm involved
in a hobby. I come out of there a real expert on what-
ever I'm doing.

Joe's projects grow as he works on them too:

And

Usually I end up having more in a project or wanting
to put more in it than I thought I was going to do.

Curtis:

Usually I try to stick with a problem and see if I
can work it out. If I can't work it out right then
I'll put it down for a while and see if I can work

on something else, and then I'll come back to it.

A lot of times a project grows and gets out of hand,
but I try to make every end meet and get it back into
shape.

Mildred puts it nicely:

Everything I study always burns a lot bigger than I
imagined.

Muriel mentions her involvement:

It makes you feel better to see something beautiful.
I like to stay up until the middle of the night and
dash away at the typewriter on some project.

155

And Julie:
I guess I'm more apt to think big than to think small.

I think if something is worth while doing, it ought
to be done in a big way rather than in a small way.

Unless the creative person has the energy with which
he can make good his dreams and plans, he remains only a
dreamer. It would be difficult to imagine an indolent
creative genius. One only need to read biographies of
outstanding creative men to feel the energy they exhibited
in their lives. In the present study, then, one of the
characteristics of creative persons that the raters looked
for in the interviews was energy level. The item read:
"Has high energy level."

The percentages for the boys are:
Positive......... ...... . ..... 64%
Negative.....................lu%
Insufficient evidence........2l%

Raters disagreed.. ...... ..... 0%

For the girls:

Positive.... .............. ...5M%
Negative........ ............ . 8%
Insufficient evidence........3l%
Raters disagreed............. 8%

With the youngsters who seemed to have a high level
of energy, they Spoke a great deal about the many projects
they had going at the same time, and their lives seemed
filled with many and varied activities. Mark, for example,
tells what happened to him when he became involved in
projects:

They always became larger. It hurtS--just going along

And

156

like I am right now, it hurts sometimes. When you stay
up all night and all morning and all night and all
morning, and you keep going like that. You think so
hard, your mind starts burning up. It's hard.

on the subject of keeping busy:

When I'm not doing anything, I feel like I'm going to
sleep. I have to be doing something to be alive.

.Flying through the clouds--truly great moments are

rare. You must realize that I live in a state of
mediocrity, and that's great compared to most peOple.
Every once in a while I feel really, truly great, and

I can't do anything wrong. Boy, it's such a strong
feeling. Generally, I'm more involved, more alive

than most people. I do more than most people; I work
myself into these states by working myself into them.
My former accomplishments create a new mood for accomp-
lishments. Activity is the key.

Curtis would like everyone to be more industrious:

And

I don't think that people really try to do as much or
do as well as they could if they really wanted to.

If every man did work up to his potential, we could
have a much better world.

Robert:

I usually start out with something I read in a magazine
and I elaborate on it something fierce.

Jeff, who has projects going in his basement all the time:

I do have a lot of energy, but sometimes I don't like
to Spend it.

Jenny resents sleep:

I don't really like to sleep. That's a waste of time.
I would pursue things that I don't have time to do
now. I'd play the piano five hours a day, and I'd
read things that were good and I'd get away and have
fun. Most of all, get away.

Carol:

I like piling wood. It doesn't sound very good. But
my grandparents have a wood furnace, and I like piling
wood. I like working in the barn with bales of hay.

I like doing puzzles because I like talking to myself
while I'm doing them. A puzzle is something that can

157
occupy my eyes and hands; therefore, it leaves my mind
and my mouth free to do whatever they want to do. SO
I can do two things at once.
Edith's active life is a demonstration Of her stated phil-
osophy:
My philOSOphy of life is to do as much as you can for

peOple around you and for yourself and for your country.
You can't waste time; life is too short to waste time.

When Bernice Eiduson interviewed 40 research scien-
tists who were known to be highly contributive members of
their profession, she found that they saw themselves as
compulsive, hard-working individuals who seemed to focus
around extensive investment of ego in work.59 The picture
that emerged from her study was Of a group whose lives
were completely dedicated to the perfection of their work,
even to the extent that this drive to reach the greatest
achievements might interfere with their family lives.
Creative persons seem. to have a high—level ability to
devote themselves fully to the work at hand and to perfect
their own work rigorously. The item in this area read:
"Has high, internalized, individual standards; is a perfec-
tionist."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive. .. ......... . ..... 50%
Negative. ....... ....... M3%
Insufficient evidence. ...... 0%
Raters disagreed............ 7%

For the girls:

158

Positive ....... . ............... 77%
Negative....... .............. ..15%
Insufficient evidence.......... 0%
Raters disagreed........ ..... .. 8%

On his ideas of perfection, David says:

I want to be a perfectionist in my everyday life. If
I were President and I had to make decisions, I'd want
to be a perfectionist--decisions where people were
involved--but if I had to make a decision of whether

a sentence had a verb or not, I don't think that I'd
want to be that much of a perfectionist.

Robert seems to have the drive to keep at things when the
going is tough:

I haven't drOpped out of any school subjects yet. I
like to keep at it no matter how tough it gets. Even
in advanced math--that was really tough and I didn't
get too great grades in it either. I sort of messed
things up but I kept to it and I didn't drOp out into
regular math.

Franklin likes things that are hard to understand:

I like challenges. I like books that are hard to read
or to understand because I can go through slow enough
SO I can picture every word. Even though it takes me
three or four times as long as an older person to read
the book and understand it, I still get it. This is a
challenge.

And when asked what he likes best and least about himself,

George says:

Best, I think that I do as good as I can to get good
marks. 'I think that helps me to do even better. Lots
Of times I get mad at myself because I can't do any
better.

Mark:

When I get done with something, I feel that it's the
best that could have been done. There are a few things
that I've done that haven't been good, I must admit.

on the overall objectives, I try to feel that I have
done the best. After analyzing them and breaking down
all the alternatives, I am able to say that I have done
the best. I could only admire someone who has done
something the same way I would have.

159
When asked if he considered himself a perfectionist, Joe

answers:

Yes, I like to get it just about as right as I can; I
don't want to do it half right.

Arthur:

In education, you should compete with yourself. You
Should say, I'm going to know 18,000 more things about
this subject at the end of the course than I do now,
and compete with yourself.

Hilma strives to do her best:

Sometimes I have projects in language or something and
I'll become involved in it, so I do a much more complete
project than I wouldllave done ordinarily. I just want
to do my very best. I always try to do my very best

so I Spend more time with it than I would like to, but

I feel I Should.

Jenny says:

I like myself least when I don't do things as well as

I think I should. That's maddening. I think I have a
certain reSponsibility to myself. I'm not working up

to my potential at school but you know there isn't any
place to go. You can let it ride and get B'S and C's.
I've never let it ride.

Mildred:

I guess I've been kind of Shown that I have the ability
to do almost anything I want if I study for it. I get
guilty very easily, and, so if I have this feeling that
I can do something, then I feel compelled to do it.

If I have the ability and all this, I just feel that

I must. I couldn't live with my conscience for the
rest of my life if I didn't.

And again:
If you don't feel strongly about what you're doing,
there's no sense in doing it. SO of course, I feel
strongly usually about anything I do. If I do it, I
really have a reason for doing it.

Muriel:

If I do something, I like to do it well.

160
Lisa takes everything she does seriously:
I feel myself a lot more serious than some people are.
When I do something I do it seriously. And even in
school, when I think of my studies, I do it seriously.

Debbie:

I never live up to what I think I can do. And I worry
more about it than anything else.

Edith started to strive early in life:
It was second grade before I started getting good grades
in school. I just decided I was going to become one of

the best kids in the class. That's very easy if you
make up your mind to do it.

Drews has Shown in her work with creative adolescents
their high aSpirationS.6O These youngsters do not Simply
hOpe to have jobs that will Offer them security and comfort;
they aSpire to enter fields where their potential may be
fully realized and which will, further, afford them Opport-
unities to make outstanding contributions. They want not
only to make the most of themselves, but their aSpirationS
are often infused with humanitarian-altruistic motives
as well. This is in line with Maslow's concept of the
creative self-actualizer; he says that the creative person
is also one who is altruistic, dedicated, self-transcending,
and social.61 There is a Chinese proverb which says, "Be
careful what you desire--you may get it." The point is,
if a person aspires toward high achievement, excellence,
and perhaps, significant social contributions, he is more
likely to attain great heights than one who does not aSpire

to high achievement. Persons who are not creative are

161
perhaps more likely to settle for the more commonplace
accomplishments in life; creative persons are likely to
aim high—~and, further, their goals are likely to be socially
worthy ones.
The item relating to this read: "Has high aSpir-
ations."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive .................... 93%
Negative.................... 0%
Insufficient evidence ....... 7%
Raters disagreed .......... .. 0%

For the girls:

Positive....................85%

Negative.. .................. 8%
Insufficient evidence ....... 8%
Raters disagreed..... ....... 0%

Waino says about his hopes for the future:

If it comes to me, I guess I would rather be the
researcher; then you might make a great discovery.

Not actually research, but something to go deeper into
something—~the future, for instance.

Keith says:

I'd probably become a doctor. Everybody is always
thinking about how much money engineers make, and how
important they are, but all they're hearing is the Space
race. But a lawyer or doctor—-they're working for the
society directly and not indirectly, as a scientist
does. An architect, an artist, a writer—-all these
people'work directly with a society.

Morris gives his philosophy of life:

Learn as much as you can and try to do as much as you
can for mankind. And leave your mark.

Mark's goals are, of course, prolix:
My goals are hard to explain. There are fifteen different

types of goals to work on. All have different tapes
that they have to be measured by, and so far they have

162

meant certain thingS--all of the ones that I had planned
to meet. In the future I hOpe to do the same.

They are sometimes rather lighthearted:

I would like to do a lot of things. I would like an
all-expense trip to Alaska to make films and compile
a book. I want to climb Mt. McKinley, go into inter-
national investments, go to Europe on a tramp steamer,
write a book, psychoanalyze everyone in the world and
categorize them.

What would make life worth living? One huge laboratory
to fool around in and do anything I wanted to do. I
would want to do research prOperly. Research on solar
energy—-it has a good base to it and could be very
profitable. But I would be willing to do anything that
had a purpose. The pleasure of creating something new-—
it creates a kind of immortality. It has great impact
on me. Creating my immortality—-that would be very
pleasurable.

Franklin wants to be an editorial writer:

I think that being a writer will be playing a big role.
People are going to read you and if you write effect-
ively, then people are going to believe you. You can
change beliefs. It may sound like some pretty Odd
ambition to want to change peOple'S beliefs; but I

feel that if I'm right, I'm going to do everything poss-
ible to make other people believe it.

Jeff says:

And:

Not just going to work and raising a family, not going

to work all your life and never really accomplishing
anything, but to be myself and to really accomplish some-
thing to better the world.

Everybody has to try and do something to make the world
a better place to live. Everybody has to try and make
somebody else think about something. Try and present
your points Of view because maybe there's quite a few
peOple that agree with you.

Eldon eXpresseS a Similar idealism:

I like to feel that someone will be better Off because
of something I have done. Maybe it will be one person,
or a thousand, or a million, just so it's someone. I
want to feel I've done some good for somebody.

163

Nathan hOpes to be able to change the way life is:

I'm not sure whether I would like to be in politics
or whether I'd like to start out as a lawyer and work
up maybe to Chief Justice or Attorney General. It's
a world where you can do so much to change the way
things are right now. A politician can do SO much to
change the way life is.

Robert:

Rex:

It's completely impossible for me to become the presi-
dent because I was born in Canada. Now that I can't
change. But if I were born in the United States and
wanted to, I just might be able to.

People limit themselves too much. They put two targets
two feet away where they know they can get it. You
haven't gained anything. When you aimed a mile off and
you miss, you're a lot further ahead.

I'd like to help change society, but who Should choose
the goals?

Beatrice wants to be a politician:

She

I've changed my occupation; I want to go into politics.
I want to become elected to an Office. I've always
been interested, but I never thought about going into
it for a field.

would also like to be in the Peace Corps:

I got interested in going into the Peace Corps. I
think it would be interesting because I have the feel—
ing that they touch much of the lives of other peOple,
and yet, the other peOple touch them.

Debbie wants to gain the respect of her fellows:

I like to picture myself as the honored, reSpected
person that peOple look up to and like a lot and
noticed by the more important peOple up high.

Nancy and Lisa talked about hOping to become concert artists.

Lisa daydreams on the subject:

Sometimes I see myself playing the violin before a great
huge audience. You know, everyone clapping.

lou
Hilma's ambitions are, perhaps, to be an architect:

I have to know physics because I think I would like to
be an architect. I don't like science too much, but

I study it because in order to be an architect you
have to have a broad background in science.

Sarah wants to be a missionary:

If you only get to talk to only one person in a village,
then later that person would become a minister too, in
a way, and they would go and talk to other people, and
these others would be won for Christ. And all because
of that one little candle that I lit. That's why I
feel it is so important.

Georgia is sure she will be a doctor:
PeOple will say to me, "You'll meet somebody and get
married. You wait and see, you'll never become a
doctor." And I'll say, "That's what you think. I'll
make a bet with you."

Mildred:
I know that I've got to do something to help the world.

Carol uses the word "destiny ":
I think I will know when the chance will present itself.
I do a lot in destiny and chance. In fact, in one of.
my stories, I wrote about destiny; if I can use it, I
will.

Julie:
You can do anything you want to do as long as you have
the will to do it. I think anybody can do just about
anything if they think about it strongly enough.

And Jenny:
I'm sure that I can make the future what I want it to
be. Let's put it this way--I think I can. The past

hasn't been SO bad, only certain things. But I'm sure
it will be whatever I want it to be.

One of the items the raters used in rating the inter-
view transcripts read, "Drive to achieve in an independent

fashion; long-term goals, sense of unique contribution."

165
Drive, of course, has long been seen as an important factor
in achievement--perhaps as important as intelligence and
Skill. Terman found in his studies that his gifted sub-
jects with drive and ambition succeeded all along the line
to a greater degree than gifted students who did not have
this ability.62 He said that in drive to achieve and in
all—round social adjustment the differencs between the
"success" group of gifted youngsters and the less successful
group Of the gifted were outstanding. Catherine Cox Miles

has said similarly, in Talent and Education, that historical

 

geniuses were notable in their childhoods for their persis-

tence, effort, and self—confidence.63
The item read: "Drive to achieve in independent

fashion; long-term goals; sense of destiny, of unique

contribution."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive....................7l%
Negative ....... . ............ 7%
Insufficient evidence ....... 7%
Raters disagreed ............ 14%

For the girls:

Positive .................... 77%
Negative.... ................ 15%
Insufficient evidence ....... 0%
Raters disagreed ............ 8%

The quotations in the preceding section can be taken to

illustrate this quality.

In the preceding quotations, it is evident that

among a good many of these creative youngsters, there is

166
a mood of Optimism and even idealism. They are peOple who
are willing to strive for a better tomorrow for mankind;
and they see the possibility of a future in which man may
realize his highest potential. There is Skepticism among
this group too, and a realistic view of mankind; but still,
among a good many of them, a mood Of Optimism comes through.
One might say, in fact, that there is a group of young

peOple in this study who could very well be called "tender-

64

" to use William James' term.

minded, AS opposed to the
"tough-minded" type, who tend to be empiricists, sensation-
alists, materialistic, irreligious, fatalistic, and pessi-
mistic, these "tender—minded" types tend to be rational—
istic--that is, they tend to go by principle rather than
merely fact; intellectualistic--they tend to place their
faith in man's reasoning abilities; idealistic—-they tend

to be persons of high and noble principles; religious--

they are sensitive to the Spiritual and mystical elements

of life; free-willistS——they tend to place great faith in
man's ability to control his own destiny; and Optimistic--
they have high hOpeS for the future of mankind and for
themselves. In her description of the creative-intellectual
type, Drews has, in fact, Shown us the contemporary teen—
age prototype Of James' tender-minded persons. Earl Kelley,65
speaking of the fully-functioning self-—a term which has
been associated with creative persons by RogerS-—has also

discussed Optimism. He has said that the fully-functioning

person is one who sees the world in movement--toward be—

167
coming, and optimism is the natural result. This person
sees the importance of peOple, and he develOps and holds
human values and is concerned with human welfare.
The item relating to this area read: "Optimistic
about man's future and his potential."

The percentages for the boys are:

Positive ..................... 57%
Negative ..................... 43%
Insufficient evidence ........ 0%
Raters disagreed ............. 0%

For the girls:

Positive ..... . ............... 85%
Negative.. .............. .....l5%
Insufficient evidence ........ 0%
Raters disagreed ............. 0%

In contrast to the idealism and Optimism already illus-
trated, there are the Wainoes and Marks. Mark, for
example, says:

It's impossible there will ever be world peace. AS
long as there are peOple there will be no peace.

And Waino:
There will never be peace.
But in contrast to this tough—mindedness, there are the
EldonS. He says:
Having done one thing for one person, no matter how
small; and having cared for someone and having some-
one care for you--that alone makes life worth living.

Beatrice, a tender-minded girl, says:

We've got atomic weapons now, but this is not going
to be the end of the world.

And again:

You can always find something good in everybody. I

168

admire honesty in peOple. I like peOple who stand up
for what they believe. Right, wrong, or indifferent,
you should stand up for what you believe.

Muriel doesn't like the pessimism of 1984.

I can't stand l984--it is morbid and depressing. I
will never read that book. Books should make you feel
better. If books are going to be terribly sad, I read
the ending so I'll be prepared for it. I often erase
sad endings from books and put my own on. I don't like
sad endings to be there.

Muriel's statement brings to mind J. Donald AdamS' article

in the Saturday Review.66 He says that the average contemp-

 

orary "serious"novelist "only looks down, never up." He
says that he can count on one hand those novelists who
Show human good as well as human evil. Muriel and the
tender-minded would agree. They seem to prefer to look

up, not down.

169

Footnotes

1. Harold G. McCurdy, "The Childhood Pattern of Genius,"
Horizon, II (May, 1960), p. 38.

2. Donald M. Johnson, The Psychology of Thought and
Judgment (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1955), p. 435.

 

3. Goertzels, Op. cit., pp. 130-152.

4. Donald W. MacKinnon, "What Makes a Person Creative?"
Saturday Review (February 10, 1962), p. 16.

 

5. Goertzels, Op. cit., pp. 272-273.
6. Ibid., pp. 29-54.

7. Lewis M. Terman,_ep._al., Genetic Studies of Genius
1, Mental and Physical Traits of a Thousand Gifted Children
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1925).

