A STUDY OF CREATIVITY AND INTELLIGENCE: IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS 

RUTH C. SANFORD 

WEST HEMPSTEAD SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

 

With the permission of Dr. Metfessel I am taking certain liberty with the announced subject by changing "Counseling" to "Counselor" - with the assumption that, in addition to counseling, the counselor is also involved in interpretation of student needs, in placement of students, in curriculum planning and in research, all of which functions are pertinent to counseling with creative students.

I shall take little time here to define creativity as used in studies of this nature because the preceding speaker has already done so; but more particularly because this study began as a replication of the first phases of the Getzels-Jackson study reported fully in their book Creativity and Intelligence, in which the nature of creativity is discussed at length and summarized as follows:

 For analytic purposes, however, in order to make the various factors more manageable, it is possible to begin by identifying two basic cognitive or intellective modes. The one mode tends toward retaining the known, learning the predetermined, and conserving what is. The second mode tends toward revising the known, exploring the undetermined, and constructing what might be. A person for whom the first mode or process is primary tends toward the usual and expected. A person for whom the second mode is primary tends toward the novel and speculative. The one favors certainty, the other risk Both processes are found in all persons, but in varying proportions. The issue is not one of better or worse, or of more useful or less useful Both have their place, and both .must be recognized for their differences, commonalties, interactions, and distinctive functions in the individual: s psychic economy, Whatever terms are used it is clear that one process represents intellectual acquisitiveness and conformity, the other intellectual inventiveness and innovation, One focuses on knowing what is already discovered, the other focuses on what is yet to be known!-1 1 Getzels, Jacob W. and Jackson, Philip W., Creativity and Intelligence, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. N.Y.C., 1962, pp 13 and 14 

Dr. Torrance 2 uses the terms: "adventurous thinking, getting away from the main track, breaking out of the mold, being open to experience and permitting one thing to lead to another." Dr. Guilford speaks of the "divergent thinking" of the highly creative as contrasted with the "convergent thinking" of the highly intelligent person, 

There is a rapidly growing body of literature on the subject in which psychologists and professional educators describe creativity and set down characteristics of the highly creative person 

In contrast to these technical terms are the words of a ninth grade girl- taken from a prose poem written four or five years ago: 

A child is a wonderling whose every moment is Now He is always nearly bursting with the trying to encompass this moment alone As he grows older, he often finds that he puts away the simplicity of Now with other childish things; Only as an adult can he find the meaning of Never. Maybe it is because a single man can hold only so much that the adult cannot conserve the childlike. He has learned the complicated logic-patterns of the world; And, unless he has been indeed lucky, To ‘think in Yesterdays, Tomorrows and Nevers. 

"Unless he has been indeed lucky". Much of the problem before us here today is how to venture into the ways of thinking and. being as counselors which encompass the whole condition of these words How bring about this lucky" state which permits, in the words of Dr Kris, "regression in service of the ego,3 and of Dr. Lawrence Kubie,"free play of the preconscious process which is vital to all creative productivity".4 

2 Torrance, E. Paul, Guiding Creative Talent, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice Hall, Inc. 1962’ pp 16, 17 3. Kris, E. "On Preconscious and Mental Processes", Psychoanalytical Quarterly, 1950, ‘Vol. 19 P. 542 4. Kubie, Lawrence S., Neurotic Distortion of the Creative Process, Noonday Press, University of Kansas, 1961 p, 141

that This study was conceived four and a half years ago, designed and conducted by one counselor with the assistance of a secretary, an IBM key punch operator and a statistical consultant; the cooperation of the Superintendent of Schools, secondary school administration and the benefit of a one-half year sabbatical leave granted by the Board of Education of the West Hempstead Public Schools in -the Spring of 1963. Total financial assistance to date consists of a NDEA grant in the amount of $200. Contacts with Dr. Jacob Getzels and Dr. Elizabeth Drews and correspondence with Drs. Guilford, MacKinnon and Torrance have supplied ,much of the inspiration to begin and to keep going. I mention these details in the hope that other counselors will, in this Year of Definition of Professional Standards for Counselors, be encouraged to contribute to the larger body of research which may in turn revise upward their own concept of themselves and their profession. It is possible that counselors who thus venture may crack the shell. of minutea and discover fresh meaning and clearer objectives for themselves. In turn, their colleagues in all professional areas may find a different counselor-image taking form!

