Perspectives on Creativity: The Biographical Method

This volume addresses the methodological problems inherent in using individual biographies as vehicles for advancing the understanding of creativity. In addition to discussing general problems, this volume contains illustrations of the application of a variety of psycho-biographical strategies. The research from these sample biographies demonstrates the manner in which biographical data may be turned into scientific propositions. The most important new idea in the book (which is in many ways a primer of psycho-biography) is the distinction made between biographical methods primarily based on an empathic approach to the data and what the authors call conceptual methods that rely on deduction from some theoretical schema. To date the literature has been entirely lacking in guidelines for the biographer interested in the psychological dimensions of his/her task and, by extension, the creativity researcher as well. This book is intended to fill this gap.