 

 

8. Havelock Ellis, A Study of British Genius (London:
Hurst and Blackett, 1904).

 

9. Anne Roe, "A Psychological Study of Eminent Psycho-
logists and AnthrOpologists, and a Comparison with Bio-
logical and Physical Scientists," Psychological Monographs,
LVII (1953).

 

10. N.J. Berrill, Man's Emerging Mind (New York: Dodd,
Mead and Company, 1955), p. 271.

 

ll. Mildred George Goertzel and Victor H. Goertzel,
"Intellectual and Emotional Climate in Families Procuring
Eminence," The Gifted Child Quarterly, IV (Autumn, 1960),

p- 59-

12. Roe, ”A Psychological Study Of Eminent Psychologists
and AnthrOpOlogistS," Op. cit.

 

13. Anne Roe, "Crucial Life Experiences in the DevelOpment
of Scientists," Talent and Education, ed. E. Paul Torrance
(University of Minnesota Press, 1960), pp. 66-77.

 

l4. Roe, "A Psychological Study of Eminent Psychologists
and AnthrOpologistS," Op. cit.

15. Quoted in Leta Hollingworth, Gifted Children: Their
Nature and Nurture (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1926),
pp. 17-18:

 

 

16. Phyllis Greenacre, "The Family Romance of the Artist,"

170
The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, XIII (1958), p. 35.

17. John Stuart Mill, Autobiography (London: Longmans,
Green and Company, 1908), p. 18.

 

l8. McCurdy, Op. cit.
l9. Drews, Report 11, Op. cit., p. 12

20. Heist and Williams, Op. Cit.

21. Allport, Study of Values, Op. cit., p. 4.

 

22. MacKinnon, op. cit.

23. Elizabeth M. Drews, "The Four Faces of Able Adolescents,"
Saturday Review (January 19, 1963), p. 70.

 

24. Robert c. Wilson et.a1., "A Factor-Analytic Study of
Creative Thinking Abi11t155,' Psychometrika, XIX (December,
1954), pp. 297-311; and Arthur Koestler, "The Eureka Process,"
Horizon, VI (Autumn, 1964), pp. 16-25.

 

25. Calvin Tomkins, "Profiles: In the Outlaw Area," The
New Yorker (January 8, 1966), pp. 50-51.

 

26. Frank Barron, "The Psychology of Imagination," Scientific
American, 010 (September, 1958), pp. 151—166.

 

27. MacKinnon, op. cit., p. 17.
28. Ibid., p. 16.
29. Ibid.

30. C.P. Snow, The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1959), p. 33.

31. Hyman G. Rickover, "The Decline Of the Individual,"
Saturday Evening Post, CCXXXVI (March 30, 1963), p, 12.

32. Drews, Report II, Op. cit., p. 162.

33. Theodore Reik, Listenipg with the Third Ear (New York:
Grove Press, 1948), p. 271.

 

34. McCurdy, op. cit.
35. MacKinnon, op. cit., p. 69.

36. Jonathan R. Warren and Paul A. Heist, "Personality
Attributes of Gifted College Students" (Berkeley, California:
University of California, Center for the Study of Higher

171
Education). Mimeographed paper.
37. Drews, Report II, op. Cit., p. 12.
38. Frank Barron, "Complexity—Simplicity as a Personality
Dimension," Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,

XLVIII (April, 1953), pp. 163-172.
39. Ibid.

 

4o. Guilford, "Creativity," op. cit.

41. John E. Drevdahl, "Factors of Importance for Creativity,"
Journal of Clinical Psychology, XII (January, 1956), pp. 21-26.

 

42. Anne Roe, The Making of a Scientist, Op. cit.

 

43. H.J. Eysenck, "The Questionnaire Measurement of Neuro-
ticism and Extroversion," Revista di Psicologica, 50 (1956),
pp. 113-140; W.D. Furneaux, Report to Imperial College of
Science and Technology, 1957; Quoted by R. Lynn, "Two
Personality Characteristics Related to Academic Achievement,"
The British Journal of Educational Psychology, XXIX (1959),
pp. 213-216.

 

 

44. Drews, Report II, Op. cit., p. 12

45. Drews, ”The Four Faces of Able Adolescents," op. cit.,
p. 70.

46. Berrill, op. cit., pp. 249-250.
47. l;p;g., p. 256

48. Paul Torrance, "Problems of Highly Creative Children,"
The Gifted Child Quarterly, V (Summer, 1961), pp. 31-34.

 

49. Robert C. Wilson, "Creativity," Education for the Gifted,
Fifty-seventh Yearbook of the National Society for the Study
of Education, Part II (University Of Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1958), p. 117.

 

50. Ibid.

51. Harold H. Anderson, "Developing Creativity in the Child,"
Paper prepared for the White House Conference on Children
and Youth, 1960. (Mimeographed)

52. George F. Kneller, Existentialism and Education (New
York: Philosophical Library, Inc., 1958), p.763.

 

53. Robert F. DeHaan and Robert J. Havighurst, Educating
Gifted Children (University of Chicago: University of

 

 

172
Chicago Press, 1957), pp. 170-171.

54. Barron "Com lexity—Simplicity as a Personality Dimension,"
9 p

op. cit.

55. Bernice T. Eiduson, Scientists: Their Psychological
World (New York: Basic Books, 1962), p. 62.

 

56. Jerome Bruner, 0n Knowing: Essays for the Left Hand
(Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1962),
p. 21.

 

57. Rollo May, "The Nature of Creativity," Creativity and
Its Cultivation, ed. Harold H. Anderson (New York: Harper

and Brothers, 1959), pp. 55-58

 

 

58. Murphy, op. cit., p. 130.

59. Eiduson, Op. cit.

60. Drews, Report II, op. cit., pp. 69—72.

61. Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being, Op. cit.

 

62. Lewis M. Terman, "The Discovery and Encouragement of
Exceptional Talent, " The American Psychologist, IX (June,

1954): PP 229- 230

63. Catherine Cox Miles, "Crucial Factors in the Life History
of Talent, " Talent and Education, XX,ed. E. Paul Torrance
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, University of
Minnesota Press, 1960).

 

 

64. William James, Pragmatism: A New Name for Some 01d
Ways of Thinking (New York: Longmans, Green and Company,
1908), pp. 3440.

 

 

65. Earl Kelley, "The Fully Functioning Self," Perceiving
Behaving, Becoming, Association for Supervision and Curriculum
DevelOpment Yearbook, 1962.

 

 

66. J. Donald Adams, "The Dilemma of Success," Saturday
Review (January 30,1965), p.42.

CHAPTER IV
CONTENT ANALYSIS OF DATA ON EDUCATION

One of the items on the rating Sheet read: "Critical
of teachers"; and perhaps because school is a subject of imme-
diate concern and interest to these students, they talked at
greater length on this subject on the whole than any other.
They responded positively to the Opportunity to talk to an
adult outside of the school about their teachers; and in
many cases they moved away from negative criticisms evoked
by the item and Spoke extensively about education in general,
their attitudes toward school, and about their remembrances
of teachers and classes, past and present. That adolescents
often reveal considerable insight into their own educational
situations, and that these insights are of value to the
educator, beliefs that the present researcher has had con-
siderably reinforced through his contact with these young
peOple, have been found to be true also by David Mallery,

whose book, High School Students Speak Out,:L has been some-

 

thing of a model for this work. He has said:

It would be foolish, certainly to let student Opinions
and desires form the limits of our nation's educational
objectives. It would be equally foolish to ignore

what students are saying about their high school experi-
ences and what they are becoming through it. Student
motivation and convicpions must have a place in our
educational planning.

173

174
Since these creative youngsters had so much to say on the
subject of education, and since this study is directed
primarily to educators, it was decided to devote an entire
chapter to this area.

The literature on creativity reveals with some
consistency that schools present a problem to the creative
student. The school he must go to is, says Coleman, Often
one that looks more like an athletic club than an educational
institution; and it is, says Coleman further, dominated not
by an intellectual climate created by teachers, but by a
non-intellectual climate established by the teen-agers
themselves.3 Perhaps Coleman overdraws his picture of the
non-intellectual teen-age society; but still, there seems
to be little doubt that in most schools today, the teen-age
climate is not particularly conducive to the encouragement
of creative students.

But even discounting the dominance of non-creative-
intellectual teen-age values in schools, school curricula
and methodologykave seldom been praised by eminent creative
persons. The Goertzels, for example, found that three out
Of five of their 400 had serious school problems and were
critical of schools." They comment:

The strongest critic of schools is the child who finds
his own home intellectually stimulating. Such children
prefer to stay home and read books and often do just
that. They like to study with their parents and enjoy
meeting stimulating adults.5

The Goertzels' study, or course, included men and

women who went to school several generations ago; one would

175
hOpe that conditions have improved and that creatives of
today look back more kindly on their schooling. Anne Roe6
and Paul Brandwein,7 as a matter of fact, have found that
their successful scientists do often recall teachers who
stimulated their creativity in science.
0n the other hand, James Conant seemed less Opti-

mistic about the highly creative three per cent of the
school population:

Sometimes at both the school and the college or univer-

sity level, the problem is not so much that of developing

the creative powers of gifted youth and children as it

is of preventing our regular machinery of education from

blocking the develOpment of those creative powers which

children themselves want to manifest in one way or

another.
And Harold Anderson, in his discussion of the Open and Closed
systems, says that Open systems favor creativity, but schools
emphasize Closed systems.9 And Drews believes that existing
curricula do so little to stimulate creativity, that whole
new curriculum patterns must be established if we are to
begin to really develop the creative potentialities of our
able youth.lO Edith Weisskopf is pessimistic about present
systems too.11 She says that deSpite considerable information
now available regarding conditions that enhance creativity,
"the mental attitude during intellectual work encouraged
by our schools is in many reSpectS diametrically Opposed
to the mental attitude which is thought to stimulate crea—
tivity.l2

It is not our purpose here to discuss at length the

school conditions which favor creativity. We can, however,

176
agree with Wilson's general statement:

Writers on the subject are in pretty general agreement
that the environmental conditions which foster creativity
are those which encourage independent thought and which
are permissive of new ideas. They seem to be in agree-
ment that conditions which produce fear of criticism

are likely to inhibit the individual's expression of his
creative ideas.

And perhaps Bruner'S idea that school must be more than a
matter of relaying culture may be apprOpriately included
here:
But education must also seek to develOp the processes
of intelligence so that the individual is capable of
going beyond the cultural ways of his social world,
able to innovate in however modest a way so that he can
create an interior culture of his own.

The percentages for the boys on the item which read

”Critical of teachers" are:

Positive ..................... 64%
Negative ..................... 29%
Insufficient evidence ..... ... 0%
Raters disagreed ............. 7%

For the girls:

Positive ..................... 54%
Negative. ..... . ........... 38%
Insufficient evidence ........

Raters disagreed ............. 0%

Curtis talks about a typical problem:

All through grade school, we had to sit there and copy
stuff off the board, and I couldn't stand to do that

and do any arithmetic problems. The teacher would

always give us fourteen rows of them to do, and I couldn't
see any sense of doing it. So I did only--maybe a couple
of rows, and it didn't make any difference whether I did
all of them or not.

His enthusiasm for school quickly waned:
I was pretty excited when I started school when I was

young. I would go around and do things when school
would start each year.

177
Interviewer: Did that last very long?

About two days.

Joe says:

I've liked all the teachers I've had SO far.

Mark comments:

Grade school was just a play period—-supervised torture.

He continues when asked his feelings about grade school:

And

I was glad to get out of it.
Interviewer: Did you dislike going?

Oh, boy, I had a little bit of trouble back there but
I had some fun getting in trouble, or Should I say
curing troubles. I don't like to use that phrase.

Was it just school in general or the sort of peOple?
Teachers, little—big Shots.

And I suppose they didn't like you.

Oh, I wouldn't say that. I didn't like them.

Did they make things difficult for you?

NO. I made things more difficult for them than they
made for me.

he says:

Basic inquisitiveness is lost in early grades. Why?
The system is very restrictive. You are told you can
do this and can't do that. The ceiling falls down on
you. You just get to feeling like a blob. There's
someone standing around all the time trying to mold you.
And once you get molded, it's hard to get unmolded, and
that's how it happens. It's a Slow process; it takes
place throughout a person's life. If we started out
early, we would end up with peOple who could really
think. Of course, this country could be a mess, if
everyone could really think. If people could really
think, governments would be abolished, and there would
be no war. But a collapse of civilization would allow
those peOple who could really think to be really free
to think.

178
Mamcseamsto be able to empathize with failing students:

Sdmthcan be destructive because the people that are
way,xmry low down start feeling depressed, and they
say, "An, all these eggheads that can go around and

do afl.the work, and we're just going to loaf."

He goes on:

Stwhdng my textbooks in school assignments often
leavmsnw cold. Sometimes school work seems pointless,
but;wnflve always got to do it. And to put it bluntly,
I haMato memorize a list of facts, unimaginative
cookbook style.

You said you hate memorizing facts, but
Why do you have to do it?

directions,

Interviewer:
that you have to do it.

You have to put yourself in a psychological state of
mind, so you like to do it. I think that's the hardest
You get so you like things

part of going to school.
that you don't like.

Rex:
Kids can learn more by taking an alarm clock apart

than a full semester of home repair.
He has learned that the best way to learn is to teach:

Teachers really don't know as much as the pupils do.
That's why I wish they'd give the kids a chance to be
a teacher. I quite Often help peOple with homework
because usually I've got a selfish motive. Usually

I learn more by teaching than they do by being taught.
LHardly any of the teachers know what they're talking
atmnrt. They're sort of a Scout Master. They hold
the group together but somebody else teaches them.

And on homework:
I ljlue to study but I don't really like school work.

Toc>lnuch.of it is plain pointless.

memories of grade school:

I ctisljlied it. It seems like I Spent Six years of

ruythijug. They don't seem to teach you anything, except

filuger‘ painting and all that. They don't put enough
I've taught myself more in

‘vaJJle (In the right things.
tflde Llatyt year than I have ever learned in Sixth grade.

.HiS

Arthur is bothered by the lack of relatedness in school:

179

Allpamm of education Should complement each other.
Tambmms should be written well to go along with
limnamne. Literature should go along with history,
smfialscience should be concerned with chemistry.

EwnyUfing should go together. Most texts are so
stupidly written.

He is critical of teachers:

legottn have a new crOp of teachers. You have to
Invengple who vibrate knowledge. They should be
so dwmmfl interested in what they are teaching that it

cahflms on. But you can't be phony about it.

Further:

PeOple aren't good educators just because they are post-
graduates from Columbia-~the ones who think they're god.
I don't dig them. There's a quality in man, and I guess
that quality is humility, and not enough teachers have

it.
Teachers should try to talk to kids in such a manner
that the kid'll feel free to communicate. The most
stupid thing is when teachers say, "If you don't under-

stand something, come up and ask me." You don't tell
someone to feel free. They either are or they aren't.

0n grades:

A lot of things are wrong with education--I'm going

to blast you education people. You don't learn as much
as you could by the present system. I'm so anti—grading
system.that I can hardly talk about it. It classifies
students--it doesn't make them feel as equal learners.
.It.makes them feel as equal achievers to the stupid
stmnmdards which don't indicate high levels of learning,

onljr'teacher satisfaction.

A nyt of peOple are being hurt by grades. They don't

(iGSilTB to please the teacher.

He suggests:
MHTaI; alxout casting away all standards and saying,
a group of people--teach them."

"Here's

And finally:
Tflie Inosrt meaningful thing I've heard is that education
Inajr ocx2u1‘least Often in the classroom.

Franklin blames the system, not the teachers:

180

Imhlcation as it is now is restrictive.
(If textbooks because they have to be no nonsense, to

And I'm crtical

'the point. After you've read a text, you've just memo-

rized things, and you really haven't learned much.
rmxai more specialized educators, and students should
"be allowed to work on what they want to work on. I'm
against courses that you have to take. Schools are
jplaceS where the books are merely containers of facts
and the way things were back in the colonial times.
Teachers do as well as they can within the present

system“ It's the system that is at fault rather than
teachers.

He approved of an experimental social studies course, how-

ever, because it did not emphasize facts:

I thought it was a fascinating class, and I probably
learned more from that class than I did from any two
of my others, even though it didn't teach a subject.

Like I started reading and taking an interest in all
sorts Of varied things.

Morris on English:

The English teachers I've had-—well they just have

you read stories, and then there's the spelling test
every week which counts almost nothing.

Jeff discusses his idea of a good teacher:

I like teachers that make you work. Some let you get
away with things. You can get away with doing very
little, but it eventually catches up with you and you
wish they had made you do it. And I like a teacher

who makes you think about things. They don't just tell

you, "Well, this is the way, and don't worry about why
it is this way."

He describes a math teacher:

I had the same algebra teacher for three years in junior

high school. She was interested in everybody-—in all
of her pupils and in getting them to do their work.
She knew what she could expect from everybody and
didn't eXpect the same thing from everybody because
we weren't all capable of the same thing in that class.
She knew just what she could get out of each of us,
and if She didn't get it, She wanted to know why.

sztalks about repetition in school:

I like science courses, but they are boring most of

181

The third time through something begins to
Every year in elementary school it

the time.
We got it

get pretty boring .
seemaitmat they taught us to add again.

over and over again.

Whmlaskaiif he were learning more in high school than

he did in junior high:

Ichnflt know about learning more. I may memorize more
facts. I don't know if I'll learn a lot more.

On teachers:

Teachers always said junior high is going to be a lot
different. You will get up there and people won't
care. But you get there, and they do care. The same
thing happens with high school. Changes are gradual——
you never have these great changes that teachers are

always warning us about.

Eldon:
I have trouble remembering things that are crammed down
my throat.

He continues:
Teachers seem to be more interested in needless details
this year. They seem to be teaching courses as though

they had gone through it many years before and were
teaching it in the same way. We could have gone through

courses in two weeks rather than a full year. A lot
of the courses are repetitious, stufff I've had before.

.He remembers fondly one grade school teacher:

I had one sixth grade teacher that did an awful lot for
:me. She let some of us go ahead. Reading used to be
the nxxat boring class I had in the first five grades.
lfluare would be three groups, and I'd be in the top
grrnqi, but it was still boring if you read faster than
that group. And SO this teacher set it up so there
wertecylestions for every story in about Six or seven
And

'bookfs‘that she had accumulated through the year.
and at the end she would

SO we had our own speed,
I remember a friend of mine and I finished

question us.
Lg) alJ. the books she had by three—quarters of the year.

Skma benght us library books and had us write reports
cn1 trmfln which helped a lot. That was the most interesting

year I ever had. I enjoyed it the most.