 The pioneer work in ‘this field has been done by men and women in our Universities and our related professional organizations, some of whom I have already mentioned and to which names I wish to add that of Dr. Jerome Bruner of Harvard University. But it is also true that many competent school counselors who, like Curious George, in the Juvenile book of that name, are blessed with an "insatiable curtiosity", along with an active intelligence, an under-standing heart and a certain naive courage have their own unique contributions to make. They are in a most favorable position to do in smaller measure -what Dr. Bruner has done by moving his child-study laboratory into a mobile unit and taking it wherever he finds children engaged in the process of living and learning - which is just about everywhere. Counselors live in this kind of rich laboratory every day with the opportunity to see and know boys and girls, the parents and teachers with whom they live and strive to grow, and the recorded data which represent in a small and limited way the milestones of their development.

 PURPOSE AND DESIGN OF THE STUDY 

The purpose of this study is to discover the degree of correlation between creativity as measured by tests already developed and intelligence as measured by standardized tests yielding IQs; to discover the distribution of these scores throughout the student population tested, and to explore implications of the findings for the grouping, teaching and counseling of students in the school studied. 

On the basis of previously reported findings of research -to which reference has already been made, this experimenter hypothesized: 

1. A positive but not decisive correlation between CR scores and IQs. 

 2. A range in IQs down to the West Hempstead mean for students whose creativity scores fall in the top quintile. 

3. An overlap of approximately 30-35% between the group whose scores fall in the top quintile for IQs and the group whose scores fall in the top quintile for creativity.

 Grades 8,and 11, the "middle grades" of the junior and senior high schools were chosen arbitrarily as representative of the secondary school population and offering the added opportunity to continue the study into the following year. The entire student population of these grades was tested in order to assure sufficiently large samples (when divided into quintiles and other groupings) to yield significant results.

 West Hempstead Junior-Senior High School is a non-selective public secondary school with approximately 2000 students equally divided between the junior and senior high school; it draws from a small geographical area in a Long Island suburb about 20 miles east of greater New York. Most of the parents are business and professional people with-homes and incomes tending toward the upper side of the middle income groups. A trend is developing for parents of limited means to move from the City, assuming heavy property responsibilities., in order to give their children educational opportunities in the suburban atmosphere. 

5. IBID, PP 195 - 232 

The total number of students included at the outset was 693., 318 in grade 8 and 375 in grade U . Absence on testing days and missing test scores reduced the number to 623, 305 girls and 319 boys.’ The range of IQ in grade 8 was 78-148; in grade 11, 77-142, with a mean of 114 and 113, standard deviation 16 and 15 respectively. 

It will be noted that this student population differs sharply from that of the Getzels-Jackson study, with a mean IQ of 132 (standard deviation 15). 

TESTS AND TESTING PROCEDURES 

Intelligence Tests: Intelligence test data were available from school records. Because an Otis IQ (short form FM) was available for most students in the two grades., these data are used throughout this report when reference is made to IQ.

Creativity Tests,. The five tests of creativity were taken or adapted from tests used by,Drs. Getzels and Jackson, (Four were used by permission of dr. Getzels and one by permission of Dr. Cattell.) 

1. Word Association. The subject was asked to give as many categories of uses as possible for fairly common stimulus words. (The term association is somewhat misleading since this is not a true association test; nor does it require exact definitions.) Scores were limited by the number of categories of uses of’ the word given in a standard dictionary or in common use in the community.

 2. Uses for Things. The subject was asked to give as -many uses as possible for objects that customarily have A stereotyped function attached to them. His score depended on the number and originality of the uses mentioned. The number of responses on this test is limited only by the ingenuity and inventiveness of the subject. (The scoring for this test was sharpened by using a system of weighting scores for originality,, adapted from that developed by Dr. Guilford and by Dr. MacKinnon.) 

