Dean Keith Simonton
Dean Keith Simonton is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. His bibliography lists more than 400 publications, including a dozen books. Among the latter are Genius, Creativity, and Leadership; Scientific Genius; Greatness; Genius and Creativity; Origins of Genius; Great Psychologists and Their Times; Creativity in Science; Genius 101; and Great Flicks.
Simonton has received the William James Book Award, Sir Francis Galton Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Study of Creativity, the Rudolf Arnheim Award for Outstanding Achievement in Psychology and the Arts, the Theoretical Innovation Prize in Personality and Social Psychology, the George A. Miller Outstanding Article Award, the E. Paul Torrance and President’s Awards from the National Association for Gifted Children, and the Robert S. Daniel Award for Four-Year College/University Teaching. He is Fellow of several professional organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Psychological Science, and ten divisions of the American Psychological Association (APA). He has served as President of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, the Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts (APA, Division 10), and the Society for General Psychology (APA, Division 1). His research covers diverse manifestations of genius, creativity, leadership, talent, and aesthetics.
Primary Interests:
- Evolution and Genetics
- Group Processes
- Personality, Individual Differences
- Political Psychology
- Research Methods, Assessment
Research Group or Laboratory:
- The Simonton Creativity Laboratory
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Video Gallery
Scientific Creativity: Discovery and Invention As Combinatorial
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48:20 Scientific Creativity: Discovery and Invention As Combinatorial
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1:11:55 Diversifying Experiences and Creative Development: Historiometric, Psychometric, and Experimental Findings
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25:44 Diversifying Experiences and Creative Development: Historiometric, Psychometric, and Experimental Findings Q&A
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1:21 "One Minute With..." Interview
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1:47:39 The Science of Genius
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58:45 What Is a Creative Idea? Formal Definitions and Cognitive Implications
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42:57 The Link Between Genius and Creativity
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46:57 Exploring Human Intelligence and What Makes a Genius
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1:02:06 The Combinatorial Theory of Creativity Q&A
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2:07:39 Creativity As Blind Variation and Selective Retention: Campbell's BVSR as Philosophy and Psychology
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1:44:05 Origins of Genius
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1:09:14 Intelligence Is Not Enough: The Genius Zone
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Books:
- Simonton, D. K. (2011). Great flicks: Scientific studies of cinematic creativity and aesthetics. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Simonton, D. K. (2009). Genius 101. New York: Springer Publishing.
- Simonton, D. K. (2004). Creativity in science: Chance, logic, genius, and zeitgeist. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
- Simonton, D. K. (2002). Great psychologists and their times: Scientific insights into psychology’s history. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
- Simonton, D. K. (1999). Origins of genius: Darwinian perspectives on creativity. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Simonton, D. K. (1994). Greatness: Who makes history and why. New York: Guilford Press.
- Simonton, D. K. (1988). Scientific genius: A psychology of science. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
- Simonton, D. K. (1984). Genius, creativity, and leadership: Historiometric inquiries. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Journal Articles:
- Simonton, D. K. (2010). Creative thought as blind-variation and selective-retention: Combinatorial models of exceptional creativity. Physics of Life Reviews, 7, 156-179.
- Simonton, D. K. (2009). Varieties of (scientific) creativity: A hierarchical model of domain-specific disposition, development, and achievement. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 441-452.
- Simonton, D. K. (2003). Qualitative and quantitative analyses of historical data. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 617-640.
- Simonton, D. K. (2003). Scientific creativity as constrained stochastic behavior: The integration of product, person, and process perspectives. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 475-494.
- Simonton, D. K. (2000). Creativity: Cognitive, personal, developmental, and social aspects. American Psychologist, 55, 151-158.
- Simonton, D. K. (1999). Significant samples: The psychological study of eminent individuals. Psychological Methods, 4, 425-451.
- Simonton, D. K. (1999). Talent and its development: An emergenic and epigenetic model. Psychological Review, 106, 435-457.
- Simonton, D. K. (1997). Creative productivity: A predictive and explanatory model of career trajectories and landmarks. Psychological Review, 104, 66-89.
- Simonton, D. K. (1991). Career landmarks in science: Individual differences and interdisciplinary contrasts. Developmental Psychology, 27, 119-130.
- Simonton, D. K. (1989). The swan-song phenomenon: Last-works effects for 172 classical composers. Psychology and Aging, 4, 42-47.
- Simonton, D. K. (1988). Age and outstanding achievement: What do we know after a century of research? Psychological Bulletin, 104, 251-267.
- Simonton, D. K. (1985). Intelligence and personal influence in groups: Four nonlinear models. Psychological Review, 92, 532-547.
Courses Taught:
Dean Keith Simonton
Department of Psychology
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, California 95616
United States of America
- Phone: (530) 852-1677
- Fax: (530) 752-2087