Robert on his grade school teachers:

182

I mkmght teachers were really, you know, ugh. They

did1flw very same thing every year. Like one teacher
I nah had a puppet Show every year. And every year,
she KKK the kids out to the airport. She had the

very same program every year.

And he,like Curtis, dislikes doing problems after he under-

stands the principle:

One mung I positively loathe is busy work. Like in
algebra, why do you have to do all that work when you
already know what's going on? And in geometry, you
have to prove all those theoremg when just a few would
do. Maybe it makes you remember them better, but I

remember without all that stuff.

Robert likes enriched classes:

ESpecially with reading--I could read everything right
off. Like the teacher gave each of us a paragraph out
of a reading book. I'd read mine off in two or three
seconds, and the other kids would struggle with it.
Seemed sort of a waste of time for me to listen when
I was doing so much better, but I still had to. That
sort of brought me up against that system. That's why
I loved the advanced classes in school because then
you're with kids your own mentality and you get a

better chance to do things.

And finally:

An awful lot of times I just doodled around on paper
while the teacher was lecturing on what I already knew.

Nathan on high school:

It's far too simple. I could

High school is a bore.
I can

get tflrrough high school without even trying.
get;1\'s and B's without cracking a book or without

studying except just before tests.

On textbooks:

I vnmlld burn all the textbooks. I've never had a good
one. 'They're adolescent, they are ten, fifteen years
old. 'They exclude controversial subjects, and they
dcnl“t deal.with current problems. Texts always give
pitflnrres of what the world used to be like rather than
‘whai;‘the world is like today. And if a text does deal
‘witJl'the nmdern world, the year ends before you get to

it.

183
1% gas tned Of being given the "you're-a-leader" lecture:

[mualuryou get the same Old pep talk about being the
lewfln‘of the class and how that they don't expect
thhssort of thing from an intelligent student like

you.

I-nnrm mostly the teachers more or less think of me
astxm leader, SO they tell me, whenever I do something

vnong,that I'm the one that others look up to. I
telltmem it is all blah, but I have a hard time con-

vincing them of this.

Sarah is rather suspicious of teachers:

This is always the trouble with the teacher. You can't
be too close or Open with them because She's still
the teacher. And, sometimes they really forget what
they stand for and they will use it against you. I
sometimes argue with teachers, but I do it half-jokingly;
I never did it too seriously. And, if I did they might

have taken it out on me.

Mildred says:

I was real excited about going to school. I always
liked school. And I was real interested in school
a lot, and it was easy for me then. I didn't get
much out of it because it was mostly, two and two
and this stuff that you just memorize. I never had
any teachers that made us think.

She continues:

I think they were all the old-fashioned teachers who
taught two and two and this or that right from the
books. They made you do something because the book
told you to do it. That was the kind of teacher I

fund all through school up to the ninth grade.

.Mildrtxiilikes self-directed study:

I dcnl't like school work because it's SO conventional.
YEMI study right from the book, and you do this and

thfims and you don't ever get to go outside because
;youJ\N3 got so much homework and other stuff. I like

it txatter if you could go to the library and pick

<out 51 book on each subject and read it and get to
Lundermrtand it. That way, instead Of getting it fact for
:fact;<3ut of a textbook and having a test over it, I

thirfl{;you get a lot more out of it.

And further:

184

Momwn‘told me once that I couldn't read a book,
becmumal was too little, and so I decided to read it.
And1flmt got me started on reading more difficult books.
Thatvms a major turning point in my life. We could
hawalearned so many things when we were younger, and
howxmflre wasting time on this stuff, when we could
havetmmn working on our own and learning more. I
hate'ulapply myself to a subject full-time, when I
dothlike it. It's a waste Of time. In fact, school
is a waste of time. I think school used to have me
tnein washed. I was told to learn something and I
learned it without question. I was studying as an

automatic reaction.

Mildred:

In geometry, I read all the time in class. I think

I could have learned geometry long ago. In grades

one through eight, it was the same old thing over and
over again. Most intelligent kids are bored to death
in grade school. If kids could be separated according
to ability more, we would have been better off. In
grade schools, teachers don't realize that you're
capable Of SO much more--just because you're a little

kid.

I don't think I ever had a teacher in the grades who

encouraged outside reading. The books in the grade
school library, my God. I could go through in a half
an hour or so, and no one ever encouraged me to read

further.

Muriel on the subject of Latin contests:

I didn't like Latin-~not so much because of the language
itself, but because of the teacher-~she was a little
screwy. She also had little contests—-if you won, you
gyot a tootsie roll--and I got a little sick of tootsie

rolls.

Teacher-chatter irritates her:

Arui

If 12 like a subject, I will work on it on my own and
lealfil«a lot more. Teachers sometimes chatter all the
tihua-—they give you this assignment, and then they
SpEHMi a half hour helping you—~chattering little
suggestions, and I think, Oh good Lord, why doesn't

She shut up?
.her‘rmiscellaneous thoughts on education:

flflle pmarfect education would be ungraded. You would
rxrt gx> to the same class every day, and you would have
.loruger:‘times in some classes. There would be better

185

libramrfacilities, a longer school year and a longer
schmilday. I have so many things I like to do, but

I mxflt have time. I would like to go along more at
aw mmuspeed. I'd like to have a chance to do more’
reseamflltoo. I don't like studying grammar and I
don’tlike reading things like Evangeline and Miles
Starfish. I would like to be able to read more novels
:hlschOOl-—not chapter by chapter, but reading whole
bomfisand then discussing them. I'd like to have more
fiehitrips in almost every kind of class. In English
you mnfld go to plays and movies. Last year in English
we went'mo see A Man for All Seasons, and I enjoyed it
a lot. There's so much more to education than just

textbooks and lectures.

Julie is critical of her teachers:

One thing that's bothered me a lot is teachers. They
think that the student should follow exactly what they

say and follow only their way of thinking; that they
shouldn't really have a mind of their own.

Jenny's dislike of English is intense:

I found two things that I like to study and that was
SMSG and biology. That is the only two things I like

to study. English I never studied. I've never had to
study English. I deplore English. I think of English
as grammar, but then the small, infinitesimal literature
that I have had has been taught in such a way that I

ended up hating it.
Carol got into difficulty with her teachers:

I wanted to get out of going to fourth grade. I talked
the teacher into seeing if I could skip that grade and
“we almost did but not quite. I didn't prove mature
enough. I needed a year's growth in friendliness. I
cleld do it academically. Fifth grade was a lot easier,
I Stquxase. I told the teacher Off in that class. She
got nuui; She made me stay after school once because

I was talking. I said, 'When are you going to teach

us sxmnething interesting?" I mean, I didn't like it.
I was bored.

186

Footnotes

1. Mallery, Op. cit.

2. Ibid., p. xiv.
Jmmm S. Coleman, Adolescents and the Schools (New

 

 

3.
York: EMsic Books, 1965), p. 35.
4. (kmrtzels, Cradles of Eminence, Op cit., pp. 241-270.

5. Ibid., p. 60.
6. Ike, "Crucial Life Experiences in the DevelOpment of

Talent," Op. cit., ID- 77.
7. Paul Brandwein, The Gifted Student as a Future Scien—
tist (Chicago: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1955), pp.

63-64.
James B. Conant, "The Highly Creative Three Per cent

8.

Of the POpulation," Creativity of Gifted and Talented
Children, American Association for Gifted Children—(Columbia
University: Teachers College, Bureau of Publications,

1959): P- 17-
9. Anderson, "Creativity and Education," Op. cit.

10. Drews, Report II, Op. cit.

ll. Edith WeisskOpf, "Some Comments Concerning the Role
of Education in the 'Creation of Creation,'" Journal of

Educational Psychology, XLII (1951), pp. 185-189.

12. Ibid., p. 185.

LP3. Robert C. Wilson, "Creativity," Education for the
Fifty-seventh Yearbook of the National Society

Gifted, M
for'tflne Study of Education, op. cit., p. 117.

114. Brmuuer, On Knowing, Op. cit., p. 116.

 

CHAPTER V
PROFILES OF EIGHT CREATIVE ADOLESCENTS

Jenny

Jenny probably would not be considered pretty by
usual teen-age standards. Her light hair and rather florid,
slightly blotchy complexion do not seem very well cared for,
she tends to be overweight; and although she is not really
unkempt, neither is she meticulously groomed. In her personal
relations, She affects a somewhat sneering, cynical manner;
but when she is pleased, she breaks into a warm, happy smile.
Conversation with Jenny is an interesting experience--there
is no question about it, her intelligence, knowledgeability,
wit, and original thinking are remarkable; but it is sad
too, because she is a girl with extraordinary ability who
has seemingly deliberately become cynical, misanthropic,
and indifferent. Yet as is true of so many cynics, beneath
the sneers lie a sense of idealism and deep respect for fellow
creatures.

Without doubt, the most apparent quality of Jenny's
personality is her rebelliousness. "If you don't see me
breaking moral laws, it's because it isn't possible. I would
if I could," she says. Her main disillusionment is that She

has found out that all people are frauds, eSpecially adults,

187

188

who never really mean what they say. It is not clear what

has made Jenny aware of the phoniness of the human race, but
‘Hfls idea has become her code. Her ambition is to get comp-
letely away from peOple, perhaps on a South Sea island or an
asteroid. She relates the plot of a book which She had read
which concerned the demolishment of society by an atomic war
which left only two peOple on earth. They were completely free
from the legal and moral laws of civilization; and although
this was intended to be a horrifying account, Jenny saw it

as Utopia.

Further, she is as scornful of her peers as She is
of adults. In their way, she feels that adolescents are
equally hypocritical in their relationships with each other.
In her Opinion, teen-agers find it impossible to have true
friendships. The whole structure of the adolescent world
is phony, according to Jenny. She has attended only one
teeniage dance and was completely disgusted with it. The
dating practices also come in for much criticism--going steady
means nothing as these relationships only last a short time
and are established on a superficial attraction.

Jenny shuns the world of teen-agers, with the exception
of three peOple--two girlfriends and a boyfriend (her "soul-
mate," as she calls him). The two girls share her disdain
for people and are, like Jenny, intellectually inclined. Her
lxxyfriend, Phil, is more social than Jenny, but seems to
agree vdjfllnmst of her theories. Jenny states that her love

fOI'INnil, unlike most teen—ager's love, is real; and she is

189
positive they will marry in seven years when she is twenty-
One. "Phil justifies my life," she says, and goes on to
say that She couldn't live without him. He is the one person
that she could tolerate on her South Sea island. Apparently
Jenny began to date early in her adolescence, as She reported
going steady with several other boys, none of whom she could
stand. When asked if She is happy with herself and her life,
she replied, "I'm happy because I'm in love."

During Jenny's early years, the family moved freq-
uently; and the first homes in her memory were in very poor
neighborhoods--"Not in socially-accepted places," She explains.
When She was four, She says She contracted a communicable
disease from a little Mexican boy with whom she played.
Because of this, she was confined to bed for many months.

When She was in the third grade, Jenny was told by her teacher
that her I.Q. score was 158. After this, she began to develOp
a superiority complex; and her fellow students always looked
upon her as being far above them. It seems that she was

the star of the school, and she reacted to this attention

by sometimes being difficult to handle. For the most part,
though, she was the teachers' favorite; and She played the
role of the bright child with the same skill and hypocrisy
Sartre describes in his autobiography.

As a little girl around home, Jenny had an angelic
diSposition. Her father spoiled her, took her part contin-
ually in any controversy, and generally adored her. As She

began to rebel and become difficult, her mother wondered

190
whatrwd happened to her perfect little girl. She relates the
story of her transformation from a "good little girl" to a
rebellious adolescent with a certain relish, as if proud of
the transformation.

Writing and playing the viola are two escapes which
Jenny uses when She is feeling unhappy and depressed. She
has written poetry for many years; and when She was in the
third grade, one Of her poems was published in a teacher's
publication. She is familiar with most of the classic com-

posers and enjoys playing them. She enjoys these two activ-

ities because they produce peace and quiet away from people.
She doesn't like to sleep; "It's a waste of time."

Although Jenny says "people don't matter," the
ironic thing is she is something of a humanitarian in her
thinking about people pp magse, especially the underdog and
the have-nots. She sympathizes with people who live in
foreign countries and with Negroes in the slums and in the
South, but She is unable to recognize problems of people with
whom she associates. The idea of brotherly love is phony to
her, as most people are not worthy of her love. However, she
is concerned about world peace and says that the present
Situation "grieves her."

Jenny's father seems to be the most important adult
irllner life. She describes him as very, very intelligent
euui a non-conformist, who has undoubtedly inspired many of
ruar unorthodox attitudes. He has moved from job to job

(1M3 is usually a laboratory technician), always doing well,

191
but unable to conform to company rules. Usually there are
stormy confrontations with bosses, and then he will quit.
When asked about her father, Jenny replied, "He is a nut,"
and She described some of his bizarre idiocyncrasies. Like
Jenny, he iS anti-people and has no friends or acquaintances.
He is an omniverous reader and, says Jenny, in his own way,
a deeply religious man. But her disillusionment with her
father is apparent, especially since he recently upbraided
her with "There are certain social values we must live up
to."

In contrast Jenny's mother is sober, nervous, and
a chronic worrier. She works in a welfare office and is
apt to bring her problems home with her. She has an inferior-
ity complex about her intelligence, and feels inadequate
when Jenny and her father are conversing about philOSOphical
and theoretical matters. She often accuses Jenny of liking
her father better than her, which Jenny admits is probably
true. Although she quarrels violently with her mother and
resents her attempts at supervision, she concedes that her
mother supplies the sympathy and support when she needs it,
while her father provides her with "good times."

Jenny has one brother who is several years older
than she. When they were younger, there were many disagree-
ments between them, provoked by the father's Obvious partial—
ity for Jenny. Now, however, they are very close, and she
admires him. They often double date. He is a happy-go-

lucky, athletic type who has been a pOpular high school

192
Sports hero.

Another rather bizarre character in her life was her
grandmother, who lived with them for several years until she
was finally sent to a mental institution. She moved into the
home after her husband died, and gradually her grief turned
to a permanent melancholy, and then to extreme cantankerous-
ness. Always criticizing everything, She quarreled violently
with the family; and Jenny feared She might come after her
with a knife.

Jenny's intelligence carries her far in her studies
without any great effort. But she is very critical of poor
teachers. Although She reads a great deal and likes to write
poetry, She "abhors English. I think of English as grammar.
But then the small, infinitesimal literature I've had has
been taught in such a way that I end up hating it." But She
says She has had good teachers too.

More than anything else, Jenny has a horror of cant.
She will not say anything that is the usual. She will say
ruothing rather than say the Obvious. Asked what her interests
tare, she will say: "I don't know. I don't know what interests
Ine. Poetry--something theoretical. I don't know what
interests me." This is not the statement of a dullard, but
:is, rather, a positive statement by a person with "a deep—
:seated pessimism," to use the term She applies to herself.

Irl the style of "the beat," she seems to see vacuity, saying
ruathing, or even saying things that are obviously meaningless,

tn) hollow speech and empty words that are worse than nothing

193
to the person who is searching for the highest meanings.
AS grim as Jenny's comments often are, there is a tremendous
nobility about her--here is a very young girl already in a
tortuous and rather existential struggle to find meaning in
life. She is very much lost and disillusioned, but She is

fiercely honest and will not tolerate a shred of mendacity.

Jenny horrifies the listener, but She inSpireS great admi-

ration too. One senses a potential greatness in her; and

if She doesn't bog down in the slough of bitterness, one

can imagine her formidable talents being put to a great use.

194

Mark

Mark is a tall, slender boy with fair hair and rather
small, near-sighted blue eyes-—a fairly good—looking boy.
But it is his bearing rather than his physical appearance
that one finds most arresting; for Mark is a youth of excep-
tional intensity. High strung, tense, nervous, seldom re-
laxed, he seems to have difficulty keeping his vast resources
of energy under control; and one cannot talk to him without
being aware that some very strong inner force must drive him.
One does not really converse with this dynamo, one listens-—
listens to an outpouring of ideas on nearly every subject,
strong Opinions, fantasies, zany stories, plots and plans,
and above all, expressions of egotism-—for almost continually
Mark is saying, "I am great. I can do anything."

What may lie beneath the surface of this creative
boy is difficult to know-~for all Of his talk, Mark keeps
his most inner self private. But it is clear that he sees
himself as a genius, and perhaps he is. If drive, unquench-
able energy, and fecundity of mind are qualities of genius,
Mark, possibly more than anyone else in this study, might
come closest to being one. His egotism is not entirely
unjustified. A devourer of books (always non-fiction) and
magazines, he knows something about a wide range of subjects;
and in the area of science, which is his great love, he seems
to be quite an expert. His hobbies are metallurgy, photo-
graphy, geology, astronomy, and mathematics; yet he perhaps

has more to say about aesthetics than anyone in the group.

l95

Novels, he spurns, unless required, and novelists he sees
as "nothings"--peOple who are warped and mal-adjusted; he
declines to support them by reading their Sick words.

Mark's strongest suit is his ability to talk well-—
indeed, brilliantly on almost any subject. By sheer brute
force, he uses his verbal pyrotechnics so skillfully that
he is able to present even half-baked facts, prejudices,
and wild Opinions and make them sound convincing. He has

all the attributes of a successful debater. He overwhelms

the Opposition. Often Speaking in a mocking tone with an
open display of good—natured arrogance, he seldom says
anything completely seriously.

Mark appears to have an almost limitless fountain
of energy. He continually has a number of projects going
and he works on these activities until he's ready to drop.
In fact, he says he sometimes concentrates to the very end
of his energy reserve, and he physically collapses. He
does his homework at this same feverish, frenzied pace—-
he read The Tale of Two Cities and wrote a twelve page essay
on it in one night. Above all, he abhorS laziness and passiv-
ity in others. He admires Frank Lloyd Wright and Charles
Kettering because they were men who used their time well.
In his own life, he has fifteen carefully defined goals which
he hopes to accomplish, and he has worked out a schedule to
accomplish these which he must keep to at all costs. He
tries to plan even very nfljmu‘actions SO that nothing will

interfere in the larger scheme of his schedule. Although

196
he 1&3 egotistical about his ability, he is humbled and awed
by inns learning that he must do within the huge areas of

Yunnan knowledge which he hopes to conquer.

People pp masse are unimportant to Mark, but he is

extremely concerned about the important of individuals. Only

they can.really accomplish things or change the course of

history. Society as a structure, he says, is bad, because it

tends to destroy individual freedom. He is concerned with

encroachment of government on personal lives, using licensing

as an example. AS for himself, he wants society to leave

him alone.

Mark doesn't get along overly well with many people.

