This article highlights studies conducted before 1950 that attempted to provide insights into varying aspects of human ability such as genius and giftedness. Particular attention is given to a 1767 publication on the qualities of original genius written by William Duff and the relevance of Duff's thoughts to the current examination of creativity.…

Briefly discussed are several issues and studies associated with the identification of culturally different gifted students. (DLS)

In the first study of the term "genius", 349 undergraduates nominated three geniuses in 1984, 1991, 1993, 1994, and 1997. Einstein was regarded as a stereotypical genius, while other nominees were subjective and transitory. In the second study, nominated geniuses were agreed to on only 26.2 percent of possible occasions. (Contains…

The paper describes methods of identifying giftedness, instruments for assessing creativity, and the need for a single measure of many different kinds of talent. Development of the Khatena-Morse Multitalent Perception Inventory, which identifies talent in the areas of art, music, leadership, and creativity, is discussed. (JDD)

A Likert style questionnaire consisting of 60 adjectives was administered to 451 undergraduates from Beijing, Guangzhou, Taipei, and Hong Kong. Results show the core characteristics of creativity that were identical in all the samples are originality, innovativeness, thinking and observation skills, flexibility, willingness to try, self…

A reanalysis of data from three previously published studies on whether creativity is content general or content specific suggest that, contrary to the results of recent research, a content-general factor may explain 40-50% of the variance in creativity checklist scores. Results are analyzed in light of other studies. (Author/CR)