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PAUL TORRANCE, KAROU YAMAMOTO

AND PAUL HENRICKSON


PRESENTED by:
Paul Henrickson retrospecting
on intellectual and creative
inheritance regarding E.Paul
Torrance and Kaoru
Yamamoto.
by Paul Henrickson, PhD. tm. 2o14

Henrickson on Gozo, 2012



A Henrickson crayon drawing referencing his 1984 visit to
the tourist port of Kushadasi (Turkey) the present site, more
or less, of the biblical Ephesus showing the top floor of the
apartment building he nearly purchased a one bedroom
apartment next to the building with the orange roof and on
the right side of the orange roof a crusader fort perhaps built
under the order of a Henrickson ancestor, where, today, the
harbour is filled with the scheduled tourist ship dockings and
private yaughts from Sri Lanka, the U.K. and Norway For
Henrickson a lot of romance illustrated by the flying Turkish
carpet

The Song of
the Bird a painting Henrickson gave Torrance in expectation
of his needed guidance through the rather algorithmic mind
set of the professional psychologist. Torrance once said it
represented, for him, the epitome of creative thought.

In 1960-1961 I was with E.Paul Torrance at The Bureau of
Educational Research at The University of Minnesota along
with an Australian (whose name I do not remember) Kevser
Arsan from Turkey, who was very proud of her fur coat a
smart-arse American who led the Australian a merry pathway
for what reasons I hadnt the time to discover and
Baldevrage Luthra from India who looked longing for the
time when he would raise roses in the Kashmir and Kaoru
Yamamoto who may be the only one Henrickson knew at
that time who has been able, in anyway, to continue with
Torrances work. While Yamamoto seems concerned about
the environment of the child there seems no evidence of an
interest in their creative behaviour.
In some primary way this article is trying to address the
matter of intellectual inheritance. When Torrance expressed
concern , at the time he knew he was dying, that there was
no one to carry on his work he was, One should think,
including his associates at both institution, that is The
University of Minnesota and the University of Georgia. While
Henrickson was relatively familiar with those mentioned
above as being at The Bureau the only one in Georgia he
remembers was Mary Frazier and the patience, concern and
insight her personality projected not only made her the most
likely if not the only candidate for that job, but what clinched
that result was that she was fully aware of her surroundings
(both the personality and intellectual aspects of it) and took
the job on...at least for awhile. Later one Bonnie Cramond
seemed to be the director who was charming but ineffectual
and finally and most recently there is Mark Runco
Torrance, at that time seemed like a man with ideas and
assets and heirs who sometimes has a difficulty in making
decisions as to how and to whom certain assets should be
left. History has many examples of how difficult such
decisions can be and how, in some cases, the wrong
decisions are made. I believe Torrance felt that somehow
someone like Mary Frazier might emerge.