As he says, peOple come to hate him very quickly. He does

have a very close friend who is bright and creative like

himself. Most of the time, however, he prefers to be alone.

It is almost impossible to imagine Mark fitting in with a
teen-age group; one could as easily imagine an Einstein

enjoying the social whirl Of suburbia.

Being an Operator, a con-man, having the right

connections-—these are the ways to get what you want, theor-

izes Mark. His cynicism permeates his thinking. He wants

to make lots of money and fast, so that he can do all the

things he would like to do. His plans are zany. He would

like to write books, make films, climb Mt. McKinley, and
psychoanalyze everyone in the world and categorize themt

uCertain types would emerge—-I know, I've started it." All

of fins is said in mock seriousness. He says, "DO I have

197
afawmite joke? My favorite joke is me." With his intensity
iSIMxed a strong element of bufoonery.

Mark describes himself as a weirdo, a crackpot. He

demnibes walking down the street and seeing people as peOple

butrmt believing that he, himself is one. Perhaps, he says,
heis a robot. Unless he is talking, he says he feels "nebu—

One person out of

lousU' Adults, he says, are "dried up.

lOWDis still idealistic
'Uf'adolescents are good ones, they're better than adults;

The good ones are still

What he

and a weirdo." And on teen-agers:

ii'they're bad, they're worse.

idealistic--they think everything is possible."
dreads the most are "catastrOphic inevitabilities," which

keep him awake at night, and worry him all the time.

There is a wildness about Mark that manifests itself
in his feeling for beauty. It isn't pictures or music that
rather it is buildings, because they have use,

inspire him,
"I've seen buildings I've

Iflqey're real, not fake and phony.
alnsolutely fallen in love with. Seeing them is like taking

You have certain muscle dilations and you feel the

opxiumd
and he

‘tirugle and tangle." He also sees beauty in motion,

teallxs Of the exhilaration that he experiences as he watches

t11e~1nndulations of wheels on the road.
He does

He is highly competitive and thrives on it.

ggc>cxi Ivork in school because he can't stand to see others

Igeasss lqim.by. He is all for casting out the "dumbbells"

j_r11;c> pnarely technical training, while he and others like him

(:21r1 Iweach high standards through their natural competition

198

wiuleach other. He thinks that the desire to compete must

cmmafrom within, as a teacher-imposed competitive situation

hurusthose who are inferior.

The underdog has none of Mark's sympathy. He is a

fimnbeliever in rugged individualism. He feels that giving

acflmnce to Negroes will cause them to become only more

chificult and will accomplish nothing. He is contemptuous

oflns underprivileged classmates, as they will become
future leeches which he and other taxpayers will have to

support. "What is being a human being?" he asks. "Not tromp-

ing on other human beings."

Mark is completely scornful of school. It is merely

a place where you have to learn to like things that you really

aren't interested in. In fact, the hardest part of school

This, you must do by yourself, he
He

is to "get interested."
says, as teachers can't inSpire interest in anything.

Twas reading before kindergarten; in fact, he says he was

Inaading when he was three. "Grade school was just a play

pexriOd——supervised torture." Apparently, he rebelled Often

arui had many severe confrontations with teachers. He likes

cjuniorhigh school better, but most of his courses bore him.

Iiisa chief complaint about schools is that they try to mold
He has

Zoenogx1e, and they kill children's inquisitiveness.
I

27c> lxjve for teachers and describes them as "little big ShotS.'

fzez lxrnjws more about the courses than the teachers do.
Mark lives in a modest little home and the family

cgc>risuists of one Older Sister, in addition to his parents.

199
He flatly states that he doesn't like her and has no desire
to know her better. It is difficult to learn very much about
his family life, not because of perversity but more, due to
a strong sense of privacy. This attitude comes directly
from his parents, who also oppose any invasion of privacy.
One feels, however, in spite of his flippancy when asked
about his home, that it is a warm and supportive one, and
that he is happy with the Situation. But one learns little
about it.

Mark is enigmatical. His high ability, his tremendous
drive and energy, and his ambition are mixed with zaniness
and bufoonery. One has the feeling that he is "pulling your
leg" much of the time, and yet many of his ideas are quite
brilliant. He is wild and crazy, yet genius-like too. He

does, perhaps, have the stuff of greatness.

2OO

Beatrice

Beatrice, a girl with twinkling eyes and a sparkling
personality, probably would not conform to the teen-age ideal
of beauty, but She is, nevertheless, a rather pretty girl.
Somewhat above average height, She appears even taller by
virtue of the fact that she wears her brown hair in a loosely
put-together bun on top of her head. However, as She talks
with her usual animation and liveliness, the bun bobs about
and keeps Sliding somewhat to the side, adding to the general
effect she gives of dishevelment. She has a well-scrubbed,
if slightly blotchy, complexion, which is wholesomely free
of any make-up. The overall impression she conveys is of an
uninhibited, somewhat rambunctious, and merry tomboy who has
just recently arrived in adolescence, but has not bothered
to celebrate the advent by taking on the customary early
teen-age affectations of a cool, detached manner, poorly
applied eye make-up, and air of boredom with adult society
and affairs.

Beatrice came into the interview carrying a pile of
books, the top one of which was Drieser's Tycoon, which she
happened to hear about and wanted to read. At the very start,
then, she and the interviewer talked books (she was also read—
ing Michener's Hawaii). Then She became interested in the
tape recorder, and with equal zest and enthusiasm, she dis-
cussed recorders. This was typical of her. She knows many

things, reads many magazines and books, and she loves to

201
talk about them. These are, perhaps, her two outstanding
characteristics--her liveliness and her breadth of knowledge.
She talks intelligently about world peace, drop-outs, politics,
Lincoln as a President compared to Kennedy, the Catholic
Church, birth control, her family (She described them all),
and welfare programs. She is filled with opinions and
editorial comment on all of these and She speaks with verve,
wit, and good humor. Beatrice is well—informed, indeed, about
the events of her world; and her world is not a small one--
it is a very wide and exciting one.

However, even though She has definite ideas and
takes stands on issues, She is not dogmatic or inflexible.

In fact, she prides herself on being able to understand the
other fellow's point of view, and so she is very much inter-
ested in listening to others' ideas. She says She would like
to develOp the ability to talk to anyone on nearly any sub-
ject because she likes peOple-—and she also thinks this would
be a handy Skill for a politician which she hopes to be.

Even though Beatrice is a great talker (after a two—
hour period, the interview schedule was still only half way
completed), She does not reveal a great deal about her inner
self. She is interested in world events, particularly those
of political significance. She does like to talk about her
rather disjointed family, and She does readily describe her
plans for the future, her activities, and her opinions on
matters; but she does not seem to be troubled with personal

doubts or fears or anxieties. But perhaps inner conflicts

202
have been resolved (she does say she has overcome moodiness
and unpleasant temperamental streaks), and she can, with a
remarkably clean bill of mental health, turn her considerable
energies to the world Without rather than dwelling on the
girl within.

Beatrice has had a rather hectic home life. Her
mother and father were divorced when she was five. She and
her mother then came to live with her grandparents. When
Beatrice was fourteen, her mother re-married, and they moved
from the grandparents' home, although Beatrice continues
to see them a great deal. She Obviously adores and tries
to emulate her grandfather. An intellectual man, a great
reader, something of a sage, a "born salesman," her grand-
father liked to Spend afternoons sitting in bars and other
public places with his cronies; and he would take Beatrice
along. She loved it, and she has learned to respect her
grandfather's ability to enjoy all kinds of people, his

understanding of the world, his good humor and joie de'vivre.

 

Grandmother, more a conventional type, disapproves of Grand—
father's indomitable gregariousness, and there is friction
between them--but one has the feeling that the friction does
not run deep, that there is much affection and warmth there
too. Her grandmother, Beatrice says, is sensible, practical,
and sedentary; her grandfather is always on the move, impract-
ical, and "very, very tender-hearted." Beatrice says, "He
sold real estate until he just couldn't stand selling peOple

what they couldn't afford anymore. He has a real heart."

203
She and her grandfather exchange books and articles, and they
always argue politics, Since she is a Democrat and he is a
Republican.

Beatrice, with the hilarity of a Patrick Dennis, tells
the story of how she found out about her mother's re-marriage.
Grandmother, a neWSpaper proofreader, first read about the
upcoming marriage in the "Licences" section that She happened
to be proofreading. Beatrice describes all of these family
upsets with a real sense of comedy. If they upset her, She
doesn't reveal it. Even her grandparents' constant clash
of temperments she sees as very amusing.

In Spite of her gregariousness, Beatrice has spent
a good deal of her life alone. When she was a youngster,
her grandmother and grandfather were working, and the mother
was working too; so She was on her own in the summer, eSpeci—
ally, day after day, with the neighbors kind of looking in.
She thinks this was fine. She enjoyed being alone, and She
says She was never lonely. Later she was in charge of two
younger step-sisters--in fact, she almost became their mother.

' She laughs. "I was Often taken

"I've already had my family,'
for the'lady of the house' by door to door salesnmmu" She
feels She has as fully a developed sense of responsibility

as an adult and is glad she had the chance to develop in

this way. She says that when she has children, She wants
them to have independence just as she was given independence.

She isn't going to feel concerned if they are loners.

Beatrice's religious background is nearly as confused

204

as her family. Her grandfather, who was a Methodist, turned
Catholic to marry her grandmother, but has never attended
church. Her mother was forced to marry outside of the Church
because of her divorce. Beatrice was given a free choice
of religion by her mother; and she chose to be a Catholic,
although She questions many of their social and theological
stands. She is vehemently against the Church's stand on
birth control. In her catechism class, She asked many questions
which have never been answered to her satisfaction. She denies
the Church's claim to be the only true church and draws upon
her knowledge of other religions to prove her point. She
says that all religions are good if they are practiced in
the right way. Her grandfather admonishes her to believe in
God but not to be narrow—minded.

She has time to read a book or two a week because
she doesn't have to bother about homework. She gets her
homework done easily, partly because it is easy for her and
partly because she has learned the trick of studying prin-
ciples and generalizations rather than memorizing details.
She uses her time well. She has such a wide range of
interests and she wants to learn about many things; and in
order to do this, she has to plan her day carefully. On the
other hand, she says, "I don't plan it so carefully that I
exclude the unexpected. I want to enjoy the unexpected and
the unplanned for too."

Beatrice is an optimist. When talking about the

chances for world peace, She expressed belief that there

205
was good reason for hOpe, even with the atomic threat.
"After all, there has always been an ultimate weapon, start-
ing with dynamite." She is also positive in her attitudes
toward her own personal life. "There's always a good side
to everything. My moments of sadness are just momentary."

She makes good her concern for peOple by working
every week in a retraining center for underpaid workers
who want to further their education. She says, "These peOple
are really quite intelligent and only need a chance." She
says that everyone can be used and should look for ways of
helping and sums up her feelings by saying, "My philOSOphy
of life is to do as much as you can for the peOple around
you."

Beatrice has always Spent most of her time with
adults and still prefers to talk to them rather than to her
peers. She has few close friends of her own age. However,
She is not disdainful of teen-agers, but, rather, She views
them philOSOphically: "I get along fine when I'm with a
group Of teen-agers. I don't feel that they are lower than
me; you just have to remember to adjust to a different kind
of talk.’ It's just like when you're with children——you have
to adjust." And on boys: "In a boyfriend, there's nothing
I hate more than to go out and talk about hot rods all evening.
It's kind of a problem in school. I want a boyfriend to be
as intelligent or more intelligent than I. I like someone
who has read a little bit and who can talk about things."

Beatrice's ambition is to enter the field of politics.

206
"I want to be a favorite daughter." She has joined the
Democratic Party--"I didn't have enough money to be a con-
servative Republican." She has a keen desire to serve her
fellow man and politics will be her medium. She wants to at-
tend a college that is demanding, academically, and is
eXploring new areas of knowledge.

Beatrice is a girl with great Spirit, drive, and
knowledgeability--and a real desire to serve her fellow man.
Her rather curious home situation might have damaged her,
but instead it has given her a maturity and even a wisdom

that is unusual.

207

Jeff

Jeff is a rather ordinary looking boy, if one should
judge only by his physical appearance--he is Slight, wears
glasses, and has a somewhat pallid complexion; but his
liveliness and animation light up his face and make him an
extremely interesting boy to watch and listen to. He is
articulate, sensitive, and enthusiastic; and he enjoys good
conversation. He is not only an engaging talker, but he
listens well to what is being said to him, and laughs
appreciatively at good humor. He is the kind of conver-
sationalist who could go on for hours, and one would find
him enjoyable.

Jeff has always lived in Lansing, although the
family moved once from the center of the city to a suburb.
Even though he seems to be a pleasantly social youth, as
a little boy, he was very much alone, primarily because he
so much enjoyed his own activities that he didn't feel any
need for companionship. Also, he never liked sports because
he was always small; and SO in his early childhood he ignored
the other boys who were engaged in games, and immersed him-
self in projects at his workbench. Furthermore, the other
boys never Shared his interest in his technical projects,
so he simply went his own way. He was quite content with
this Situation and cultivated the attitude that if others
wished to play with him, they would have to share his inter—

ests. AS time went on, his parents began to stress the

208
advantages Of develOping wider interests and in involving
himself with other children.v He now considers himself a
much more outgoing creature than he was, but many times he
still prefers his own company. He likes peOple, but he
likes being alone too.

Electronics and its many facets dominate Jeff's
leisure time. He always has many projects in various stages
in the family basement, where he sometimes works for several
hours steadily. His reading also consists almost exclusively
of scientific and technological content. When asked by the
interviewer what book he had read recently, he said,"_Tpp

Radio Amateur's Handbook." He also reads many technical

 

magazines, such as Popular Mechanics and various electronic

 

publications. Just lately, he built a small hi-fi set which
worked perfectly at its first trial. His projects generally
begin as small ideas; but as he develOps them, they become
larger and larger until sometimes they become so big that he
becomes discouraged and discards them. When he is not
immediately involved in one of his projects, he is dreaming
of what the next one will be. A practical boy, though, if
the material involved in the project is expensive, he does
see to it that it is used eventually, if not in the present
project, at least in another.

Jeff has an affinity for complexity which is revealed
not only in his electronic projects but also in his conver-
sation and thinking. (Drews found him to score extremely

high on a complexity scale She administered). In class dis-

209
cussions, he recoiled from over-simplicity and often pointed
out various ramifications of the issue at hand. He told the
interviewer, "Things that are simple don't have any challenge
to me." He readily admits that he doesn't know all the answers
and violently dislikes those who pretend they do. Inflexibility
is one of his least favorite qualities in peOple.

When Jeff was younger, he visited an uncle in Calif-
ornia who is a physicist in charge of important experimen-
tation at Berkeley. Jeff says that this experience had a
tremendous influence on him and perhaps changed the course
of his life. This uncle, besides being a brilliant scientist,
had a great variety of interests and knows something about
many areas of knowledge. Up until this time Jeff had been
totally immersed in the technological field, but his admir-‘
ation for his uncle led him to a determination to learn and
experience as much as possible about everything. He now has
a tremendous drive to cultivate new interests; and he is
aided in this by a great reservoir of energy-—"I don't like
Sitting."

Although it will be surprising if the world of
technology does not claim Jeff, he is more humanistic
than many Of the students in the study. He, himself, would
rather work with machines, but he is concerned about people.
"PeOple are important," he says. He is concerned about the
problems of automation and how it will affect peOple. He
is convinced that each individual has a responsibility in

society to improve human conditions in the world and that

210
one must Operate within the framework Of society--"It's not
good to be an oddball." Rather than viewing technology as
an end in itself, he states, "Technology should be used to
serve peOple."

One of Jeff's most appealing and obvious character-
istics is his sense of humor. He is very fond of the sublety
of the British films. When the interviewer related several
incidents from films which he had seen, Jeff laughed with
great enjoyment. His favorite television programs also
involve humor, and he admires Red Skelton above all other
TV performers. His own original jokes and quips are dry,
almost of the Will Rogers variety, and are devoid of cynicism
or sarcasm.

Jeff has two close friends: one who shares his deep
interest in electronics, and the other who philosophizes
with him, canoes with him, and sings with him. He sees
friendship as a relationship of acceptance. Aside from
these very good relationships, he is very content to be
alone. Girls have not yet discovered Jeff, but one has the
feeling that when they do discover this boy with a rather
zany sense of fun, yet of wide-ranging interests, he will
be a pOpular date.

The world of nature has more appeal for him than
the world of art and literature. He likes beauty in its
natural form, whether it is a mountain or one Single flower;
and skin diving is of interest to him essentially because

of the beautiful, underwater scenery. He takes many canoe

211
trips in the north woods with his friend and revels in the
wilderness beauty which they pass through. He seems to have
reverence for nature and expresses a genuine concern for
conservation.

Next to electronics and, perhaps, his love of being
in the woods, Jeff's most engrossing interest is music.

The family has an organ which he plays a little, a hi-fi set
on which he enjoys playing every kind of record, and he has
had several years of guitar lessons. It is with the latter
instrument that he Spends most of his time. He has been

a member of a small neighborhood combo in which he played
typical teen-age rock and roll and has performed with a
friend, who also plays guitar and sings. Folk singing is
his favorite type of music, and he has learned a repetoire
of folk songs by listening to records. He and his friend
are proficient enough to have earned an occasional semi-
professional performance.

Jeff's family includes his father, mother, and two
younger sisters; and they live in a pleasant suburban area
in a gracious home surrounded by a large yard filled with
trees and Shrubs planted by his father. It is a close-knit
family. Jeff states that they "do almost everything together."
There have been many family trips and camping eXpeditionS
in the summer. Jeff's philosophy of what parents should be
probably reflects his own family experience--"Parents Should
be peOple who share their kids' joy." During Jeff's early

childhood, the father traveled extensively in his work, so

212
Jeff turned to his mother with his problems. However, he
is very close to his father, especially since they Share
an interest in working with wood, electronics, and other
building projects. He has a strong affection for his Sisters,
particularly the older one whom he talks to with more freedom
than to either of his parents. The entire family seems to
be lively and interested, and Jeff feels there is probably
much more discussion in his home than in others he has
visited. His parents are supportive while allowing him
freedom to choose his own way. When he was a little boy,
he recalls that he was allowed complete freedom to roam
around and explore. Although his father wanted him to
participate in athletics, when it became obvious that Jeff
was neither interested or talented in this area, his father
withdrew any pressure in that direction. They encourage
him in his school work and appreciate his good grades but
do not stress them out of prOportion to their importance.
All in a11,-it seems that his family have given him a
maximum amount of love and support while allowing him the
freedom to discover his own identity.

