ABSTRACT
The most extensive studies investigating the characteristics of creative individuals were conducted at the University of California at Berkeley from the 1950s to the 1970s. At the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research (IPAR), under the direction of Donald MacKinnon, psychologists examined effective functioning in a variety of fields, including architecture, creative writing, mathematics, industrial research, physical science, and engineering. The likelihood of creative success in the face of mental illness may vary considerably across disciplines. Researchers have studied characteristics specific to scientific creativity, artistic creativity, creative writing, and a host of other disciplines. It appears the patterns of intelligence and the personality characteristics necessary to be creative in the domain and field of mathematics are different from those necessary to make a contribution of equal stature in the domain and field of choreography. Virtually all research on characteristics of creative individuals reports the characteristics of European or European American men.