Torrance had , in so far as I know, no natural heirs and also,
in so far as I know, he left his home and its contents
(including The Song of the Bird painting shown here) to the
fellow caring for him. I imagine he left most of his intellectual
property to The University of Georgia in the expectation that
someone in that organization might make a proper decision
at the proper time. I am, at this date, not of the opinion that
they were able to accomplish that.
In an aside I think it might be helpful to disclose some of my
heretofore, un enunciated opinions of Torrances character.
Whatever the source of the inhibition, or whatever the
reason it seems to me Torrance was functionally incapable of
making a condemning decision about anyone. This, of course,
would make him a prime victim for those who seek out
others to manipulate for their own advantage, such as, I
believe, Teresa Amabile who secured from him recognition
for her work which, judging from her one report which
caused a somewhat critical stir in the professional arena
telling us that creative people lied as much as non-creative
people.
In addition to the fact Henricksons research of 1971 The
Perceptive and Silenced Minorities indicated quite the
opposite I seriously doubt that Torrance would not have
instinctively known that creative people do not lie. Of course,
the question as to what definition one uses for creative
comes into play and, conceivably if one measures creativity in
the area of deceit our conclusions will be different.
In Amabiles case it is my understanding that other
researchers have criticised her for having used a biased
sampling of subjects...subjects, already disposed to
misrepresent and to deceive. This like those described by
John Lash and Thomas Sheridan are considered serious
character flaws which divert innocent attention from the real
to the fake amusing in the case of the parrot sounding like an
opera singer and less amusingly like Simon Magus trying to
talk Simon Peter into selling Christs secret of raising the
dead.
I am not of the opinion that Torrance was a great judge of
women and one employing a certain charm could achieve a
great deal. This, not very socially oriented lack of perception
into the motives of others could have also made him
particularly subject to the good ole boy fraternal abuse. If
anything, Torrance was a southern gentleman in all its
aspects and would suffer fools and insults silently waiting
for a better day.
Regrettably the appointments to the position made by those
in authority at the University of Georgia either 1) failed to
understand the issues involved, or 2) didnt care to
understand them, either of these qualities would have
disqualified them as leaders at a University for they seem to
simply to stand by and watch while more personally
ambitious, or simply housekeepers assumed the role of
intellectual leadership. This is malfeasance. and in the light of
what now is not being done, is criminal for a valuable
approach to benefiting humanity has been laid aside and, in
the minds of some, hopefully forgotten.
Perhaps it would be helpful were I to explain my presence at
The Bureau of Educational Research in Minneapolis. I had
delayed in applying for a repeat of my assistantship in the Art
Education Department and so, lost it. However, through the
kindness of Clifton Gaynes who was then Head of that
Department I applied to Torrance and was immediately
accepted.
Torrance never explained what, if anything, he expected me
to do. I simply made myself available and in that particular
environment surrounded by other semi-professional
graduate students filled with the vain self-importance so
characteristic of that type at that level I immediately decided
to withdraw from badly focused and useless competition.
Kaoru Yamamoto was , at that time, the only one in whom I
recognized any legitimate academic value or for whom I
generated any professional respect. The one response we
shared in common was the social device of no-involvement
with peers . He kept to himself, I kept to myself and that, as
well, was what Torrance did. Torrance was not an office task
master. He wanted to do what he needed to do in his own
mental world and so, Yamamoto and myself (individually) did
the same. All the others, with the exception of Baldevrage
Luthra, who was sufficiently Buddhist in nature to be content
to watch how reality unfolded itself, behaved
noncommittally.
Consequently, it may well be that Torrances fears, expressed
after his stroke, might be realized there will be no one to
continue his studies. It is regrettable that Mark Runco who
now, it appears, may be in charge of the Torrance Creativity
Center at The University of Georgia may be actively involved
in dismantling that work when he published comments
urging that creative student be taught to be more discreet.
Of course, we may not really know what he means by the
term discreet but, in general, according to some
expectations for social behaviour it means do not speak
your mind, keep you opinions to yourself and, most
frankly, it means suffer in silence or in some Christian
understanding turn the other cheek I think it correct to say
that all those above, with the exception of the last, are
attitudes Torrance would not support.
Consequently, it would appear, I may be the only one from
that Minnesota group who is, in any direct way, continuing
that work. Of all those others I am probably the least likely
to have been thought to do so.
In an effort to distinguish myself from the one dozen or so
graduate students working with Torrance and, perhaps, as
evidence of explanation for any perceived aberrations I
include the score sheet Torrance provided those he had
tested on various measures.
HENRICKSON SCORE on the TORRANCE INVENTORY
Henrickson.score...................................Class average
Personality Theory pre-test 18 17.8
Creative motivation 28 20.1
critical motivation 4 5.8
Intellectual autonomy 29 23.9
Certiant Motivation 8 10.3
Power Motivation 6 8.7
Quest for Meaning 8 5.9
Quest for Social Relations 8 20.6
rejection of social relations 8.2 7.3
complexity 52 33
;iberality 67 55.1
Originality 67 63.1
Thinking Introversion 52 41
Celebrating my 83rd. Celebrating
Henricksons 83rd \
Family Triptych
Bruce Chatwin makes his surprising
appearance in this account for his unusual and
noteworthy ability to inspirationally and intuitionally
detect the genuine from the fake in the area of art
criticism. This ability which uses a very different kind of
evidential material from that of the statistician
indicates very strongly that there is an entire area of
human mind set research largely ignored by those who
like to count and believe that the sum of a column of
figures describes a reality.
This difference has been central to Henricksons
intellectual life.
If there is a describable difference between the work of
Yamamoto and that of Henrickson it may lie here
where Yamamoto describes the apprehensions the
child may have and Henrickson describes the symbolic
effort the individual, child or adult, makes to bring a
satisfactory order to those perceptions.
Henrickson is, at this time, uninvolved in any direct way
with any academic institution having been retired for
several years but maintains some contact with
intelligent individuals who are aware of his interests
(photograph above) and the painting shown here
demonstrates the solution to a suspicion that only later
was evidence found. This second image is another
work (painted in 1988) that demonstrates the
possibility that artists, at times, are responsive to
environmental factors before they become a
functioning reality.
Towers by Paul Henrickson
\
The Small World Of Kids`
Fears
June 17, 1988|By Joseph B. Verrengia, Scripps Howard News Service.
In the era of AIDS, cocaine and the bomb, what children
around the world say they fear most is losing a parent,
going blind or wetting their pants in class, a University of
Colorado study shows.
Kaoru Yamamoto, a psychologist and professor of
education, said interviews with youngsters in six nations
have convinced him that no matter where they were born
children live in their own limited spheres.

