Dean Simonton | |
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Nationality | American |
Education | Occidental College (BA) Harvard University (MA, PhD) |
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Dean Keith Simonton is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus based in Davis, California, affiliated with the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. Simonton is known for his research in the fields of genius, creativity, leadership, and aesthetics. His work focus into the cognitive, personal, developmental, social, and cultural factors contributing to eminence, giftedness, and talent across various domains such as science, philosophy, literature, music, art, cinema, politics, and war. [1]
He has over 550 publications, including 14 books. One of his books, The Origins of Genius, received the William James Book Award. [2]
Simonton completed his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Occidental College in 1970, graduating magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Psi Chi. [3]
He furthered his education at Harvard University, earning a Master of Arts in Social Psychology in 1973, followed by a Ph.D. in Social Psychology in 1975. During his time at Harvard, Simonton received fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the Danforth Foundation. [4]
Since 2016, Simonton has served as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. In 2013, Simonton was honored as the Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Iowa. [5]
Prior to his current position, he held the title of Distinguished Professor from 2004 to 2016 and served as a Full Professor from 1985 to 2016, both within the Department of Psychology at UC Davis. [6]
Before joining the faculty at UC Davis, he held positions as an Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. He also served as a Section Leader in the History of Civilization at Occidental College from 1969 to 1970. [3]
Simonton has been recognized with Robert S. Daniel Award for Four Year College/University Teaching from the American Psychological Association (APA). [7]
Simonton served as the president of the Society for General Psychology (APA Division 1), the Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts (APA Division 10), and the Society for the History of Psychology (APA Division 26). [8]
From 1993 to 1999, he served as the editor of Journal of Creative Behavior. [9]
Simonton's research examines cognitive, personal, developmental, social, and cultural factors that underpin eminence and creativity. He employs archival data analysis techniques, including cross-cultural, transhistorical, biographical, and content analytical measures. His historiometric analyses shed light on eminent personalities, notable events, and creative products throughout history. He has also conducted laboratory experiments, mathematical models, meta-analyses, and other more mainstream methods. Additionally, Simonton explores the history of psychology, particularly focusing on the psychology of science and eminent scientists. [10]
One of his findings was that the 10 years' experience of deliberate practice is not a rule, but an average with significant variation around the mean. He found that the people who achieved the greatest lifetime productivity and highest levels of eminence required the least amount of time to achieve expertise. He also found that while too much expertise can hurt one's chances of greatness, the downsides of overtraining in one domain can be ameliorated by the acquisition of expertise among numerous different domains. [11]
He also found that an association of creativity with psychopathic traits was more apparent in artists than in scientists, and that artists who operate in expressive, subjective, or romantic styles display more psychopathology than those who operate in classical or academic styles. [12]
In 2006, he published a paper that ranked the IQ, Openness, Intellectual Brilliance, and Leadership of all past 42 US presidents. [13]
Simonton is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Honor Society), and many divisions of the American Psychological Association (APA). [14]
Historiometry is the historical study of human progress or individual personal characteristics, using statistics to analyze references to geniuses, their statements, behavior and discoveries in relatively neutral texts. Historiometry combines techniques from cliometrics, which studies economic history and from psychometrics, the psychological study of an individual's personality and abilities.
The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in research, application, teaching, and the improvement of human welfare. APS publishes several journals, holds an annual meeting, disseminates psychological science research findings to the general public, and works with policymakers to strengthen support for scientific psychology.
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