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than the detailed characteristics
that make up a whole person. He
was a biologist, and like others
before him, notably the ancient
Greek physicians Hippocrates and
Galen, he believed that physiological
factors account for temperament.
Hippocrates had suggested that
personality type arises from an
excess or deficit of a particular type
of bodily fluids, known as humors.
Galen expanded upon this idea to
suggest there are four types of
temperament: sanguine, choleric,
phlegmatic, and melancholic.IN CONTEXT
APPROACH
PersonalityBEFORE
1926 American psychologist
Catharine Cox tests the
intelligence and personalities
of 300 geniuses and finds the
average IQ to be 165+; key
characteristics are tremendous
persistence and motivation.1956 J.P. Guilford develops the
concept of divergent thinking
to discuss creativity.AFTER
2009 In Genius 101: Creators,
Leaders, and Prodigies,
American psychologist Dean
Keith Simonton argues that
geniuses are the result of good
genes and good surroundings.2009 Swedish psychologist
Anders Ericsson attributes
expert performance to 10,000
hours of practice.HANS J. EYSENCK
...this can lead
to genius....this can lead
to insanity.A capacity for
over-inclusive thinking
can lead to original and
creative ideas......and combined with
an IQ of 165 or above......but combined with
psychotic symptoms...D
iscussion about genius has
been dominated for most
of its history by the nature-
versus-nurture debate: is a genius
born or made? Prior to the early
1900s, ideas about genius were
based largely on stories of people
who were perceived as geniuses,
such as Leonardo da Vinci and
Beethoven. As early as Aristotle,
creative genius and madness were
seen as linked, and both assumed to
be largely genetic in nature. In 1904,
British psychologist Havelock Ellis’s
A Study of British Genius, reported
controlled studies of both psychotic
patients and creative people to
establish a link between the two.
Seventy years later the German
psychologist Hans Eysenck reviewed
the early evidence and concluded
that it is not psychosis (full blown
insanity) that is related to genius,
but psychoticism, which he defined
as an underlying disposition to
develop psychotic symptoms.Temperament and biology
Many psychologists have defined
and measured personality traits,
but Eysenck’s interests focused
on human temperament ratherThere is a common
genetic basis for great
potential in creativity and
for psychological deviation.
Hans J. Eysenck