3. Hidden Shapes. This test is part of Cattell’s Objective-Analytic Test Battery and consists of eighteen simple geometric figures each followed by four complex figures containing the simple figure. The subject was asked to find the simple figure hidden in the complex figure. (This is the only timed test and the only test with a scoring key which was included.) 

4. Fables. The subject was given four fables,, each with the last line missing. He was asked to complete each fable in three ways, each with a different feeling tone. Scores depended upon appropriateness to the tone and relatedness to the situation.

 5. Make-up Problems. The subject was presented with two complex paragraphs each containing a large number of numerical statements. He was asked to write as many original problems as possible which could be solved by using only information given. He did not need to solve or know how to solve the problems. The point of the task was to be able to see varied and new problems and relationships in a single set of data. (The original form of this test included four sets of data. For the initial part of the study this experimenter reduced the number scored to two because this test correlated to a higher degree with IQ scores and required greater skill in reading than did any of the other four tests.) The subject’s score depended upon the number, the complexity, and originality of his problems. The creativity scores reported throughout this study are composite scores of the five tests of creativity, as were those reported by Getzels and Jackson in their study. 

Descriptive Instrument. The subject was given a sheet of paper with a frame and suggested title for a drawing. He was permitted to draw whenever he had time during the testing period, and was urged to draw whatever he chose. Each subject was also encouraged to use a partial sheet for any purpose whatever. This data will be processed for descriptive and interpretive purposes but does not yield a separate score. Time limits were generous and students could go back to previous tests during,- the testing period. Examiners were asked to create as free and relaxed an atmosphere as was compatible with good testing conditions. Subjects were assured that spelling and handwriting would not be "counted" in scoring. 

Testing procedures followed the usual group testing procedures examiners received detailed instructions and orientation in advance to insure uniformity in testing conditions. 

Because the range of IQ and reading level is great for the student population tested as compared to the student population represented in the study of Drs. Getzels and Jackson, special testing conditions were established for students whose reading scores fell in the low quartile (NationaL norms). Tests were administered to these students in groups of 25 or less by teachers of remedial reading. All paragraphs (Fables and Problems) were read aloud by the teachers and words causing difficulty were defined. Teachers were instructed to make sure that students understood the content. They did not assist in interpretation. 

IBM cards were used for recording, storing, tabulation, selection and grouping of all test scores and related data but IBM equipment was not available for statistical computations. 

PROCEDURES FOR ANALYZING DATA 

Initially, the relationship between Creativity and Intelligence -was set down by means of a simple bar graph for a sampling from Grade 8 and of complete data for Grade 11. 

Relationships between the two variables are parallel for the two groups in three respects. 

1) A range through all 5 quintiles on IQ for the HIGH QUINTILE on Creativity is- evident on both graphs. 

2) The highest IQ does not appear in the top quintile on Creativity but it does occur in the next quintile for both groups; and finally 

3) if the column representing each quintile were visualized as a distribution curve it would approximate a "normal" curve. 

From this point data for grade 11 only will be used. It is startling to note that for grade 11 data the highest IQ for the low quintiles (1 and 11) were the same (133), and for the quintiles (III and V) were the same (136). The difference (3 IQ points) between quintile I and V is not a significant difference. Likewise quintiles I and II range down to 77 and 80 IQ respectively, While the low IQ for quintiles III and V are identical (95). 

The next step in determining the relationship between the two variables for grade 2.1 was application of a simple adaptation of the "corner test", which yielded the following approximate results 

1. For the total data, the correlation between the two variables is positive and significant. 

2. For quintiles V (highest), IV, III and II no significant negative or positive correlation exists between the variables., although quintile IV borders on significance.

 3. For quintile I (lowest) the correlation is both positive and decisive.

From this data, two inferences were possible, (1) ‘that the quintiles (approximately 62 points in each) represented a sampling so small as to mask the significant relationship between the two variables or (2) that the apparent significant correlation for the total data ,masked the low degree of relationship between the variables for quintiles II, III, IV and V and reflected a decisive correlation for quintile I only. 

