Cumulative and proximal influences on the social environment and children's creative potential.

The influences of socioeconomic status (SES), maturation, school, and sex on creative potential were examined by administering the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking to 1,445 children. Comparisons of means indicated that scores increased with SES, sixth-grade children scored slightly higher than fifth-grade children, and girls in general earned higher scores than boys. Additionally, the school setting and in particular the classroom atmosphere seemed to be far more important to creative potential than has been previously acknowledged. Implications for the concept of creativity and the adequacy of tests as indicators of divergent thinking are discussed.

Chronic learning problems and maturation.

An analysis of test scores of a longitudinal sample of normal children, who placed in the lowest quartile of the class on the California Achievement Test and children in the highest quartile yielded significant differences on three perceptual-motor tests and on Piaget's preoperational and precausal tests at Kindergarten level. Although matched for IQ in Kindergarten, significant IQ differences appeared in Grade 1 and continued to increase over 5 yr., as those on other tests. Cattell's Early School Personality Questionnaire indicated that low achievers were significantly less mature and more tense and anxious than high achievers from Grades 1 through 5. Maturational lag is hypothesized for retardation of learning.

Interpersonal affect in Thematic Apperception Test responses: a scoring system.

Affect toward "parental," "spousal," and "nonspousal" figures in TAT responses was evaluated. Positive and negative scores ranging from +2 to -2 were assigned to each story. Norms were based on frequent responses stimulus-pull and quality Of responses Test-retest rendered .88 similarity in affect and 86% in orientational others categories. Interscorer's agreements on affective scores ranged from .93 to .97 and interpersonal categories ranged from 96% to 98%. Higher positive "spousal" than "parental" and "nonspousal" affect was hypothesized to associate with marital adjustment. Thirty married Caucasian middle-class couples were individually interviewed. Cards 1, 2, 4, 6 GF, 10 13 FM and 16 as well as the Dyadic. Adjustment Scale were administered. Results, significant at .001 level, were discussed in terms of development in interpersonal choices.

The architect as person: a Rorschach image.

Analysis of the Rorschachs of 40 eminent male architects collected in 1959 revealed a highly consistent personality profile. The picture that emerges is of a person who appears to be ambitious, highly sensitive, intellectually and emotionally energetic, and reasonably well adjusted socially. His thinking is well oriented in reality. He prefers large scale conceptualizing to mundane 'concerns. There is evidence of conflict, tension, and a concern with emotional control. Feminine and exhibitionistic interests are exceptionally high and sources of inspiration appear to reside in unresolved sexual conflicts. The attitude toward the world is positive. The eminent male American architect at the turn of the Sixties believed in his own ability to create a truly superior environment. His conscious concerns were with creation rather than with self-confrontation.

Some test correlates of high level creativity in architects.

The Rorschachs of 40 eminent architects, intensively studied at the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research (California) in 1959, were analyzed in terms of styles of responding (cognitive-affective controls). Level of creative talent (assessed by a competent jury of peers) was not related to styles of responding but the Rorschach data give us reason to believe that subjects with high degrees of repressive control may be more limited in creative expression. Qualitative analysis of Rorschach content suggests drive level is related to creative excellence.

Artistic style and personality in creative painters.

The present study attempted to demonstrate a correspondence between artistic style and the personality of the creator. Personality style, defined as a cognitive-affective system of defenses and controls, was identified for 20 renowned painters through an analysis of their individual Rorschach protocols. Their creative work was classified independently by a jury of 4 persons (one art critic; two eminent painters and the junior author) into stylistic categories similar to those elaborated by the senior author for the Rorschach. The overall correspondence achieved was statistically significant (.72, p < .01), with individual correlations ranging from .75 to .86 (p < .01).

Stability of intellect and personality in schizophrenia.

A group of 52 chronic schizophrenic patients (mean age 41) currently maintained on follow-up treatment at an outpatient clinic were re-evaluated 8.5 years after initial treatment at the Allan Memorial Institute. The instruments used were the Spitzer Mental Status Schedule (MSS), the verbal WAIS, Rorschach and several thinking disorder tests. A verbal IQ finding of 1.4 points of increase (n.s.) indicates that no intellectual deterioration has occurred as measured by the WAIS. The thinking disorder tests, however, reveal considerable deficit. The Rorschach shows no evidence of personality change although there is evidence of increasing personality impoverishment, as evident in a progressive flattening of affect, and an increasing withdrawal and isolation. These inferences are supported by case history data and by the MSS psychiatric rating scale.

Primary process in creative persons.

The major hypothesis that quantity, quality, and control of primary process contents would be different in two groups of artists as a function of age and experience were tested by means of the Rorschach test. The Holt system of scoring was employed. A group of art students, mean age 21.7, and a group of renowned, mature artists, mean age 41.7, were compared. It was found that while quantity of primary process did not differ, the quality, density, defense demand, efficiency of defenses and controls, form level and REGO significantly differentiated experienced from inexperienced artists.

Primary process thinking in the same children at two developmental levels.

Analysis of primary process thinking of the same children at kindergarten level and at grade four revealed that amount of primary process thinking was relatively constant with development, contrary to predictions based on psychoanalytic theory. However, the two facets of primary process thinking, i.e., drive related ideation and formal deviations of thought follow different lines of development with the former increasing and the latter decreasing in quality and type with age.

Regression in the service of the ego in young children.

Analysis of studies of primary process thinking as manifested in Rorschach and TAT production of young children (ages 6 to 10) indicate that children show approximately the same amount of primary process production as do young adults (48% vs 54%). However, this primary process does not appear to be clearly related to the child's creative, scholastic, or perceptual-motor development as measured by appropriate tests. High levels of primary process appear to be significantly related only to the negative qualities of the personality, that is, to high levels of tension, anxiety, and poor control of aggression. It is possible that young children have not yet learned to use it in the service of the ego, although they do not seem to be encumbered by its presence.