Jeff's experiences in school have been relatively
happy except for the repetitiveness, which he hates. He found
this particularly true in elementary school where "they
taught us to add every year." Because of his talent in
science, many of these courses have been much too basic
for him; so although it is his favorite subject, it is

rather sad that he often finds it quite boring. English

213
is more difficult for Jeff, as he doesn't enjoy writing,
and reading novels and poetry is unappealing to him. He
likes classes that have lively discussions where he can
take different sides of issues. He sees this as a way of
learning. He is uncritical of most of his teachers and
asks only that they be demanding, challenging, and require
hard work. He is a great question-asker and has annoyed
teachers who misunderstand his curiosity and occasional
mischieviousness for trouble-making.

Although only a ninth grader, Jeff had already
known for some time that he would become an electronic
engineer. AS for his personal goals, he wants only to be
himself. AS he puts it, "I want to be myself, really
accomplish something, and better the world." He would like
money, not for its own sake, but only as a means of acquiring
the things he enjoys. He is optimistic about his future
and, indeed, his Optimism is probably justified. With his
alert and keen mind, his lively personality, and his record
Of accomplishment, he will probably do well in his high
school career, possibly achieve high grades on National
Merit tests, and go on to a successful career in a techno-

logical field, yet maintain his humanistic concerns.

214

Lisa

Lisa is a tall, slender girl with blonde hair and
unusually large brown eyes which have been described as
"doe-like." They give her both a sensitive and, perhaps,
a slightly frightened look and a delicate, wistful beauty.
Her clothing, though neat and clean, seems to be just a
bit worn and not quite in style. It may be homemade, and
it presents a slightly Old-fashioned appearance. «However,
in spite of her quiet, gentle manner, she communicates well;
in fact, her verbal skills are exceptionally well develOped.
This delicate, sensitive girl has definite ideas and con-
siderable ability; and one finds her to be an interesting
and stimulating conversationalist.

When Lisa was a young girl, her family lived in
the country, where she felt--and, indeed, where She was,
very much alone. There were no playmates nearby, and her
brothers were too young to Offer much companionship. During
these early years, Lisa developed the feeling that people

' and when she started

disliked her and were "against her;'
school, She was behind in reading, which added to her feeling
of insecurity. Although she was terribly alone in the country,
She came to love the things of nature. She tells how, when

the family finally moved to the city, She wanted SO very

much to take her favorite big, Old tree with her.

The family moved to Lansing when Lisa was in the

second grade because she was suffering from allergies.

215
Although there were many children near their new home, she
still had trouble fitting in. "I never did things like to
play hOpscotch or jump rOpe." Her mother, apparently a
very fearful type, was extremely aware of the dangers Of
a big city and refused to allow her to roam and explore any
distance away from home. Lisa resented these restrictions:
"Inwardly I was rebellious, but outwardly I was quiet and
calm." Those first years in Lansing were lonely ones, and
She remembers only being known as "the kid who gets good
grades." She was extremely sensitive and recalls how much
childish teasing hurt her feelings. One Of her most vivid
childhood memories is watching a little girl being teased
and tormented, and she remembers her almost painful empathy
with this unfortunate girl.

Today, even though she is a sensitive and intro-
Spective girl, she has acquired a good deal of inner security--
She says possibly because she understands herself SO much
better now. She says, "I feel myself a lot more serious

' and she sees herself as often playing

than some peOple are,’
the role of Spectator rather than participator. But this
doesn't seem to be a problem. "It's more natural for me

to look on." But she has a thoughtful and curious mind:

"I just keep thinking and bringing up more questions," She
says. When asked if She feels more sensitive to the emotions
and feelings of others, she said yes. She expresses her

abhorrence for gossip—-or anything that may hurt people.

Lisa has a strong aesthetic sense. Her family

216

travels every year to the Upper Peninsula; and She talks
about the beauty of the lakes and countryside and the pictur-
esque quality of the old mining towns. She often Speaks
about her fondness for Old thingS--antiques and little towns
that seemed to have missed out on progress. She has great
concern for man's destruction of nature. She dislikes
expressways--She says, "It's sort of comical, peOple moving
so fast today, eXpressways getting people places sooner.
And in the meantime they're Spoiling all people want to see."
Perhaps it is indicative of Lisa's character that She prefers
the quiet by-ways and Old-fashioned villages tO the tempo
of modern cities.

But Lisa's greatest aesthetic love is music. She
has taken violin lessons for seven years and has won awards
for her accomplishments in this area. Her music teacher I
has had a great influence on her in several ways, not only
in giving her excellent training, but also in helping her
develop self-confidence and poise. Penny's favorite com-
poser is Bach, and she sometimes plays him by the hour. She
also enjoys every other type of music, except jazz. She
performs in recitals often and is finding that gradually she
is able to lose herself in the music in public performances.
This was not true when she first performed, as her Shyness
and insecurity caused her to be terribly aware of herself,
and this self-consciousness took precedence over her perform—
ance. Lisa says that She can express herself best through

music, then through writing, and least of all in talking.

217
Although she hopes to win a music scholarship, perhaps to
Interlochen, She feels she probably will never be a concert
violinist. But her favorite daydream places her in a concert
hall with an audience applauding for her performance. She
sometimes plays several hours in a day and completely loses
herself in her music.

Lisa also enjoys writing as a means of self-expression.
She is especially fond of writing descriptions of places and
peOple, and She likes to write poetry. As a child, she "read
with a passion" and consumed at least one book a day. She
became so involved with the characters that she often wept
with them. Next to the violin, her favorite pastime is still
reading.

When Lisa was asked what she likes least about her-
self, she replied that her mind tends to wander when She has
an assigned task; and she feels that her school work suffers
because of this. She is a great daydreamer and likes think-
ing more than doing--"I guess naturally I'm a thinker."

Lisa is a timid girl, and yet she has a strong sense
of individualism. She says about herself,"I think I'm the
kind of person who is kind of Split. I've never been able
to make myself one kind of person." Sometimes she is a
social creature: "I like dancing and parties and like that
too, but not so much as other people." She does enjoy boys,
and She says She can see both being alone and being in a
group. Because of her shyness, one might think that Lisa

is weak, but actually She seems to be strong and quite

218

positive in her attitudes toward herself and life. She has
strong Opinions, which she expresses quietly but with strength;
and one feels that she would not be easily intimidated.

She has two brothers, thirteen and eight. She strongly
identifies with her mother, whom she admires very much.
The mother returned to college and earned her bachelor's
degree when the youngest child entered kindergarten, and
She is presently working on her master's degree. She is
an elementary school art instructor. Lisa states that her
mother has a great love for children and is extremely fond
of her work. She has involved Lisa in her education and
also her work, and Lisa is very happy that her mother is
working. Because of this happy experience, Lisa is a
strong advocate of combining a career and marriage.

Lisa thinks of her father as the practical one.
He thinks in concrete terms, while her mother is more in-
volved with ideas. She thinks that She has combined their
characteristics and is able, on the one hand, to be practical,
and on the other, to be idealistic. One of her brothers
is very social and energetic; and the other is a dreamer
and a serious student.

All the members of the family have many activities
and are sometimes frustrated by the many demands which pre—
vent them from doing things together. They have many lively
discussions at home, and Lisa feels more free to express
her ideas there than in school. Her parents often discuss

their dislike for the "barbarous" aspects of modern life,

219

such as funerals. The father is very interested in politics,
and Lisa enjoys her discussions with him on this subject.
This seems to be a harmonious family of distinct individuals.

Although her first years in school were not happy
ones, she states that she has always likaischool. When
She entered junior high school, her shyness diminished some-
what. It was then that She develOped a sense of humor, and
she says that She finally learned to take a joke. She con—
forms to the rules of school; and although She thinks of
contradicting teachers, she does not. She dislikes learning
things by rote but otherwise is quite satisfied with the
education process.

In her fantasies, Lisa would like to become a concert
violinist, but she thinks that this is quite improbable.
She plans to become a teacher of music. She hopes to teach
other values along with music, as her own music teacher has
done. She also wants marriage and a family and is certain
that she can successfully combine a career and marriage.
She is strongly motivated to become an accomplished woman

and seems to have the ability and drive to do so.

22O

Nathan

Nathan, a tall, well-built boy who is very dark and
strikingly handsomp, does not present the appearance of a
typical American boy, but rather, reveals through his color-
ing and features a Syrian background. He has an open,
genial smile and greets peOple with an air of somewhat off-
hand friendliness. Nathan is a well-coordinated boy whom
one might guess would do very well in athletics; but in
Spite of his mesomorphy and his obvious physical qualifi-
cations for success in this all—important teen-age activity,
it is not athletic prowess that Nathan admires and hopes to
achieve, but rather, individuality and intellectualism.

Apparently, it was largely through the 9th grade
social studies c1ass-—the Drews' "Being and Becoming"
experimental c1aSS--that Nathan discovered what it is like
to be an "intellectual" and an "individual." Whether it
was the materials themselves, the other very gifted members
of the class, or the dynamic teacher-—that inspired him,
it is difficult to say; but Nathan himself says, "I wonder
if Dr. Drews knows how that course shook me up. This whole
problem started from that course, When they encouraged
creative thinking and individualism--and it all sort of
mushroomed. It sort of created a monster--a Frankenstein
monster. That course changed my outlook on things."

Nathan, then, wants to be an intellectual and an

individual, which means he is in revolt against the conformity,

221
the phoniness and the anti-intellectualism of teen-age (and
adult) society; against the tedium of his regular school
classes; and against his family, where he is "the baby."
But Nathan is a "nice boy" and lacks the courage of a real
rebel; his rebellion is more inner--or at most, verbal-—
than overt.

This young boy might best be described as a searcher.
A multitude of questions which he is trying to answer have
been raised in his mind. He sees his present life as a
quest for identity and meaning; and he wants to discover
and develop his own code to live by. His searching among
religious teachings and "cold hard facts" has only produced
confusion. He wonders who he is. "I have a million fronts
I can put on. I can feel myself putting them on." He is
further disturbed by the knowledge that even though he may
find his code for living, there will still be many restrictions
which will prevent him from following this code. He is
confused; and he says he would like to run away--but he
thinks how foolish he might look if his escape fails-~as
he knows it probably would-—and he would have to return red—
faced.

He is a Shy person--"I'm more of a loner than I used
to be--I've come to hate hanging around with people." As he
gets Older, he feels that he is becoming more and more anti-
social, although he does admire Arthur and Jenny, who like
him, are aware of complexities. He dislikes intensely being

in a crowd and having to make small talk. Teen—agers bore

222

him, with their "straining to put on facades" and their
inability to see how "complex life really is." They think
only about the weekend and the next dance. He is eSpecially
wary of conversations with girls and never dates and seldom
attends parties. Because he is so bashful, he says he some-
times compensates by making rude remarks to people. But as
one talks to him in an interview (and meets him in the small
bakery store where he works for his father), and one Observes
his geniality, one wonders if Nathan may not seem more rude
to himself than he does to others.

Nathan says he is an extremely practical fellow.
He shuns aesthetics because he is unsure what beauty is and
who sets the standards. He argued at great length with the
interviewer about emotions and the need to abolish them
from peOple'S thinking and actions. He would like to think
that he can train himself to be completely Objective.

Anti-feminism is a favorite theory of David's.
Apparently in his home, his mother and sisters are somewhat
subservient, and this attitude has had a decided effect on
his thinking. He expressed an inclination not to marry;
but if he does, he states that his wife must not question
him in any way and that she must accept his superior intelli-
gence and knowledge. He is also against women working away
from the home and would not allow his wife to do SO. When
questioned about wanting an intelligent wife, he conceded
that She should be knowledgeable about the things in which

he is interested but not in an equal degree to his own know-

223
ledge.

Nathan knows about intellectualism and non-conformity
and, ideally, he would like to Operate in these styles. He
admires the process of being an intellectual and thinks he
is one of the few intellectuals in his class; but when
questioned about literature or ideas in depth, his answers
are rather vague. His reading is quite superficial, and
the number Of books he reads in a year would be small. "Up
until the ninth grade," he says, "I bet I didn't read more
than five books." Now, his reading seems to be part of this
process of playing the intellectual roll. AS for non-con-
formity, Nathan sees individuality as a desirable and admir—
able quality, but he admits he "falls under to conformity."
One of his reasons for failing is, "It's not pOpular to be
an individual." He is very honest about this dilemma and
states quite frankly that what he wants to be and what he
is are two different things.

Nathan is pessimistic about people and the future
Of the world. He feels there is no hope for world peace.

He is critical too of the idea that American policies are

all good and the Communists all bad. He is cynical about
peOple and their hypocrisy: "They're always putting on a
front, are never themselves." Although this cynicism and
pessimism dominate his thinking, when asked about his philos-
Ophy of life, he said that Christ's philOSOphy is the ideal
one.

The family is Roman Catholic, but the parents seldom

224

attend church. Nathan's Sister is a nun, and apparently the
other brothers and sisters attend church regularly. He is
skeptical of the church dogma and has often questioned the
priest in his catechism classes. He doesn't hope to find
his identity or the answers to his questions through religion,
but he seems to be satisfied with the process of church—going.

Although Nathan expressed an antipathy toward art
and music, he does have a strong inclination toward writing.
He has always wanted to be a writer and used to picture him—
self as another Hemingway. Since studying American literature
in school, his ambitions are more realistic; but he still
enjoys writing, eSpecially poetry.

Nathan's family consists of five children, three
boys and two girls. He is "the baby" of the family-~the
other four children are in their twenties. The father
immigrated from Syria to the United States when he was Six-
teen years Of age, returned to his country briefly, then
came back and became a baker. He now owns a small neighbor-
hood bakery ShOp. This business is a family affair, and
Nathan Spends most of his afternoons after school working
in the store. He says that his father has never had time
for traveling or other activities with the family because
of the store. However, Nathan seems to accept the fact that
the business is a vital part of their lives in which they
all have a share of reSponsibility.

When questioned about his Sisters, he dismissed the

subject as completely uninteresting. He doesn't seem to

225
know his Sisters very well and has no desire to. As stated
previously, he is anti-woman and finds them generally unworthy
of his attention. His mother is a home-body who works hard,
helps occasionally at the store and has few interests that
aren't family-centered. His two brothers are very different
types: one is a serious student and conscientious young
man who is presently teaching at a school for handicapped
children, and the other is a rebel and somewhat of a playboy.
Nathan likes the teacher the best, but he feels he is most
like the rebel. He identifies with both brothers much more
than with his father.

Because he is the baby of the family, he finds him-
self being coddled and over-protected. He resents this
position and threatens to run away. He thinks his opinions
are scorned by other members of the family because of his
youth; but even though he is rebellious at being so treated,
he seems to conform to family discipline, at least outwardly.
He says, "I'm an angel at home, a rebel at school."

Neither of his parents graduated from high school,
and he feels that this is the reason for their lack of
interest in his School activities, except for his grades.

He is antagonistic toward their pride in his A's without
really knowing what they represent. They"pat me on the head
and call me their little genius," he says, which angers him
because he recognizes the "meaninglessness Of grades."

Nathan displays much skepticism about the educational

process. He looked forward to beginning school; but when

226
asked when this excitement began to wane, he replied, "the
first day." He always felt in elementary school that he
had the teachers fooled; and when they gave him good citizen-
ship grades, he laughed because his exemplary behavior was
"just a front." Teachers admonished him to set a good example
because of his leadership qualities, which he related to the
interviewer with a good deal of amusement. He has always
strived for good grades, but only to please his teachers and
parents. He views his high grades as a measurement of how
well he was able to deceive the teachers. He is critical
of textbooks and says he has never had a good one. "Texts
always give a picture of what the world used to be like
rather than what the world is like today." In general,
school to Nathan seems to be a place in which there is
little challenge and much sheer stupidity. "School is a
bore," he says.

When he described the qualities that he would like
in a best friend, he stated that he would want a friend that
will depend upon him and gain strength from him. Tired of
being the "baby" he wants to be the powerful friend, the
superior intellectual, the dominating husband.

Nathan reveals in his interviews a somewhat self-
conscious search for self and, perhaps, something of an
intellectual affectation. Yet his search leads him to view
himself with honesty; and his goa1—-to become a distinct
individual—-is a noble one. His life is inwardly at least

in rather a turmoil at this point in his life, but it is

227
the kind of turmoil that, perhaps, many introspective and
philosophical young persons must experience. Nathan's quest,
however, seems to have occurred somewhat early in life. One
is more likely to find the soul—searching Nathans on the

college campus than in the teen-age world of the junior high

school.

228

Sarah

Sarah is a plain, very sensible-looking girl. In
fact, her appearance is more in the style of a conservative
matron than a teen-ager. Her hair is flat on top and curled
tightly at the ends, far from the "poofy" type that most
adolescent girls wear. She has rather thick glasses, which
'tend to make her eyes look small. There is a lack of color
about Sarah, and even her clothes are in drab shades of browns
and are quite tailored. Her shoes are the kind that are fine
for miles of walking but do not appeal to one's aesthetic
sensibilities. However, she has a pleasant smile, which
somewhat relieves this rather colorless appearance. In
general, though, she does lack the sparkle which one would
like to find in a young girl.

It is difficult to discover the real Sarah. She
seems to be almost obsessed with the idea of not wanting
to be part of the group. Yet, there are indications
that her adamant rejection of the group may be very closely
tied to the group's rejection of her. She seems to have
few friends in school, if any. In her interview she empha—
sized over and over again that she wished "to be an individual"
and did not want "to follow the crowd," but she never seems
to considerfor a moment the possibility that one can be an
individual and still associate with others. She appears
to feel that her attitude toward other teen-agers is extremely

praiseworthy, which gives her something of a smug and self-

229

righteous attitude. She feels superior to teen-agers; and
she seems to expect that adults will applaud her for this.
If she does have any feelings of having been rejected by her
contemporaries, particularly any feelings of sadness, resent-
ment, or anger, she disguises them well. She says she likes
to think of herself as a stoic. It is rather ironic that
although she seems to like to talk about herself more than
any other tOpic, there is never any real, critical self-
analysis. If she has insight into herself, she hides it
benind self-praise.

Sarah's attitude toward her peers is one of disdain--
She feels that they are simply not on "her level." Whether
this means intellectual, moral, social, or what, she doesn't
Specify. She dislikes everything about the teen-age world,
even its rock and roll music, which, she says, makes her
nervous. She sees teen-agers as followers, conformists,
and cowards who are afraid to be individuals.

