Assessing Creative Persons*

ABSTRACT Personality assessment, in contrast to psychodiagnosis, psychological testing, and the measurement of individual differences, attempts to delineate the person as a whole through the use of a multiplicity of procedures and emphasizes the more favorable and positive aspects of personality and its potentialities for effective functioning. Developed during World War II, the method has been most extensively used by the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research, University of California. Berkeley, in its studies of highly creative persons. In these researches the characteristics of such persons have been effectively revealed, e.g., through the use of life history interviews, personality trait ratings, an adjective check list, and the Q-sort method, and their level of creativeness predicted by multiple regression analyses.     

Creative Process Groups

Many nonverbal and artistic modes of expression have been used to communicate in counseling and education. This article investigates one mode of expression-the slide/tape show-as implemented in a group format in a college setting. The Creative Process Group, using the task of creating a slide/tape show, has group members (1) explore a relevant issue using an alternate means of expression, (2) experience a group creative process, and (3) learn about group dynamics and how individuals, including themselves, function in groups.     

Leadership of Creative Teams*

Where there is a history of teamwork and cooperation, where multiple centers of resources exist, and where integrative sentiments prevail over territoriality, then the efforts of innovation are more likely to succeed … Innovation may be the only hope for the time ahead. (Kanter, 1984, p. 55)