At this point a statistician familiar with educational and psychological testing was consulted. He calculated the correlation for the total data to be moderate 0.68932 (significant at the 0.05 level). The approximate findings which. the experimenter obtained by,- use of the "corner test" were further verified and the decision to accept. or reject the null-hypothesis for independence of the two variables were reported as follows: 

 

QUINTILE

DECISION

V (High) Accept
IV Accept
III Accept
II Accept
II-V Accept
I (Low) Reject

The findings supported the second inference; namely, that there is apparent independence between the two variables for each of the two top four quintiles and for quintiles II, III, IV, and V combined. The only quintile showing a significant positive correlation (at the .05 level) between creativity scores and IQs is the low quintile.

 The relationship bordering on significance for quintile IV which was detected by means of the corner test indicates less significance than was apparent because the Otis IQ means (112 and 121) for the two high (IV and V) quintiles are equivalent by variance analysis. 

Data for grade 11 was further analyzed for the purpose of isolating the "High IQ" (the high quintile in IQ but not the high quintile on Creativity) and "High Creative" (high quintile on Creativity but not in the high quintile on IQ) groups following the pattern devised by Getzels and Jackson. 

MEAN IQ SCORES (OTIS, SHORT FM) 

Mean average grades for Grade 11 for total population and four selected groups 

 

 

Total Population

Grade 11

High IQ

(Exclusive of High Creativity)

High Creativity

(Exclusive of High IQ)

Overlap Group

(45.31%)

High on Both Creativity + IQ

Quintile 3 on Creativity
Number N=312 N=35 N=33 N=29 N=63
Mean IQ 113.22 128.4 114.06 129.30 114.98
Mean Average Grade for 11th Grade 76.21 80.96 80.78 84.56 74.95

 TABLE I 

In addition, the overlap group (high quintile on both) which was eliminated from their study was included; it appears in this table, column 4 and will be discussed later. Although the statistical computations are not complete for these groups, it would appear that the findings of Torrance, Getzels and Jackson are supported: "despite sizeable differences in IQ, the two groups are equally superior in achievement to the population from which they were drawn." "Achievement" here refers to scores on standardized achievement tests. Considerably lower school grades for high creatives were reported elsewhere in the Getzels, Jackson study, and have been cited5 as one indication that measures of ability and school achievement commonly used discriminate against the highly creative student applying for college admission. 

However, in the data used by this experimenter, average school grades for the eleventh grade were substituted for the standardized achievement tests as a measure of achievement. Apparently school grades are depressed less for high creative students in West Hempstead than in other schools studied. This contra-indication may reflect certain Unique features of levels and grading; briefly, (1) that many factors are used in determining "homogeneous -groups" at West Hempstead rather than the three factors Commonly- used (IQ, grade average and/or reading level). (2 that curricula should vary but are academic in nature for all of different levels, (3)) that the complete range of grades from 50 - 100- is possible for any,- student at any level. The effect of other variables upon these will be Considered as the study continues. 

The 45 31% of overlap (Column 4) between the High Creative and the High IQ groups is markedly higher than that reported by seven of the nine schools, elementary through high school which have been reported by Drs. Getzels, Jackson and Torrance. 

Of the "contra-indication’" in the findings for the two "atypical" schools for which the overlap was 40.5,4 and 51.8% Dr. Torrance said, "In these two schools,, there is a stronger tendency than in the others for the highly creative also to be highly intelligent. This phenomenon may be due in part to the nature of the distribution of talent in ‘these schools or to the nature of the measures of intellective talent used."7In the two schools to which this statement refers the California Mental Maturity and the Lorge Thorndike tests were used; in the present study the Otis Short Form. 

In view of the fact that of ‘the nine schools involved in these studies, the only one reporting a comparably high percent of overlap was also a high school and that data here presented is for an 11th grade group, we can infer that high school groups may tend to have more highly creative students who are also highly intelligent or -that High Creatives who survive to grade 11 have demonstrated adaptive patterns resembling- those of the high IQs. Or we may infer that the population of West Hempstead High School at least that of grade 11 is atypical in this regard as compared to those in 7 out of 9 other reported studies. A more careful examination of data for

 6. IBID p.24 

7. IBID PP 58-59 


this group and for grade 8 will undoubtedly throw more light on the meaning of the atypical results so far observed. 

