Showing papers by "Dean Keith Simonton published in 1976"
TL;DR: Although creators are more intelligent than leaders, the correlation that Cox found between intelligence and ranked eminence was shown to be an artifact of data reliability and, especially, a timewise sampling bias.
Abstract: Ranked eminence of creators and leaders was hypothesized to be a function of both substantive (developmental and productive) variables and methodological artifacts. Cox's sample of 301 geniuses was reexamined using multiple-regression techniques. The results indicated that ranked eminence is (a) a curvilinear inverted-U function of education for creators but a negative linear function for leaders, (b) a positive linear function of versatility for leaders only, and (c) a curvilinear U-shaped function of life span for creators but a "backwards-J" function for leaders. Although creators are more intelligent than leaders, the correlation that Cox found between intelligence and ranked eminence was shown to be an artifact of data reliability and, especially, a timewise sampling bias. It was also shown that father's status has no direct impact on ranked eminence.
155 citations
83 citations
TL;DR: A cross-lagged correlation analysis indicated the following intergenerational influences: (1) political fragmentation has a positive impact on the emergence of empiricism, skepticism-criticism-fideism, materialism, temporalism, nominalism, singularism, and the ethics of happiness; (2) war has a negative effect on the appearance of most of these just mentioned beliefs; (3) skepticism and perhaps materialism have a positive influence on the appearing of war; and (4) civil disturbances tend to polarize beliefs on all major philosophical issues as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: This paper applies a quasi-experimental design to the problem of the causal relation between intellectual and political movements. A sample of 122 consecutive "generations" (or 20-year periods) was drawn from European history (540 B.C. to 1900 A.D.). A cross-lagged correlation analysis indicated the following intergenerational influences: (1) political fragmentation has a positive impact on the emergence of empiricism, skepticism-criticismfideism, materialism, temporalism, nominalism, singularism, and the ethics of happiness; (2) war has a negative impact on the appearance of most of these just mentioned beliefs; (3) skepticism-criticism-fideism and perhaps materialism have a positive influence on the appearance of war; and (4) civil disturbances tend to polarize beliefs on all major philosophical issues. Psychologists frequently prefer to think that individual motives, thoughts, and behaviors have significant repercussions in larger human affairs (e.g., Donley and Winter; Osgood; Simonton, a; cf. Wood). One of the most conspicuous illustrations of this orientation may be McClelland's The Achieving Society where economic prosperity-indeed the very ascent and decline of civilizations-is explained in terms of personal needs and values (also see DeCharms and Moeller). Sociologists, anthropologists, and historians, by comparison, often adopt the position that the causal relation between individual and society operates in the contrary direction-that human dispositions and intentions are the product of sociocultural influences (cf. Sorokin). The most commonplace example of this different orientation is the effort on the part of many social scientists to show how even individual genius or creativity is but an epiphenomenon of larger sociocultural movements (e.g., Gray, a, b; Kroeber; Kuhn; Ogbum; Schmookler; Simonton, c, e; Toynbee; White). But probably the single most persuasive and systematic effort in this vein is found in Pitirim A. Sorokin's Social and Cultural Dynamics (a). Sorokin views personal beliefs as a response or reaction to prevailing political and cultural events (also see Sorokin, b, c). As an example, whenever major social upheavals, calamities, and crises appear, he argues (a) that skepticism and singularism (individualism) tend to increase: particularly interesting is Sorokin's (c: 487-88) "law of polarization" which holds that extreme beliefs and attitudes tend to emerge in times of severe sociopolitical unrest and crisis. Thus, the attempts to demonstrate how both temporalism (belief that reality is in constant flux) and eternalism (belief that reality is fundamentally changeless) tend to flare up in times of sociocultural turmoil and *The political data for the present study were collected as part of the author's doctoral dissertation in Social Psychology for the Department of Psychology and Social Relations, with David A. Kenny thesis advisor.
51 citations
TL;DR: This article showed that political fragmentation, imperial instability, and ideological diversity all correlate with creativity, but the first indicator has no contemporaneous relationship with the last two, and none of the cross-lagged correlations between the three cultural diversity indicators and creativity were statistically significant.
Abstract: Using political fragmentation and imperial instability as indicators, an earlier study was carried out in an attempt to show that cultural diversity has a positive influence on personal creative development. In this paper that hypothesis is reexamined by first introducing ideological diversity as a more direct indicator and then testing for relationships using cross-lagged correlation analysis. With data extending over 122 generations (20-year periods) of Western history, it was found that: (1) political fragmentation, imperial instability, and ideological diversity all correlate with creativity, but the first indicator has no contemporaneous relationship with the last 2; (2) none of the cross-lagged correlations between the 3 cultural diversity indicators and creativity were statistically significant, and hence they may not be developmental influences; and (3) political fragmentation has a significant impact on the emergence of ideological diversity in the next generation. The inference was that the original hypothesis is probably oversimplified.
27 citations
TL;DR: Using cross-lagged correlation analyses as the basis for causal inference, the relationship between war and scientific discovery and invention was explored in seven European nations as discussed by the authors, using 14 or 16 quarter-century periods, or "generations," as the unit of analysis within each nation.
Abstract: Using cross-lagged correlation analyses as the basis for causal inference, the relationship between war and scientific discovery and invention was explored in seven European nations. Measures of war duration and scientific productivity were generated using 14 or 16 quarter-century periods, or "generations," as the unit of analysis within each nation. The analyses indicated statistically significant associations for England and Russia (war encouraging science in the next generation), Spain (war discouraging science in the next generation), Holland (science discouraging war in the next generation), and France (war and science correlating positively in the same generation), whereas Germany and Italy exhibited no significant relationships. Discussion of the causal inconsistencies led to the suggestion that future research separately analyze different scientific disciplines and their respective relations to various categories of war.
27 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored the contemporaneous and intergenerational relationships among various scientific endeavors and military activity using European historical data from 1500 to 1900 A.D. The findings were discussed in terms of both stimulating interdisciplinary information exchanges and inhibitory competitive recruitment.
18 citations