| Popis: |
involved the ability of intense UV and visible light to deplete skin and blood antioxidants. Prompting the present creativity studies was the ages-old notion of a nexus between “madness” and “genius” coupled with many laterality studies associating more intuitive modes of thought with the right hemisphere. Methods: Based on 48,038 biographies found in a 1970 edition of Who's Who in America (WWA), an initial study was a general test of association between month of birth and success in different kinds of occupations. This study having shown a remarkable birth-month difference between “artist” and “un-artist” occupations, subsequent studies used more specific artist databases (e.g., Contemporary American Painters, American Composers, American Writers) to test whether, upon stratification, a difference would be found between more successful subgroups (e.g., artists with longer biographies) and less successful ones (e.g., those only briefly mentioned). The WWA study having also indicated a birth-month contrast between biologists and mathematicians, this effect was pursued with a study of all life-scientists and mathematicians found in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography (DSB), a 17-volume compendium covering all major figures in the history of western science. Results: In the WWA study, a group representing 3,533 “VPL-Artists” (all those engaged in Visual, Performing and Literary fields) showed the same birth-month rhythm as the schizophrenics. A group representing 4,042 “BAB-Pragmatists” (mostly Business Administrators and Bankers) showed a diametrically opposite rhythm. A group representing 812 “para-Artists,” i.e., art onlookers rather than creators (art critics, historians, curators, etc.) showed the BAB-Pragmatist rhythm. In stratification studies, the top, more “important” classes of painters, actors, composers, or writers showed high, positive ratios of May-Jun to Nov-Dec conceptions; the bottom, more mediocre classes showed negative ratios. In the DSB study, a group representing 787 biologists (mean birth year: 1781) showed the BAB-Pragmatists type of rhythm; a group representing 576 mathematicians (mean birth year: 1784) showed the VPL-Artists rhythm. Discussion: (See Marzullo & Boklage, this conference). |
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