TABLE 2  

Top Quintile Creativity Scores

Distribution by IQ

Grade 11 N=62
IQ % of Total
1 130-136 22.58
2 120-129 37.09
3 110-119 (114-119) 30.64 (23.07)*
4 100-109 8.06
5 95-99 1.61
99.98

Mean 113 

*For sub-group of No. 3 above, a slightly higher percentage of scores fall in the 114-119 range than in the 130-136 range. 

Dr Torrance summarizes his findings by observing "that most creative children achieve Iqs in the 120’s or slightly under and that these children achieve quite well, generally".8 Let us examine the data with these limits in mind. Although in the total student population tested there is a normal distribution of IQs, skewed slightly to the high side, the highest percentage of those in the high quintile on creativity (37%) fall in the 120-129 IQ range; the next highest (30%) in the 110-119 range. Keeping clearly in mind that a clustering about the mean (113 IQ) occurs, as many highly creative boys and girls have IQs in the 114-119 range as in the 130-136 range for the group studied. 

Or suppose that a Principal requested that only the "top 15%" of grade 11 were to be placed in "advanced" classes. 15% on what basis? If on IQ alone (cutoff of 123) we could include only 35.48% of those in our top quintile on creativity. On the basis of academic achievement (average grade of 84 or above) we could include 37.09%, but almost 2/3 of our top 10% on creativity scores would be eliminated in either case. If we based our selection on 

8. IBID p.63 


reading level the top 15% would range from 99+ downward to the 94 percentile and we would include 35.48% - but in so doing we would eliminate more than 1/3 of the top 10%. On the basis of any one of these criteria, approximately. one third of the highly creative group would be selected for classes for the gifted - and in each case they would be different individuals. We would also have left out from 1/3 to 2/3 of the most highly creative (top 10%). 

But other methods may be closer to the experience of schools wno have set up easily administered methods of identifyin4, the "able" or the "high ability" students. (Table 3) Granted, these are arbitrary "cut-off" methods, but with the vogue of abi1ity grouping comes the necessity for some degree of arbitrariness - the more arbitrary the simpler to administer. 

An exploration of publications on the gifted common through the 1950’s and even venturing into the 1960’s shows IQ used as a cut,-off frequently coupled with evidence of high "classroom performance" as measured by average grades. This method eliminates both the "underachievers" and the "overachievers", the "underachievers" being those whose reported IQs indicate average to, high ability who for reasons usually not known have not received comparably high grades in school, and the "overachievers" being those who are receiving grades as high as or higher than students with. significantly higher reported lQs. Both "under" and "over" achievers are liberally represented in the high quintile on creativity scores. 

For the purpose of inquiring further into implications for grouping;, placing and counseling with students, this experimenter surveyed methods used by eight school systems for determining selection of students for "advanced" groups. For comparison, two "projected" sets of criteria were added. (Table 3) 

If we were to use 130 IQ alone as the criterion for identification of the gifted in the group under study, 77% of the high quintile on Creativity scores would be eliminated. Add a classroom- achievement requirement of 90 grade and 93% would be eliminated; lower the achievement requirement to 85 class average and 90% would still be eliminated. 

By lowering the requirement to 125 IQ and 85 grade average, we would still exclude 77%. It is only when we use 120 IQ with no required level of grade average do we include more of our highly creative group than we exclude and in order to retain 80% of this group we must place our "cutoff" at 114. 

Two observations which are only preliminary in nature at this point, but worthy of careful study are of sufficient interest to mention here. There exists an apparent inverse relationship between the incidence of emotional problems severe enough to interfere with social or academic success in school and the degree of creativity as measured by these tests with the incidence approximately three times greater in the low quintile than in the high quintile. This indication seems to support Dr. Kubie’s belief that the freeing of the preconscious from the tyranny of conscious

 TABLE 3 

CRITERIA COMMONLY USED FOR SELECTION OF "GIFTED"* APPLIED TO HIGHLY CREATIVE STUDENTS 

IQ Grade Average Reading    
+130 90   6.45 93.55
130 85   9.67 90.33
130     22.58 77.42
126     40.32 59.68
125     41.95 58.05
125 80   32.25 67.75
125 85   22.58 77.42
120   95%ile 16.12 83.88
120**   90%ile 24.19 75.81
114**     59.67 40.33
      83.87 16.13
columns 1-3 are Criteria % Retained %Eliminated

 *Criteria used by 8 schools **Hypothetical criteria 

controls and from the tyranny of the neurotic or unconscious controls is a condition essential to creativity. 9 It also may inject a third variable into a deeper investigation of the relatively high correlation which was found to exist between creativity and intelligence in the low quintile only. 

