Research Notes from Here and There
Current Research on the Nature of Creative Talent
E. Paul Torrance Bureau of Educational Research, University of Minnesota
There are many reasons why counseling psychologists should be interested in problems of identifying, developing, and utilizing creative talent. First, it is important from the standpoint of personality development and mental hygiene. There is little question that prolonged, enforced repression of the creative desire may lead to actual breakdown of personality. In one of our own Minnesota studies (Hebeisen, 1959), a group of schizophrenics on the road to recovery showed an amazing impairment of their creative thinking abilities and little of the rich fantasy life and wild imagination popularly attributed to them. Second, creative thinking contributes importantly to the acquisition of information. Recent findings concerning the role of creative thinking in school achievement make practically meaningless present concepts in education and guidance concerning underand over-achievement. Some of these findings (Getzels & Jackson, 1959; Torrance, 1959 b,c) will be reviewed shortly. Third, creative thinking is essential in the application of knowledge and in the achievement of vocational success. In almost every field of human achievement, creativity is usually the distinguishing characteristic of the truly eminent. The possession of high intelligence, special talent, and high technical skills is not enough to produce outstanding achievement. Even in such an occupation as department-store selling in the most routine departments, tests of creativity differentiate the high producers from the low producers (Wallace, 1959).
'The research described herein was supported in part by the University of Minnesota Graduate School Research Fund
Fourth, it is tremendously important to society that our creative talent be identified, developed and utilized properly. Much depends upon the creative imagination of our next generation. Since recent advances will permit the conduct of research not hitherto possible, the fruits of this area of investigation will predictably become increasingly more useful to counselors.
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