Preface. Prologue: The Psychologist Confronts Greatness. Birthrights and Birthmarks: Psychobiological Explanations. Acts, Affects, and Thoughts: Learning?Based and Cognitive Theories. The Creative Quest. The Drive to Succeed. Infants, Children, and Teenagers: The Famous in Their Youth. Life's Prime and Death's Advance: A Life?Span Perspective. The Importance of Intelligence. The Importance of Personality. The Significance of Psychopathology. Violence as a Shaper of History. The Influence of Attitudes and Beliefs. Imitation, Affiliation, Group Dynamics, and Leadership. Epilogue: Has the Psychologist Succeeded? Notes. References. Subject Index.
Dean Keith Simonton, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis, has published more than 100 articles and five books on various aspects of history-making personalities and events.
This is a book that might be used as a text or as a reference but
here's the great part: It can be read for enjoyment!...Simonton has
created a monument to completeness and complexity, but it is highly
readable. The book is replete with fascinating tables, lists, and
charts about individuals deemed as great who share a common
characteristic....The book is very well written, full of examples
and creative interpretation, persuasive, and up to date. This is a
great book about greatness. --Malcolm James Ree in Personnel
Psychology
Simonton's book is so comprehensive and so engagingly written that,
if major research universities regularly offered courses in the
psychology of history, Greatness: Who Makes History and Why would
be widely adopted as a text. The book is, in short, a tour de
force: spirited, erudite, and entertaining - well within the reach
of advanced undergraduates. --Philip E. Tetlock
Fascinating, thorough, varied, readable, good text for students.
--Joel Funk, Plymouth State College, New Hampshire
Everything you wanted to know--and more--about the great historical
figures who have shaped culture and society, Dean K. Simonton, our
most prolific psychologist in the field of creativity studies, has
assembled here a treasure-trove of facts and observations that will
delight the reader, and serve as a useful reference for many years
to come. --Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ph.D., The University of
Chicago, author of FLOW: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Dean Simonton's book on Greatness is a tour de force that explores
the many aspects of greatness, including intelligence, creativity,
leadership, social forces, and more. The book combines Simonton's
own pathbreaking analyses of greatness with those of others,
providing essential reading for anyone interested in what makes
some people stand out from the rest. The book is written in a
lucid, engaging style that will interest laypeople as well as
professionals in all disciplines who wish to know what makes some
people stand out from the rest. --Robert J. Sternberg, Ph.D., Yale
University, author of The Nature Of Creativity
Dean Keith Simonton has long been esteemed within the social
sciences for his pioneering studies of creativity, leadership, and
genius. Now he has produced a fascinating, accessible, and
authoritative survey of work in this area. Students and seasoned
experts are equally in his debt. --Howard Gardner, Ph.D., Harvard
University, Graduate School of Education
- Only a great book could do justice to greatness throughout the
ages, and Simonton has produced one. --Readings, 5/23/1994
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