Toward a behavioral definition of genius.

Abstract

The idols imposed by words on the understanding are of two kinds. They are either names of things which do not exist (for as there are things left unnamed through lack of observation, so likewise are there names which result from fantastic suppositions and to which nothing in reality corresponds), or they are names of things which exist, but yet confused and ill-defined, and hastily and irregularly derived from realities.

Career landmarks in science: Individual differences and interdisciplinary contrasts.

“…If the present theory has any validity whatsoever, such gerontological inquiries should document tremendous cross-sectional and interdisciplinary variation in late-life creativity, thereby providing more optimistic forecasts than has sometimes been the norm (see also Albert, 1975;Over, 1982aOver, , 1982bOver, , 1989Simonton, 1989b). As the figures in Table 1 demonstrate, nothing necessarily prohibits an octogenarian, or even a centenarian, from making noteworthy contributions to scientific knowledge.…”

“…If such preconceptions truly permeated the raw data, then certain outcomes shown later could not occur (e.g., the actual mean ages for best work). Second, for those propositions that are possibly vulnerable to this criticism (Hypotheses 1 and 3), it is easy to cite parallel findings for productive quantity independent of creative quality (e.g., Albert, 1975;Dennis, 1954bDennis, , 1966see Simonton, 1988b, chap. 4).…”

“…For instance, the two rates are more rapid in poetry (0.04 and 0.07, respectively) than in history (0.02 and 0.03), a fact explaining the independent finding that in the world's major literary traditions, poets produce their best work at younger ages than do historians (Simonton, 1975). Concerning Hypothesis 3, when we look at total output either disregarding quality or including just distinguished work, lifetime productivity is negatively correlated with the age at which an individual first begins to contribute and is positively correlated with the age at which contribution ends (Albert, 1975;Simonton, 1977b). Moreover, the total productivity levels seen in early, middle, and late decades of a career are all positively correlated (Dennis, 1954b;Zuckerman, 1977).…”

“…4;Zuckerman, 1977). Although the present proposition pertains only to lifetime productivity, this last variable, whether considered as total output or actual contributions, correlates highly with eventual eminence (Albert, 1975;Dennis, 1954aDennis, , 1954bSimonton, 1984b, chap, 4). If the only direct antecedent of eminence among the variables of the current model is creative productivity, the following two expectations ensue:…”

Creative Development as Acquired Expertise: Theoretical Issues and an Empirical Test

“…The current results apply to the creative product, whereas Sulloway's results apply to the creative individual, but the same underlying developmental processes are probably operating in both cases. After all, the creativity of the individual is essentially the aggregate consequence of his or her lifetime output of separate creative products (Albert, 1975;Simonton, 1999a).…”