On the other hand, Sarah likes and feels comfortable
With adults. She completely accepts their standards instead
Of reacting against them, as many adolescents do. Since
being a young child, She has preferred to Sit and talk with
atdults, rather than socializing with her own age group.
Apparently she feels sheltered and safe in the adult world,
Where she is more likely to find approval.

There is a great positive force in Sarah's life--
I‘eligion. Most of what she says, thinks, and does is done

Wi“Chin the framework of her religious belief. And even

230
though she says she sometimes questions things her pastor
says on Sunday morning, her doubts are not pervasive. She
states that we must believe, even though we don't always
know for sure what is right and wrong. She seems to believe
without question simply because she must, rather than as
the result of any intellectual or spiritual searching for
answers. She is generally intolerant of the sins of her
contemporaries.

As Sarah has been unsuccessful in her relationships
with the young people around her, she daydreams about a
perfect relationship which will occur someday in her future.
She wants to love and be loved. She says She likes to think
that she is saving herself for the one man in her life. She
is critical of her sister who goes out with many different
boys. In fact, she ridicules the whole idea of dating. She
talks about the man that she will eventually meet, fall in
love with, and marry. Their love will surmount all obstacles
and "will last throughout eternity." It would probably be
safe to guess that Sarah Spends many hours dreaming of ppp
boy who will love and understand her.

When she was a young child, seven or eight, she was
very ill for two or three summers with various allergies.
This was an extremely serious sickness, which resulted in
a temporary loss of hair and permanently impaired her vision.
The nature of this illness called for inactivity and quiet.

Even thoughSarah finds it almost impossible to

empathize with individuals with whom she has daily contact,

231

she has a great deal of sympathy for minority groups that
are victims of prejudice and discrimination. She abhors
"man's inhumanity to man." She has traveled in the South
and Observed the living conditions of the Negroes. She
talks about the need for people to be kind to one another,
and she wishes to do something concrete to help the under-
privileged. As she talks, one cannot help but be convinced
of her sincerity. Perhaps because of her own rejection, she
may feel a Special affinity for those who are treated unkindly.
At any rate, her major desire seems to be to do good works.

Sarah lives with her father, mother, older sister,
and younger brother. The older sister is pretty, vivacious,
and very social. Sarah disapproves of her Sister's capri-
ciousness and her frivolous ways. The sister is in college
but lives at home with the family. The brother is more
like the sister and also is a social person. The mother
works in a department store part-time. She is gregarious,
which, of course, makes her quite different from Sarah. The
mother seldom reads and isn't particularly interested in things
outside her own world. Apparently Sarah disagrees with her
mother often and feels very little identity.with her. On
the other hand, she admires and respects her father. He
is a sales clerk who Spends his leisure time working in his

workshop or reading. He does not read weighty publications

 

(mostly Reader's Digest and Life); but he does discuss what
he reads With the family, eSpecially Sarah. She says she

can talk easily with her father, and she Often quotes their

232

conversations.

The family has traveled extensively in the United
States, and the father seems to be the leader on these
expeditions. He chooses where they are to go and what they
are to see. Theyapparently have very good times on these
trips. Sarah obviously feels loved and accepted by her
family, even though she seems to be quite different from
everyone except her father. She says she would raise her
children as she has been raised--with love and respect.
The parents have stressed the importance of kindness to
other peOple and the equality of races. Sarah says they
have emphasized more than anything else the Golden Rule.
Although there are minor disagreements with the sister and
mother, it appears that she is living in a warm and loving
home.

School, for Sarah, is a place of complete joy.
She loves it. This is somewhat surprising, as she has few
friends there; but she enjoys her classes and teachers.
She gets along well with her teachers and likes them all,
although she says in grade school she would sometimes get
in trouble because she would always finish her work before
everyone else. She thinks the other students are Often mean
to teachers, and she deeply disapproves of this. She says
she would rather do homework than anything else. Her favorite
subjects are math and history. She dislikes gym because of
the group activities. It would seem that Sarah enjoys the

process of school--going to classes, getting assignments,

233
contact with her teachers and homework. She is able to
detach herself from the student body and go her own way,
somewhat happily, in the routine of school.

Sarah's future holds no uncertainties for her. She
has all her plans carefully made. After graduation from high
school, she intends to enroll in a small church college in
Ohio. Here she thinks she will find people who have similar
interests and values. She wants to become a nurse, which
in turn will ready her for a life as a missionary, preferably
in South America. She says she wants this with all her
heart and feels she has been "called." She talks about
the idea of lighting one little candle and thinks She can
do this for peOple by presenting Christianity to them.

She feels that her religion is not necessarily the only one
whereby people can find salvation; but it has brought her
happiness, and she wishes to help others discover this same
contentment. Because of her sympathy and kind feelings
toward the poor and downtrodden, she may do well in this
vocation.

During one of her interviews, Sarah talked about
the past and how she would have enjoyed living during the

pioneer days. She mentioned a novel, A Lantern in Her Hand,

 

that depicted the kind of life that She would like to lead.
The heroine of this story lives with her family on the lonely
prairie, works hard, raises her family, and lives a very
simple life. She and her husband have a strong and lasting

love for each other. The only complications in their lives

234
are external ones that can be overcome by courage and fortitude.
Sarah would like to be like this heroine--loved, loving, and
unbothered by the need to be a social creature.

In a sense, she doesn't belong in the social world
of teen—agers. She is different, and she knows it; she just
doesn't belong, and she has accepted (or at least rationalized)
it. Unliked SO many plain girls who suffer their lack of
pOpularity and make either an aggressively asocial type of
adjustment or else no real adjustment at all, Sarah has made
a positive, constructive adjustment: she has become a
reSpected and even creative student--she has learned to de-
vote her life to her work and high principles. Perhaps as
an adult she may make the same kind of adjustment, and we
may hOpe that society may benefit from this adjustment.

One can envision this plain but ambitious, intelligent,
sensitive, and dedicated girl devoting herself to humanistic

service and contributing a large measure to society.

235

Arthur

Arthur, an attractive, tall, blonde, light-complex-
ioned boy with an affable and somewhat studied casualness
about him, appears to be older than his actual years. His
manner is impressive; but it is the range of his mind and
the fluency--and even beauty—- of his Speech that makes
him most remarkable. Whether the topic is books, music,
ideas, education, or himself, he responds to questions
with originality and feeling; he tends to dazzle the
listener.

When he is asked what he would like in a teacher,
from the tOp of his head comes, "What we need is teacher
philOSOphers. PeOple who believe things. Capital E -
Empathy; Capital T — Truth; Capital L - Love. The teacher
should believe in something and vibrate this." Above all
one carries away from an interview with Arthur the impression
that here is a boy with genuine and intense feelings Of
compassion and love for peOple; yet he is disillusioned
because he sees so well in his young, idealistic way, that
though man is good, so much of the world he has created is
filled with cant and hypocrisy.

In the interview, Arthur is a constantly changing,
develOping character. His mind darts around an idea; and
even as he talks, he sees new facets of the issue. What
he thought yesterday about religion, he will not think
today.‘ One of his problems in school is, in fact, that

he can't stop thinking. When he tries to study and digest

236
something quickly, he is usually stymied by various ideas
that his reading brings to his mind. When he makes a point
in conversation, he often seems to be contradicting himself,
because of his ability to see all sides of an issue simul-
taneously. He is able to present reasonable arguments for
any side. His mind is busy; and although this maddens him,
he wouldn't change or be anyone else.

Arthur denies being a humanitarian because humani—
tarianism smacks of the mass approach and above all he
cherishes individualism. Yet his regard for peOple as
individuals is in the tradition of the best of humanitarianism.
He states that every person he has ever met is different,
and he doesn't just see peOple as blobs or masses of sheep.
When talking about minority groups, he says that it isn't
a question of the group, but that peOple just can't be
treated this way:

There are Obvious wrongs being done to minority groups.
PeOple don't have a right to kill people—-peOple don't
have a right to make jokes out of other people. .I don't

even want to talk about it. It's not a question Of
minority groups—-it's a matter of wrongs being done to

people.

There is a streak of cynicism in Arthur which causes him to
make sarcastic and disdainful remarks about "peOple" in the
abstract; but there is always a basic kindness and sympathy
about him that softens his cynicism.

As one would expect of such an individualist and

of one with the breadth and maturity of mind as Arthur,

being part of a gang "nauseates" him, as he puts it. Most

237
peOple of his own age are of no interest to him, and he feels
no need to adopt their standards. "I used to like to be in,
now I like to be out," he comments.

Books of all kinds attract him and he is tremendously
knowledgeable about authors and their works. His mind is
restless, though, and he doesn't stick to one book at a time-—
he has five or six going simultaneously. At the time of his
interview he was reading Bertrand Russell and finding his
philOSOphy fascinating. Among the writers he talks about
are Steinbeck, Dorothy Parker, Freud, Keats, Norman Cousins,
Plato, Aristotle, AristOphanes, Darwin, Marx, St. Thomas,
Michael Harrington, and many others. He is especially fond
of poetry and says that he can find truth in this form. He
seems to read in frantic gulps as though trying to satisfy
an insatiable appetite. When asked about hobbies, Arthur
laughed and stated that hobbies are silly. He once collected
coins but gave that up as too materialistic.

But with all his knowledgeability and sophistication,
there is an instability and a note of hysteria about Arthur.
He is, like all poets must be, Slightly mad; and indeed there
are times when he feels as though he is going insane. He
sometimes seems to be mentally holding his head in despair
at his various personalities. He can't seem to find his
own identity and yet, is unwilling to adopt other peOple as
models. To admire and look up to someone, he feels, is
humbling and a denial Of one's own superior worth. He feels

lost in a world he knows a great deal about. He has read

238
Catcher in the Rye and says, "This is my life. Holden
Caulfield is me." He has, one might say, the Holden Caulfield
syndrome-—he is high order intelligence and sensitivity at
sea in a world that is "phony"; and the existence he manages
to work out for himself is a bizarre and disjointed one.
When he is feeling particularly depressed, he considers
suicide and has even thought out an elaborate method of
committing the act. One has the feeling that Arthur might
be the type who could take his own life. He can experience
intense joy on the one hand, but real despair on the other.

Charles' sensitivity and feeling are evident when
he talks about beauty. He abhors the ugliness which peOple
must contend with every day and talks about their turning
to beauty as a relief. But they must go back to the ugliness,
and they soon forget the beauty they've seen. Arthur talks
about this lack of beauty in people's lives with tenderness.
He says nothing as cant.

Arthur was born in Oklahoma but moved to Lansing
with his family When he was two. At this time, his parents
were divorced, leaving the mother alone with four girls and
two boys. Arthur is the youngest in the family. After
moving to Lansing, the family moved many times within the
city, which caused him to change schools frequently. He
was a bright little boy and was reading before he entered
kindergarten; and by first grade, he realized that he was
quicker to learn than others in his class. During those

years, he attended both parochial and public schools. A1-

239
though Arthur says he "used to be a Catholic," he does not
seem to be really anti-religion, as young, sophomoric intel-
lectuals sometimes are.

Arthur describes his family as bizarre and, indeed,
the family does seem to be so, almost as the Glass family
was. The four sisters and two brothers range in age from
17 to 30. None has married. One sister was confined for
a time in a West Coast mental hospital, another, according
to Arthur, is "considered to be insane." Another sister
is a nun and the fourth is, Arthur says, "fanatically inter-
ested in politics." The mother, he says, is a "character."
She is highly intelligent, interested in art, and apparently
is a supportive person but one who is almost emotionless.
Arthur thinks that nothing can really affect her, even
family deaths.

Arthur is extremely critical of schools. One of
his objections is the grading system. He resents having
to achieve standards that are stupid and set up by teachers
for their own ego-satisfaction. He says, "Not everyone
wants to please the teacher." His image of a good teacher
is one who is bursting with enthusiasm for what he's teaching
and does so without phoniness. He feels that too often
teachers act as little gods and lack the humility which
Arthur thinks is so necessary in a good teacher.

Grade school was a complete waste of time for him.
In fact, he contends that he could have taught any class

which he has ever taken. Classes are seldom challenging

240
enough for him and he scorns the easy grade. He talks about
the biology class in which he played cards every day and
was given an A. It is evident that the schools have little
to Offer a boy like Arthur. Schools always have-—and continue
tO--fail him.
Occasionally he admits that he Operates outside the

' and other

law--minor shoplifting, "moving automobiles,’
delinquent offenses. He doesn't worry about the acts or
the morality of them, but he is concerned about getting
caught.

Arthur is a boy whose life seems to hang in a rather
precarious balance. One could imagine a mental breakdown
for him, he could, perhaps, turn to crime, or he may fulfill
his potential of high intelligence and creativity. Given
the chance, he could become outstanding, perhaps as a writer
or a poet. He seems to be on the brink Of either high
achievement—-he seems certainly to have the ability and
flair--or complete failure. Like others who are outstandingly
gifted and creative, his life is at a crossroad; but the
school, which perhaps could represent for him a positive
force in his life, seems to be failing. Possibly he will
become a bohemian intellectual tramp; possibly he will find
the area which will provide him a chance to use his potential;
or possibly he will settle into a dull vocation and drift
through life with his high ability unrealized. Somehow, in
Spite of his ability, the outlook does not look bright for
Arthur. He suggests a boy who once had his foot on the high

road, but now seems to be stumbling toward the low.

CHAPTER VI

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

This dissertation is a description of a group of 27
creative adolescent boys and girls who were chosen for study
on the basis of attained scores on five scales of the Omnibus

Personality Inventory that measures personality attributes

 

found in creative persons. The youngsters were among a larger
group interviewed in 1963 and again in 1964 as a part of
studies conducted by Elizabeth Drews under U.S. Office of Ed-
ucation grants, and data obtained from the 27 interviews were
used as a basis for these descriptions. The present study
included three aspects: (1) a content analysis of the 1963
interview transcripts; (2) a presentation Of quotations from
both the 1963 and 1964 interviews; and (3) profiles of eight
of the 27 youngsters, based on the interviews and other avail-
able data. The content analysis and selection of quotations
were based on categories derived from studies on creativity
at the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research.

To summarize some of the findings made through the
content analysis of the transcripts of the interviews, in
the area of early childhood and family it was found that
only one boy and one girl did not seem to have an adult with
whom they could identify. In a large majority of the
cases, the boys and girls did have an adult figure in the

241

242

family with whom they identified; and in the case of 69 per
cent of the girls and 43 per cent of the boys, the families
as a whole were closely knit and seemed to function as a
unit. In approximately half of the cases, the youngsters
came from homes that seemed to be unusual or "different,"
although the girls seemed less likely than the boys to
perceive their homes in this way. About half of the boys
and girls had parents who apparently have strong convictions.

Of the girls, 54 per cent were the eldest in the
family; of the boys, 43 per cent. On the whole, there was
an absence of strong career pressures put on these young-
sters by their parents. Even the parents who did exert
some pressure in this area seemed to do so in a mild way.
For the most part, these parents simply encouraged their
children to do well in the areas of their choice. Approxi-
mately 60 per cent of the girls and boys mentioned that
they had Spent a great deal of time alone when they were
young, while about a third said that they had not. Almost
all said that they like to be alone, however.

In the area of cognitive style, it was found that
about half of the boys and three-fourths of the girls seemed
to be philosophically oriented, while approximately 60
per cent of the youngsters indicated a concern for and a
questioning of religious issues. Approximately three-
fourths of the girls and boys indicated that they were
oriented toward intellectual and cognitive values; and half

were skeptical, tended to be critical and were unimpressed

243
with traditional slogans. About three-fourths of these

young peOple had "lots of ideas,’ and approximately 80
per cent seemed to have the ability to grasp others' ideas
and expand upon them.

On the whole, the girls in the study seemed to be
more interested than the boys in intrOSpection and in other
peOple. Of the girls, 92 per cent seemed to be self—
analytical and analytical of others, while 64 per cent of
the boys seemed to be psychologically analytical. When
rated on their Openness to early life experiences, 92 per
cent of the girls seemed to have this characteristic, while
only 29 per cent of the boys did. All of the girls and 47
per cent of the boys indicated "a willingness to disclose
self in interview." Perhaps an artifact in the figures
relating to psychological orientation, Openness to early
life experiences, and willingness to disclose self may be
found in the fact that the interviewer in the 1963 series
was a young woman; and undoubtedly in this more personal
area the girls felt more free than the boys. Perhaps these
figures suggest too that while adolescent girls are inter-
ested in things, ideas,_apd peOple, boys are more likely
to be interested in things and ideas. However, 64 per cent
of the boys did seem to be psychologically oriented, which,
possibly, is a higher figure than one would attain with an
unselected group of boys this age. Approximately 80 per
cent of the boys and girls had wide-ranging interests, while

86 per cent of the boys and 77 per cent of the girls were

244
interested in fantasy. Approximately 85 per cent of the
youngsters were interested in science fiction, extra-
sensory perception, and the occult. Of the girls, 77 per
cent seemed to possess an aesthetic sensitivity, while this
was evident in 43 per cent of the boys. Among the boys,
64 per cent seemed to be flexible and Open to change, and
this was apparent in 77 per cent of the girls.

The third section dealt with total life style. The
creative girls in this study tended to be socially intro-
verted (77 per cent), while 57 Per cent of the boys seemed
to be social introverts. The girls seemed to be more aware
than the boys of being "different:" 77 per cent of the
girls felt that they were "different," while 57 per cent of
the boys felt this way. Perhaps creative girls are less
likely to feel a part of the group than creative boys. Of
the girls, 62 per cent did not date, while 71 per cent
Of the boys seldom if ever dated. While the youngsters were
sometimes extremely critical of teen-age culture, on the
whole they were perhaps more critical of society at large
than teen-agers. A little more than half of the girls and
boys expressed a concern for their own individuality. Half
of the boys and a quarter of the girls seemed to be rebellious.
For the most part their rebellion was more intellectual and
philOSOphical than it was overt social rebellion. All the
students in this study received good grades in school, and
on the whole they abided by rules and laws, even if they

questioned and sometimes resented them.

245

Almost all of the girls seemed to have the ability
to become immersed in their work, while a quarter of the
boys seemed to have this ability. The girls as a group
set higher standards for themselves than the boys: approxi-
mately three-fourths of the girls were perfectionists in
their work and projects, while half of the boys were. Almost
all of the girls and boys had high aspirations, while
approximately a quarter of the youngsters had a strong drive
to achieve in an independent fashion and hoped to make a
unique and worthwhile contribution. .While the youngsters
were often very critical of their fellow human beings and
society, still, 85 per cent of the girls and 57 per cent
of the boys seemed on the whole to be optimistic about

man and his future.