In spite of the fact that high-creative students tend to achieve as well as high IQ students with a mean IQ of more than l4 points higher, preliminary analysis of average grades for this group reveals that almost 50% of the students in the high quintile on creativity fall In the narrow range of 74-85, grade average for the one year studied, with the highest frequencies at 79 and 81. This indication would seem to support in part the findings of Dr. MacKinnon in his study of architects;10 the group of architects for which data was reported tended to earn about a B average in college doing exceptionally well in subjects which caught their interest and being willing to do little or nothing in required courses which did not interest then. Further work will be required in order to find patterns in the school grades of our eleventh grade. But we do know that the highly creative students tend to the middle range, neither failing nor receiving high averages. 

The problem of course goes beyond inclusion of most of our high ability students as Measured by IQ tests and our high ability students as measured by creativity scores in our classes for the "gifted" or the "able" and it goes beyond the ease or difficulty of their selection. Awareness of the -need for a multidimensional approach to identification of kinds of ability leads to involvement in ‘the recognition and interpretation of the needs of these students. 

Will the climate of acceptance of the novel approach, the unanticipated answer, the concern with broad concepts and new interrelationships rather than reliance upon the required the expected and the recall of facts be of value to the "high !Qs", the "high creatives" and the "overlap -group" alike? 

As important as these groups are in our present search, scrutiny of the other four quintiles may yield as rich a return. If we consider a climate of acceptance valuable for the nurture of creativity in "gifted" students can the same climate urge a flowering of spontaneity in those students whom we consider less "gifted"? And if we find that this climate can aid in the nurture of latent as well as realized creativity are we but reinforcing what Gardner Murphy had found in 1961 when he wrote "We also believe that there is an -instinctual craving for the world of understanding - - - - He (the child) craves to discover, to think, and to find that things make sense" 

11 If this be true, then "instinctual craving" is the craving represented in all of our five quintiles, and not only the highest. 9. Kubie., Lawrence IBID 10. Mac Kinnon., Donald W., "Nature and Nurture of Creative Talent". American Psychologist, Vol. 17, No. 7, july 1962 p. 494. 11.Murphy, Gardner, Freeing Intelligence Through Teaching, Harper, NY 1961;p.31 

But how can counselors help to bring this climate of acceptance into the counseling session? The classroom? The home? 

Unless counselors assume some leadership in interpretation of needs of the creative student and in re-studying curricula, they will be sitting in their conference rooms counseling students toward self-acceptance (including acceptance of their differentness), toward fitting into the situation without sacrificing their own integrity., toward having faith in their values and abilities while parent and teacher apply pressure to fit into the pattern. You may recognize from your own experience comments such as these: 

"He was reading Sartre and Kierkegaard before the mid-year in French and never got around to reviewing grammar. Why., he is capable of much better than 76! But I couldn’t do a thing." 

"Susan has outstanding ability, but she handed in her book review three days late. By the time I deducted for lateness her grade was only 75." (Note: It was a review of "War and Peace") 

"Jeff failed or barely passed both tests this quarter (local geography, names of local government officials, organizations charts and maps) - says he sees no sense in memorizing these things." 

My assignment to the class was to write two paragraphs. Ann wrote one., and, of course, received half credit. I asked her if she understood that the assignment was two paragraphs and she said ‘Yes, but I worked it out very carefully and said all I believed worth saying in one, so I stopped’. Most students seem to want to ,get a good mark or please the teacher, but she just doesn’t seem concerned. I must say I admire her honesty, but I couldn’t give her a good mark." 

