In this monograph, the author presents a thesis that a genuine, pervasive innocence of perception underlies mature productive originality, and that it is based upon progression from the sense of awe and wonder and the natural spontaneity of childhood into integrated adult functioning with fine command of ways and means acquired through discipline…

Unique experiences of transcendental levels of awareness are examined relative to theories of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Plato, and C. Jung; autobiographical reports by geniuses of their creative processes; correlations measured between transcendental experiences, physiological functioning creative ability; and the effect of these experiences on…

Reviews the perspective of Donald Campbell on creative thought and argues that the role of blind variation and selective retention in Darwinian evaluation and human invention is different. Proposes that a contrast can be drawn between "smart" and "not so smart" blind variation. (CR)

Argues that while blind variation and selective retention (BVSR) may not be involved in all forms of human behavior and thought, Donald Campbell has made a compelling case that human creativity and invention involve BVSR. The complementary nature of prior and current BVSR in creative human endeavor is discussed. (Author/CR)

This introductory article discusses a blind-variation and selective-retention model of the creative process developed by Donald Campbell. According to Campbell, creativity contains three conditions: a mechanism for introducing variation, a consistent selection process, and a mechanism for preserving and reproducing selected variations. (Author/CR)

Argues that the cognitive mechanisms in human creativity are, for the most part, sighted rather than blind. Reviews attempts to apply evolutionary ideas to psychology and argues that these ideas do not apply to the psychology of human creativity. An alternative sighted-variation framework is then proposed. (Author/CR)