Implications

It must be said at the outset of this concluding
section that any educator who may be interested in better
understanding the creative adolescent and in better providing
for his needs in schools, would do well to read through the
many quotations presented in this dissertation, for the
youngsters perhaps speak more effectively in their Own behalf
than the researcher could for them. The boys and girls
have described themselves; and the teacher, or counselor,
or adminstrator who reads their words may begin to see for
himself where their education may be made more appropriate.

However, some implications that the writer feels

are of importance will be suggested as follows:

246

(1) The youngsters in this study have made it clear
that they are interested in ideas and, further, that they
like the process of sharing ideas. In the interviews one
receives the distinct impression that the boys and girls
completely enjoyed having the opportunity to talk to a respon-
sive listener about their ideas on many diverse subjects.
This suggests to teachers that they encourage Open-ended
discussions in which creative students can present ideas.
Such idea—sharing sessions would not only be more apprOpriate
for these youngsters than drill, lectures, or more formal
recitation-type classroom procedures, but, further, young
creatives need a favorable environment for "trying out"
and clarifying their own incipient and sometimes inchoate
ideas.

(2) These creative boys and girls are strongly
independent and Often suggest that they are, at least to
some extent, capable of directing their own education, of

learning "on their own,"

and of doing independent study.
Teachers and counselors might do more to arrange for inde-
pendent study activities for such students, and these
activities should be supported by administrators. Perhaps
for some students, teachers are necessary for motivation;
but the young people in this study seem to be interested
in learning and are remarkably self-motivated. They are
probably more ready and able to learn without continual

teacher direction than their present educational environment

allows them.

247

(3) The young peOple in this study were critical
and skeptical of much of what they observed in society, and
in many cases they have become cynics and even misanthrOpes.
Rather than helping these students find positive values,
the schools tended to further contribute to their cynicism
and belief that much in life is sham. In working with these
creative boys and girls, teachers and counselors must listen
sympathetically to their protests against social injustice,
hypocrisy, and the inroads mass society makes against the
individual; but they must also help these youngsters dis-
cover positive values--and do so without resorting to
cliches and homilies.

(4) The creative boys and girls in this study seem
to have the ability to enter high—level professions, and
yet they appear to receive relatively little career guidance.
Their parents, in the non—professional occupations for the
most part, can only give them general encouragement to enter
the field of their own choosing. Counselors with broad
humanistic training should not only help these youngsters
discover less obvious career areas but also help them
make vocational choices commensurate with their life
patterns.

(5) These youngsters are often critical of their
teachers. Perhaps their main objection to teachers is that

they are often hypocritical, "phony,' and intellectually
dishonest. Teachers working with these youngsters must,

therefore, be particularly careful to avoid dealing in over—

248

Simplifications, using cliches, and in any way "talking down
to" and patronizing them. Teachers should always be intel-
lectually honest, Of course; but such honesty is especially
important in dealing effectively with these sensitive and
knowledgeable young people. Further, since the youngsters
in this study Often mention what they see as incompetency
in their teachers, it would seem of particular importance
that teachers who work with very creative boys and girls
be not only Specialists in their field, but generalists as
well. These youngsters seem to demand that they be taught
by scholars, by experts, by teachers who "vibrate knowledge."

(6) This study of creative adolescents suggests
too that simply because a student seems to be doing well
in his classes--that is, getting good grades, this does
not necessarily mean that he is not in need of some Special
counseling services. As has been mentioned, some of these
youngsters are very much in need of assistance in finding
positive values; and perhaps rather than concentrating mainly
on students with problems of social adjustment, counselors
might also become involved in a more intellectual, "value-
concerned," and "life-goals" type of counseling with creative
youngsters. Further, since these youngsters have so many
ideas they like to talk about and, indeed, should talk about
if they are to continue to develop them—-the counselor might
become not only their listener, but their mentor and critic
as well. Often these youngsters are in classes where their

ideas are not well received; other students less interested

 

 

249
in ideas may not be sympathetic listeners. A creative boy
or girl who is not in a class where ideas are welcomed and
freely discussed may come to rely on his counselor as a
listener and intelligent respondent.

(7) In the present study the most positive comments
about education that the youngsters had to make were in the
areas of science and math; the most negative area was English.
In fact, not a student had a single good word to say about
their English classes, in spite of the fact that almost
every youngster in this study liked to read and many expressed
an interest in writing. What they disliked about English
were the stories in the textbook and the emphasis on drill
in grammar. Considering that these youngsters are reading
on a high level outside of school (e.g. Sartre, Hemingway,
Bertrand Russell, Salinger), English teachers might very
well reconsider the somewhat innocuous selections they assign
these students in their classes. Furthermore, teachers
might encourage more creative—writing assignments and de—
emphasize the mechanical, grammatical emphasis. In all
subject areas, these youngsters like to consider general
principles rather than memorization of facts, and they want
to discuss the broad implications of what they learn.

(8) Many of the youngsters in this study expressed
an interest in the arts and cultural activities. However,
even though mostcf them came from middle class homes, still,
their parents seem to give them little Opportunity to take

advantage of the cultural Offerings of the city. While

250
educators hear a great deal about enriching the lives of
the culturally deprived, little is done to enrich the lives
of youngsters who have the desire to attend an opera, go to
a symphony, visit an art gallery, but who don't have the
Opportunity to do so. Schools might initiate programs which
would enable youngsters who are vitally interested in extending
their horizons to do so by making field trips and "cultural

visitations" available.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, J. Donald. "The Dilemma of Success," Saturday Review
(January 30 1965). pp 19,43.

 

Allport, Gordon W. Pattern and Growth in Personalipy. New
York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961..

 

Allport, Gordon W., Vernon, Philip E., and Lindzey, Gardner.
Study of Values: A Scale for Measuring the Dominant
Interests in PerSOnality. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton-
MifflIn Company, 1960.

 

 

American Association for Gifted Children. Creativity of
Gifted and Talented Children. Columbia University:
Teachers College, Bureau of Publications, 1959.

 

 

Anderson, Harold. "Creativity and Education," College and
University Association for Higher Education, XIII
TMay l, 1961). Reprint.

 

 

(ed.). Creativity and Its Cultivation.
‘New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959.

 

 

"DevelOping Creativity in the Child. "
Paper prepared for the White House Conference on
Children and Youth, 1960. Mimeographed.

 

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Perceiving, Behaving, Becoming. Washington D.C.:
National Education Association, 1962.

 

Barron, Frank. "Complexity- -Simplicity as a Personality
Dimension," Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,
XLVIII (April, 1953), pp. 163-172.

 

"Originality in Relation to Personality and
Intellect," Journal of Personality, XXV (December,

1957). pp 730- 742.

. "The Psychology of Imagination," Scientific
American, CIC (September, 1958), pp. 151-166.

 

 

 

 

 

Berrill, N.J. Man's Emerging Mind. New York: Dodd, Mead
and Company, 1955.

 

252

253

Brandwein, Paul. .The Gifted Student as a Future Scientist.
Chicago: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1955.

 

Bruner, Jerome. On Knowing} Essays for the Left Hand.
Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1962.

 

. The Process of Education. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1960.

 

 

Buber, Martin. Hasidism and Modern Man. Translated and
edited by M. Friedman. New York: Horizon Press, 1958.

 

Cattell, J.M. "A Statistical Study of Eminent Men," PO ular
Science Monthly, LXII (February, 1903), pp. 359-3 .

 

Coleman, James S. Adolescents and the Schools. New York:
Basic Books, 1965.

 

DeHaan, Robert F. and Havighurst, Robert J. EducatingGifted
Children. University of Chicago: University of ChICago

 

 

 

Press,_l957.

Drevdahl, John E. "Factors of Importance for Creativity,"
Journal of Clinical Psychology, XII (January, 1956),
pp. 21-26.

Drevdahl, John E. and Cattell, Raymond B. "Personality and
Creativity in Artists and Writers," Journal of Clinical
Psychology, XIV (April, 1958), pp. 107-111.

 

 

Drews, Elizabeth Monroe. The Creative Intellectual Style in
Gifted Adolescents; Motivation to Learn: Attitudes,
Interests, and Values. Report I in a series Of three:
Final Report of the COOperative Research Program, E-2,

U.S. Office of Education, "A Study of Non-Intellectual
Factors in Superior, (Average, and Slow) High School
Students." Phase II. .East Lansing: College of Education,
Michigan State University, 1964.

 

 

 

. The Creative Intellectual Style in
Gifted Adolescents; Being and Becoming: A Cosmic
Approach toCounseling and Curriculum. Report II in

a series of three: Final Report for the Media Branch,
Title VII, National Defense Education Act, Contract

No. 7-32-0410-140, U.S. Office of Education. "The
Effectiveness of Audio-Visuals in Changing Aspirations
of Intellectually Superior Students." Phase I. East
Lansing: Office of Research and Publications, Michigan
State University, 1965.

 

 

 

 

254

The Creative Intellectual Style

 

 

in Gifted Adolescents; Process and Product: A Reassess-
ment of Students and Program. Report III in a series

of three: Final Report for the Media Branch, Title

VII, National Defense Education Act, Contract No. 7-
32-0410—222, U.S. Office of Education. "The Effective-
ness of Audio-Visuals in Changing Aspirations of
Intellectually Superior Students." Phase II. .East
Lansing: College of Education, Michigan State University,

1966.

 

 

. "The Four Faces of Able Adol-
escents " Saturday Review, (January 19, 1963), pp. 68-71.

 

 

Eiduson, Bernice. Scientists: Their Psychological World.
New York: Basic Books, 1962.

 

Eisner, Eliot W. "Creativity in Learning." Paper delivered
at the 16th Annual Conference of the Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development, March 13, 1961.
Mimeographed.

Ellis, Havelock. A Study of British Genius. London: Hurst
and Blackett, 1904.

 

 

Eysenck, H.J. "The Questionnaire Measurement of Neuroticism
Extroversion," Revista di Psicologica, L (1956),
pp. 113-140.

French, Joseph L. (ed.). Educating the Gifted. New York:
Henry Holt and Company, 1959.

 

Galton, Francis. Hereditary Genius. New York: D. Appleton
Company, 1870.

 

Gardner, John W. Excellence: Can We Be Equal and Excellent
TOO? New York: Harper and Row, 1963.

 

Getzels, Jacob A. and Jackson, Philip W. Creativity and
Intelligence. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1962.

 

 

Glyn, Carolyn. Don't Knock the Corners Off. .New York:
Coward-McCann, 1963.

 

Goertzel, Mildred G. and Goertzel, Victor H. "Intellectual
and EmOtional Climate in Families Procuring Eminence,"
The Gifted Child Quarterly, Iv (Autumn, 1960), pp. 59-60.

 

Goertzel, Victor and Goertzel, Mildred. Cradles of Eminence.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1962.

 

255

Greenacre, Phyllis. "The Family Romance of the Artist,"
The Psychoanalypic Study of the Child, Vol. XIII

119587: PP- 9-89.

Guilford, J.P. "Creativity," The American Psychologist,
V (August, 1950), pp. 444-454.

 

 

Heist, Paul and Webster, Harold. "Differential Character-
istics of Student Bodies: Implications for Selection
and Study of Undergraduates," Selection and Educational
Differentiation. Berkeley, California: Center for
the Study of Higher Education, University of California,

1959-

Heist, Paul and Williams,Phoebe. The Omnibus Personality Inventory.
Berkeley, California: Center for the Study of Higher
Education, University of California, 1957.

 

 

Hollingworth, Leta. Gifted Children: Their Nature and
Nurture. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1926.

 

James, William. Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways
of Thinking. New York: Longmans, Green and Company,
1908.

 

 

Johnson, Donald M. The Psychology of Thought and Judgment.
New York: Harper and Brothers, 1955.

 

Kahn, Robert L. and Cannell, Charles F. The Dynamics of
Interviewing: Theoryprechnique, and Cases. New York:
John Wiley and Sons, 1962.

 

 

Kneller, George F. Existentialism and Education. New York:
Philosophical LiErary, Inc., 1958.

 

Koestler, Arthur. "The Eureka Process," Horizon, VI (Autumn,

1964), pp. 16-25.

Lehman, Harvey C. Age and Achievement. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1953.

 

. "The Chemist's Most Creative Years," Science,
CXXVII (May 23, 1958), pp. 1213-1222.

 

Lewis, Oscar. Children of Sanchez. New York: Random House,

1963.

 

. Pedro Martinez. New York: Random House, 1964.

 

 

Lynn, R. "Two Personality Characteristics Related to Academic
Achievement," The British Journal Of Educational
Psychology, XXIX (1959), pp. 213—216.

 

 

256

MacKinnon, Donald W. "What Makes a Person Creative?" Saturday
Review. (February 10, 1962), pp. l5-l7,69.

McCurdy,.Harold G. "The Childhood Pattern of Genius,"
Horizon, II (May, 1960), pp. 32-38.

Mallery, David. High School Students Speak Out. New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1962.

 

Maslow, Abraham H. Motivation and Personality. New York:
Harper and BrOthers, 1954.

 

. (ed.) New Knowledge in Human Values. New
York: Harper and Brothers, 1959.

 

 

. "Science and Self-Actualization," Manas,
XVIII (July 28, 1965), p. 1 ff.

 

. Toward a Psychology of Beipg. Princeton:
An Insight Book, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1962.

 

 

May, Rollo, 33 pg, (eds.) Existence: A New Dimension in
Psychiatry and Psychology. New York: Basic Books,
Inc., 1958.

 

 

. (ed.) Existential Psychology. New York: Random
House, 1961.

 

 

Michael, Donald N. Cybernation: The Silent Conquest, A
Report to the Center for the Study of Democratic Insti-
tugions. Santa Barbara: The Fund for the Republic,

19 2.

 

Mill, John Stuart. Autobiography. London: Longmans, Green
and Company, 1908C

 

National Society for the Study of Education. Education for
the Gifted. Part II. Edited by Nelson B. Henry.
University of Chicago: University of Chicago Press,

1958.

Reik, Theodore. Listening with the Third Ear. New York:
Grove Press, 1948C

 

 

 

Rickover, Hyman. "The Decline of the Individual," Saturday
Evening Post (March 30, 1963), pp. 11-13.

 

Roe, Anne. "Crucial Life Experiences in the DevelOpment of
Scientists." Talent and Education. ,Edited by E. Paul
Torrance. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1960.

 

The Making of a Scientist. New York: Apollo
Editions, Dodd, Mead and Company, 1955.

 

 

257

"A Psychological Study of Eminent Psychologists
and AnthrOpologists, and a Comparison with Biological
and Physical Scientists," Psychological Monographs,
LVII. 1953.

 

 

Roosevelt, Eleanor. Tomorrow is Now. New York: Harper
and Row, 1963.

 

Smith, Paul (ed.). Creativity: An Examination of the
Creative Process, A Report on'fhe Third Communications
Conference of the Art Director's Club. New York:
Hastings House, 1959.

 

 

 

Snow, Charles P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific
Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press,

1959-

Stein, Morris 1. "Creativity and the Scientist," The
Direction of Research Establishments, Part III. London:
Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1957.

 

 

 

Terman, Lewis M. "The Discovery and Encouragement of Excep-
tional Talent," The American Psychologist, IX (June,
1954), pp. 221-230.

 

Terman, Lewis M., 23°.21- Genetic Studies of Genius; Mental
and Physical Traits of a Thousand Gifted Children,
Vol. 1. Stanford University Press, 1925.

 

Tomkins, Calvin, "Profiles: In the Outlaw Area," The New
Yorker (January 8, 1966), pp. 35-97.

Torrance, E. Paul. Education and the Creative Potential,
Modern School Practices Series, NO. 5. Minneapolis:
' The University of Minnesota Press, 1963.

 

. "Problems of Highly Creative Children,"
The Gifted Child Quarterly, v (Summer, 1961), pp. 31-34.

 

 

(ed.). Talent and Education, Modern School
Practices Series, No. 4 Minneapolis: The University
of Minnesota Press, 1960.

 

 

Warren, Jonathon R. and Heist, Paul A. "Personality Attri-
butes of Gifted College Students." Berkeley, Calif-
ornia: Center for the Study of Higher Education,
University Of California. Mimeographed.

WeisskOpf, Edith. "Some Comments Concerning the Role of
Education in 'The Creation of Creation,'" Journal of
Educational Psychology, XLII (1958), pp. 185-189.

 

 

258

White, Robert W. A Study of Lives: Essays on Personality
in Honor of Henry A. Murray. Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1963.

 

 

Wilson, Robert C., pp. al. "A Factor—Analytic Study of
Creative Thinking?" Psychometrika, XIX (December, 1954),
PP- 297-311-

Witty, Paul A. "Recent Publications Concerning the Gifted
and Creative Student," Phi Delta Kappan, XLVI (January,
1965), pp. 221-224.

 

Yamamoto, Kaoru. "Creativity: A Blind Man's Report on the
Elephant," Journal of Counseling Psychology, XII (April,
1965), pp. 428-434.

 

APPENDICES

26O

APPENDIX A

The interview schedule presented in this appendix
was prepared by Elizabeth Drews and her assistant, Miss
Arlis Thornblade; and it was developed by Donald W. MacKinnon
of the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research at
Berkeley, California. This schedule was followed in the
1963 interviews, which were conducted by Miss Thornblade.
The interviews were tape recorded, and transcriptions were
made of the tapes. The rating sheet to be found in Appendix
C was used as a basis for the analysis Of the interview
transcriptions.

The interviewer did not attempt to follow the exact
wording, or even necessarily the order, of this schedule,
but questions were presented informally; so that while a
perusal of this schedule may suggest a rigid question and
answer interview pattern, in actuality the transcripts reveal
more of an informal, conversational exchange between the
interviewer and the interviewee. Sometimes not all items
on the schedule were covered, and Often times other matters
arose during the course of the interview that the interviewer
encouraged the interviewee to pursue, if these matters were
considered to be of interest to the general purposes of the

study.

261

PERSONAL INTERVIEW. PREPARED BY ELIZABETH
DREWS AND ARLIS THORNBLADE FROM FIELD
INTERVIEW DEVELOPED BY
DONALD W. MACKINNON
September, 1963

When interview began, the interviewer generally
asked for comments on the experimental class they had just
completed--which part of the class they liked best (textbook,
films, discussion), whether the class was different from
others they have had and in what respects, whether any new
ideas were introduced or if they had a chance to more fully
explore Older interests, what idea stood out most in their
minds, and if they had changed their minds, altered any
previous Opinions.

I. EARLY CHILDHOOD; FAMILY, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

 

1. What peOple, situations, things were most important to
you in childhood?

2. Can you tell me something (more) about your family and
early home life? (This question usually not asked).

3. Did you spend a lot of time with adults? (or) DO you
remember Spending most of your time with children your
own age, with adults, or alone? What did you do?