"I wish you would read this paragraph that Jim wrote in class yesterday. It goes beyond any insight I could expect of an eighth grade boy. But he refused to write the second paragraph, called it a stupid assignment. I gave him 49 out of 50 possible for one half of the assignment. What, as his counselor, do you think I should do about the grade for the paper?" 

The counselor realized that Jim was emotionally unable to reveal himself as he had been asked to do in paragraph two because in the first he had penetrated to the heart of his own personal tragedy - the gap between his values and those of family and peers. How counsel with this teacher who asks for help? 

With these comments from interviews with parents and teachers fresh in our minds let us recall again the data which we examined earlier. In neither group (grade 8 or grade 11) did the highest IQ fall in the top quintile on creativity; it did fall in the next (4th) quintile; and with one exception the highest grade average and inclusion in the first 10 in rank in class for grade 11 did not occur in the high quintile on Creativity; they fell in the next quintile. Statistically., such facts may not be significant, but they take on meaning for individual students if viewed in the light shed on the relationship between creativity and conformity by Dr. Richard S. Crutchfield of the University of California at Berkeley, Conformity tends to destroy creativity by alienating the creator both from reliance on his own thought processes and from contact with basic reality", conformity pressures tend to elicit kinds of motivation in the individual that are incompatible with the creative process" and "high susceptibility by the individual ti) conformity pressures tend to be associated with certain personality traits which are detrimental to creative thinking." 12 

In a suburban high school with strong social and cultural pressures for high grades and, acceptance at prestiege colleges from grade six to -graduation, what happens to the spirit of playfulness to which Jerome Bruner refers as the father of invention - and where does the necessity of sustained academic success fall short of bringing forth creative thinking ? 

These are frightening questions which schools must strive to answer. Let us hope- that counselors -will find themselves personally and professionally equipped to assume leadership in the use of multidimensional measures of ability - not IQ or achievement, or grades or this thing we call creativity alone. Qualities which are attributed to the last are important, and they are qualities long neglected by many. But education will not be best served by suddenly turning all attention to the neglected step-child and subjecting the others to similar neglect. When professional testmakers begin constructing a machine-scorable tests of creativity and the market is flooded with them., counselors will again need to be personally and professionally prepared to avoid the trap of easy measurement of human abilities. 

If we in education learn at all from these present inquiries into the nature of creativity, it is to find infinite variety in every boy and girl we work with. It is to find in everyone essentially 1.) a natural urge to learn and grow 2) the need for a climate of acceptance and respect in which he can respect himself as a person 3) a need for skills and disciplines which he can use as tools but never masters 4) a need for gradual substitution of his own inner values and controls which he can live by rather than blind acceptance of the values and controls of adults. 

12. Crutchfield, Richard S. - Contemporary Approaches to Creative Thinking Gruber-, Terrel & Wertheimer Ed. - Atherton Press NYC 1963 p.125 . 


And of counselors and teachers it requires enough maturity to tolerate the symptoms of growth in the young even though they be disconcerting. Most counselors and teachers -will be able to accept readily the following reference to parents made by Dr. Storr.-; but possibly with more difficulty with reference to themselves.

 "Development is often impeded by the immaturity of parents, and it is true to say that the less a parent is mature, the less ‘he can tolerate rebellion in his children, and the more does he require ‘their subservience and their agreement with him"13 

Or in the words of Dr. Elizabeth Drews "They assert their independence in many ways., saying they want to figure things out’ for themselves. They do not want . theory explained or to have teachers outline in details or to give prescriptions as to just when and in what style work must be performed - - - - for these creatively inclined adolescents certain forms of intellectual and social rebellion come early*"14 

If this be true of those "lucky ones" who have persevered, how much more do the less hardy ones need encouragement to develop along these lines? Teachers and counselors then, are responsible for respecting and accepting, but they are also responsible for establishing in the school community the need and the right of each of our students to as much as he can encompass of experience, of ideas, of books, and for not being afraid to assume leadership to these ends. 

13 Storr, Anthony The Integrity of the Personality, Penguin Books Ltd. 

14. Drews, Elizabeth, Profile of Creativity N.E.A. Journal, January 1963 pp 26-28