4. What was (is) your father like? (or) What interests does
your father have outside of his work? Would you describe
him as outgoing and social person or a more quiet and
reserved person? Do you think he's any more or less
strict than most fathers?

5. What sort of relationship did you have with your father?
Did you Spend much time with him? What did you do with
him?

6. What was (is) your mother like? (or) What interests does
your mother have? Would you describe her as an outgoing
and social person or a more quiet and reserved person?
Do you think she's any more or less strict than most
mothers?

7. What sort of relationship did (do) you have with your
mother? What kinds of things do you remember doing
with her?

8. DO you think that you are more like your mother or more

10.
11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.
17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

262
like your father? In what reSpects?

DO your parents ever tell you stories about yourself
as you were as a child? What kind of stories? What
pictures do you have of yourself then? (social, healthy,
energetic, Shy, cautious, foolhardy, obedient, independent,
stubborn)

What are your brothers and/or sisters like?
How did (do) you get along with them?

Did you get along with most people? (obedient, cOOper-
ative, rebellious, argumentative)

Did you like to be by yourself? Was there a place?
A room of your own?

Did other relatives—~grandparents, uncles, aunts--live
with you or have an important influence upon you?

Who in your family, including relatives, is the most
successful (using both personal and/or societal criteria)?

Who encouraged you the most?

Are there differences in the way your brothers/sisters
and you have been raised?

Were you allowed to roam the neighborhood for large
amounts of time without an adult? Specify age.

Did your family move much when you were a child? Did
you travel much, have new experiences? Where?

Does (did) your family do things together? (or) Does
your family function as a unit or as independent indi-
viduals? In what ways? How do you feel about this?

What have your parents stressed most in your upbringing?
Does your family have any other strong beliefs, Opinions?

How important is religion in your family? How important
is it for your life? ... If important: Is it something
that gives you comfort and strength or does it raise
uncomfortable questions? Would you be a different person
without it?

Is your family different from other families? Think
differently? Do things differently?

How did you feel about elementary school? What did you
think school was for?

25.

26.

27.
28.

29.

30.

II.

263

How did you get along in elementary school? Was it
difficult or easy? Did you get the impression that it
was easier for you to learn than it was for the other
students? When? How? What are your main memories of
this time?

Did you have a teacher that was better or worse than
the others? Specify. What qualities did you like in
a teacher? What qualities did you dislike? Which
teacher influenced you the most?

Did you ever contradict a teacher in grade school?

When you push your memory back as far as it can go,
what is the first direct memory you have of yourself?

Did you suffer from any serious illnesses as a child?
Do you remember any (other) particularly difficult or
unusual experiences?

Can you remember when you learned to read? When was
this? Did your parents read to you before you went to
school? Can you remember any of the books and stories?
Did you read much in elementary school? What kind of
books?

ADOLESCENCE, JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, INTERESTS, OPINIONS,
AND ATTITUDES

How would you describe yourself now? Do you think that
you have changed very much in the last two or three
years? When? For what reasons?

Do you think of yourself as different from other people
your age? In what ways?

DO you consider yourself a rebel in any respects?
(Breaking away from the family, an intellectual rebel,
etc.)

What bothers you more than anything else, makes you
feel unhappy or frustrated? How do you react? (Did
you cry much when you were younger?) (From here an
attempt was made to get at receptivity, sensitivity,
awareness, aesthetic perceptions.)

Do you like to study? (Distinction often had to be made
between schoolwork and personal pursuits.) Are you a
perfectionist? Are you persistent? (If you are working
on a project or problem and run into difficulty, would
you abandon it if the Opportunity were Offered or would
you work through it?)

IO.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

l6.

17.

18.

264

Do you do projects? (Distinction between school and
personal.) Do they usually turn out as you had planned
them or are they finally larger or smaller than you

had originally anticipated? Do you start with a vast
idea and have to Whittle it into manageable proportions
or do you start with a smaller idea that seems to grow
and become more complex?

Have you ever felt that you could learn or do almost
anything if you channelled all your abilities and
energies in the desired direction? If answer is yes:
Then how do you think you will choose your area of work
or emphasis? '

When you have a history lesson or vocabulary list to
learn, how do you handle it? Do you have a system or
do you seem to learn it by osmosis?

Do you get angry (not just frustrated, but really mad)?
What situation will most likely prompt such a reSponse?
How do you handle it? What makes you very happy?

If I could grant you any wish, what would it be? Why?

DO you dream? Often? In color? Can you remember your

dreams? Do they usually make sense or are they a hOpe-

1ess jumble? Have you ever had a recurrent dream? What
is it?

Do you daydream? When? In what direction do your day-
dreams usually take you?

Do you have any other hobbies or interests? (Puzzles,
solving problems, solitary activities: Hobbies, art,
music, science, writing, sports.)

Do ideas, the unknown appeal to you? The future? Mental
telepathy, extra-sensory perception? Do you think about
them, read about them, talk about them?

DO you read much? What kind of books? What have you
read lately? Which did you enjoy most? (Encyclopedias,
science, science fiction, history, art, novels, poetry.)
When and where do you read?

Are you more involved with peOple or with your own
studies and interests?

Who are your best friends? Do they seem to have any-
thing in common? What do you like about them? What
do you like to do with them?

What kind of conversation (and with whom) gives you

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.
30.

265
the most pleasure? Do you like nonsense, to be silly?

DO you watch television? Go to movies? What kind of
program (Show) is your favorite? Any favorite per-
formers?

How did you get along in junior high school? What do
you expect of senior high school? What do you expect
of yourself in senior high school?

What school subject did you like most? What least?
In which subjects do you get your best marks? Your
worst marks?

DO you participate frequently in classroom discussions?
Why or why not? What kind of comments do you usually
make? What do you think of classroom discussions? (If
quiet: Would you be more apt to take part in smaller
group discussions? Why?)

What do you think about dating? Do you do much dating?
Single, couple, or group?

How would you define creativity? Who is the most creative
person you have known? In what respects do you consider
yourself creative?

In the last two or three years have you come into con-
tact with any adults who have been especially important
to you? Who has influenced you the most?

What does the phrase "philosophy of life" mean to you?

or How would you define the phrase "philosophy Of life?"
DO you have one? How would you express it? or Are

there any principles or values that you use to guide

your life? (idealism, cynicism; optimistic, pessimistic)

Have you ever been impressed by or particularly admired
a person in the public eye-—intellectua1, political,
religious, Sports, etc.? If you could trade places with
anyone living today for one week, who would it be? Why?

If somehow I could produce an average man (average Amer-
ican man) and would ask you to describe him, what kind
of person do you think you would be describing? A
scientist, an artist? Do you think there would be any
differences between them? Who do you think you would

be most like?

What do you criticize most in society?

What do you think are the prOSpects for world peace?
What do you think is the main obstacle to realizing

31.
32.

33-

34.

 

 

266

peace or harmonious relationships between people? Do
you think the world is getting better, worse, or staying
just about the same? What is your view of the recent
test ban treaty?

Similar questions on integration and over-pOpulation.

What do you think is the difference between a generalist
and a Specialist? Which would you like to be?

What do you want to be and do? Why? What sort of role
do you feel that your work will play in society? From

your point of view, what constitutes success in life?
(College, plans for marriage, wish to make a contribution,
etc. usually comes in here).

Any additional comments.

 

 

267

APPENDIX B

In the summer of 1964, the students who had been
previously interviewed were interviewed again. This time ;

an interview schedule prepared by Elizabeth Drews and her

 

p
research assistants, David Kanouse and Robert Trezise, was

used as a basis for the interview. The schedule was based é
upon interview schedules used at the Institute for Person— ;
ality Assessment and Research at Berkeley, California, and L,

upon the researchers' reading in the area of creativity.

The interviews were conducted by Mr. Kanouse and Mr. Trezise,
and they were tape recorded. Some of the quotations used

in this paper were taken from these interviews and Mr.
Trezise based the Profiles (Chapter V) upon impressions

gained mainly through these interviews.

268

INTERVIEW SCHEDULE PREPARED BY
ELIZABETH DREWS, ROBERT TREZISE,
AND DAVID KANOUSE
Summer, 1964

I. SELF AWARENESS AND AWARENESS 0F OTHERS

1. Do you feel that you have changed much in the last year?
How? How have you changed in general over the years?
What do you think about yourself is new or different
from what it was at some earlier time?

2. Do your moods change much, or are you pretty much on
an even keel most of the time? What causes these
shifts, do you think?

3. How do you think an adolescent is different from an
adult-—in some fundamental or important way?

4. DO you think most people differ much from one another,
or are they pretty much the same?
Have you ever felt yourself to be much different from
other people?

5. What do you feel is the most important quality or group
of characteristics in an individual--the kind of trait
that decides whether you will like and admire someone
or not?

6. What qualities would you want or admire in a best
friend? A boyfriend or girlfriend (of opposite sex)?
In a marriage?

7. If you were going to raise children, do you have any
ideas from the way you've been raised of what you'd
like to give your kids that your parents gave you?
Anything in addition, or different?

8. What is your favorite joke or one of your favorites?

9. What kind of college do you want to go to? On what
basis will you probably make your decision?

10. Have you ever thought about where you might like to
live eventually? In Lansing or Michigan or another
state or country?

11. When you meet someone for the first time what would
you prefer to talk about?

12. Is there anything you would like to do in your life?
Dedicate yourself to?

 

269
AESTHETIC AND CULTURAL

Family Milieu

 

DO your parents read magazines? Which ones? Do they
subscribe? Are their interests different?

Which magazines do you read? Are your tastes the same
as your parents'?

Do your parents read books? What kind? Where do they
get them? Do they recommend any to you? DO you pick
up books they have? Do you frequent libraries? Borrow
from friends? How many books do you own? Which ones?

Does your family enjoy music? Listen to it? Radio?
Phonograph or stereo? How many records do they have?
What kind? Are your tastes the same as theirs or
different? How much do you listen?

Other pursuits: Television, etc.

What hobbies do you have or have you had? (Stamps,
coins, model trains, jigsaw puzzles, rock collections.
etc.)

Is there much conversation in your home? What about?
Is it hard for you to find someone to talk to?

Friends, Community

 

What kinds of things did you do with your friends, or
with brothers and sisters? Did you ever carry out a

project individually or with someone else (produce

a neighborhood play, set up a lemonade stand, etc.)?

Have you ever done any Of the following, or been inter—
ested in doing them: visiting art galleries, attending
concerts, visiting a zoo, hearing an outstanding lecture,
listening to a jazz or folk recital, seeing an opera

or ballet, visiting a museum, etc. How did you become
interested? Did your parents ever encourage you to do
any of these things?

Individual Activity

 

Have you ever kept a diary? How long? Have you ever
tried writing for your own pleasure (not required for

270

school)? Poetry? Fiction? Have you ever tried draw-
ing for fun? Painting? Collecting poems, stories,
art prints, etc. for a scrapbook? Dancing, theatre,
figure skating, etc.?

What kinds of things strike you as beautiful or
aesthetically appealing? For example, which do you
enjoy most: geometric precision, natural beauty,
beauty of emotion, grace and beauty in action and
movement, etc.? DO you find yourself awed more by the
vast and the panoramic or the small and the exquisite
or both? DO you like symmetry or chaotic, asymmetrical

 

How do you read a book? From start to finish? Do you
sample? Do you feel you ought to finish something you
have started reading? Do you mark pages and write in
margins? Do you find yourself arguing with the author,
disagreeing or re-reading parts?

How is knowledge related? How would you say it's divided
or what would be the best way to categorize it? DO

you find yourself trying to understand things in terms

of what you already know? What sorts of things are

you good at remembering? What do you find hard to

DO you like metaphors and analogies? Paradox? Irony?

DO you like situations and facts to be organized, neat
and structured or looser and leppier? What about

Do you feel a concern for or interest in the way words
are used not only what they mean in the dictionary but
their connotations and the way they combine?

Do you like new things - travel, food, experience?

How do you use time? Think ahead and plan to use every
minute? Organize by using lists? Sit around and let

 

2.
designs?
III. THINKING STYLE
1.
2.
remember?
3.
Why?
4.
complexity?
5.
6.
7.
things happen?
IV. SOCIAL CONCERN
1.

Do you feel the individual has an Opportunity to make

271

a worthwhile contribution to society? Would you like
to make one?

Have your parents ever discussed careers with you? Do
you feel they have any expectations along this line?

Do you want to do something significant or outstanding?
Achieve?

Do you belong or have you ever belonged to any organi-
zations--scouts, YM or YW, clubs, church groups, etc.

Do you feel concern for or identification with any
particular cause or minority group? (Negroes, women,
aged, mentally ill, etc.) Would you like to do or would
you be willing to do something about it?

Are you interested in national issues (conservation,
anti-poverty, education, etc.)?

Are you interested in international issues (Peace, etc.)?
Would you be willing to do something about these?

Do you feel there is anything which is worthwhile to
which peOple could profitably dedicate their lives?

What kinds of things? Is there anything you would
want to dedicate your life to?

EDUCATION

 

What does the word "education" mean to you?

In looking at your experience in education and with
teachers, which do you feel have been the most valuable
kinds of experiences you have had in school? The least
valuable?

If you could dictate your own formal education, how would
you do it? Assume only that this is within a formal
framework and that the education is public—-for every-
body. Would you make changes in curriculum? In the
order in which certain subjects are introduced? In
teaching methods? What changes?

272

APPENDIX C

The raters analyzed the 1963 interviews on the
basis of the rating sheet items listed below. The rating
sheet was devised by Elizabeth Drews and her staff of research
assistants and was based upon the studies in creativity at
the Institute for Personality Assessment and Research and
upon their readings in creativity--particularly creativity
as studied by the "third force," humanistic psychologists,
such as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

The two raters read the transcripts and then rated
them on each of the thirty-nine items. On each item the
raters gave the interviewee a plus (indicating the presence
of the traits or quality mentioned in the item), a minus
(indicating that the interviewee reSponded negatively to
the trait or quality), or a zero (indicating that in the
course of the interview, the absence or presence of the

trait or quality was not revealed.

273

INTERVIEW RATING

Prepared by Elizabeth Drews, Robert Trezise, and

the Research Staff and based upon Institute for Personality
Assessment and Research findings.

ll.

12.

13.

14.
15.
16.
17.
18.

Interviewee identifies with one parent or with a close
relative

Family autonomous as a unit, forms a close-knit, func-
tional unit with which interviewee identifies as a whole

Mother and father autonomous; each respects other as
a person in his own right

Family is different (from other families interviewee
is likely to have come in contact with)

Subject perceives family as different (says so in inter-
View)

 

Parents have strong convictions
Interviewee oldest child
Lack of strong career channelling pressures on child

Desire to roam and explore and freedom to do this (when
young)

Much evidence of being alone when young
Social introversion
No dating in adolescence, or if any, unusual patterns

Awareness of self as different from other young people
by early adolescence

Critical of teen-age culture

Concern for individuality

Thinking introversion (philosophical orientation)
Values intellectual and cognitive

Skeptical of ideas, critical, not easily impressed
(especially with traditional ideas or slogans)

19.
20.

21.

22.

23.
24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.
30.
31.

32.
33.

3A.

35.
36.

37.

274
Has lot of ideas

Concern for and questioning of religious issues (vs.
non-questioning acceptance)

Memory and importance of reading before school years

Rebellion (questioning authority, skepticism) by early
adolescence

Critical of teachers

GraSps others' ideas and expands upon them

Ability to become immersed in work or projects (task—
orientation, ability to "lose himself" in subject at

hand.

Psychological in orientation, given to self-analysis
and analysis of others, self—critical

Willingness to disclose self in interview; when inter-
viewer questions or probes, responds as to a challenge,
cooperates in attempting to form explanations, does
not become defensive or treat matter as unimportant
Open to early life experiences, seems to seek to view
them in light of their contribution to the self at
present

Has wide-ranging interests

Awareness of fantasy; shows fancifulness and whimsy

Awareness of and interest in the occult, ESP, reads
science fiction

Aesthetic sensitivity; receptivity to beauty

Willing to offer ideas and disclose self without being
asked

Flexibility, openness to change; can modify ideas and
opinions; attempts to understand other's opinions by
putting self in their shoes; awareness of 'points of
View“

Has high energy level

Has high, internalized, individual standards; is a
perfectionist

Has high aspirations

275

38. Drive to achieve in independent fashion; long-term
goals; sense of destiny, of unique contribution

39. Optimistic about man's future and his potential

H
C+
(D .
S

 

276

APPENDIX D

Percentages* of Positive, Negative, Zero,
and Disagreement Ratings on a 39-Item
Interview Rating Sheet, when Two
Judges Rated a Group of Crea-
tive Boys (N 14 and Girls (N l3)

Positive Negative Zero Disagree

 

 

 

 

Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls

 

2
O

 

 

 

\OCDxJOMfiJrujmre l

79% 92% 7% 8% 7% 0% 7% 0%
43 69 29 31 21 o 7 o
36 62 21 8 29 23 14 8
64 54 21 38 7 8 7 o
29 54 43 23 14 8 14 15
5o 69 36 31 14 o o o
43 54 57 46 o o o o
43 46 21 23 36 31 o o
43 38 5o 38 7 8 o 15
64 62 29 38 o o 7 o
57 77 43 23 O O O O
71 62 7 23 21 15 o o
57 77 14 15 o 8 29 o
43 31 29 23 29 38 o 8
64 62 7 8 o 15 29 15
57 77 29 15 o o 14 8
79 69 14 15 o o 7 15
57 46 21 23 o 23 21 8
71 77 21 23 o o 7 o
64 62 29 15 7 15 o 8
57 31 36 62 7 8 o 0
5o 23 5o 77 o o o o
64 54 29 38 o 8 7 o
79 85 14 8 o o 7 8
71 92 14 o 7 8 7 o
64 92 29 8 o o 7 o
43 100 50 o o o 7 o
29 92 64 8 o o 7 o
79 77 21 23 o o o o
86 77 7 o o 15 7 8
86 85 7 8 7 8 o o
43 77 43 8 7 8 7 8
29 85 5o 15 7 o 14 o
64 77 14 15 7 o 14 8
64 54 14 8 21 31 o 8
5o 77 43 15 o o 7 8

277

APPENDIX D—-CONTINUED

Positive Negative Zero Disagree

 

 

Item Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls

 

 

 

37 93 85 o 8 7 8 o o
38 71 77 7 15 7 o 14 8
39 57 85 43 15 o o o 0

*Percentage figures have been rounded off to the
nearest whole number.