He said children are acutely concerned about their own
security and dignity-far more than parents and teachers
may realize-whether the issue is being promoted in school
or being picked last for the kickball team at recess.
``When children are young, their fears are very much
personalized,``
Yamamoto said. ``When we stop to think about it, we
honestly don`t know our children.``
Yamamoto interviewed 1,814 children in grades 3 through 9
from Australia, Canada, Egypt, Japan, the Philippines and
the United States. Each child was given a list of stressful
events and asked to rate how unpleasant each event would
be on a scale of 1 to 7.
He found boys and girls had the same fears and that there
were no major differences among grades or cultures.
Without exception, these children, who were too old to
imagine monsters under their beds, rated their worst fear to
be ``losing my mother or father,`` whether it be by death,
divorce or being left behind in a department store.
Not far behind, at No. 5, was another family fear: fights
between parents. These disagreements were closely linked
to the children`s fear of losing a parent through
abandonment or rejection, he said.
If the family fights escalate, Yamamoto said, the children
suffer an overwhelming feeling of helplessness and, in
some cases, fear for their own safety.
``They are not sure who the aggression is aimed at, and
they are quite concerned about getting hurt,`` he said.
``There aren`t many things children can do when they are
caught in the cross fire. Sometimes they looked at me and
said, `What can I do?` ``
Though the children`s fears were much the same
worldwide, they did reflect some wry and subtle cultural
differences, according to Yamamoto.
In Japan, where a vast number of children wear
eyeglasses, he said they thought it meant they would
eventually go blind as adults.
In Egypt, Yamamoto assumed that the poor quality of
health care in the impoverished, crowded country was the
basis for the children`s fear of losing their sight. But his
interviews revealed that it came from a less obvious source.
``It turns out that in Arab cultures the common curse `May
Allah strike you blind` is a very serious threat,`` he said.
``These kids were keenly aware of it.``

Yamamoto has been analyzing childhood stress and fears
since 1979. He also has interviewed 167 teachers, child-
development experts and college students about the events
they think would be most stressful to children.
In 16 of 20 categories, adults` predictions of how children
would rank their fears were off the mark.
The most glaring difference: The adults said they thought
``having a new brother or sister`` would top the list. The
children rated it last.
``Going to the dentist`` was another fear adults predicted
would be high on the list. But the children rated it 18th.
``For two people who have lived side by side for such a
long time, the adult and the child appear to know amazingly
little about each other,``
Yamamoto said.
``It`s not an indictment of the parents-most of them do their
level best. But we don`t realize what we`re doing to kids,
who can`t always articulate why they`re upset.``
At this time both Yamamoto and Henrickson are retired and
this writer is uncertain as to whether Yamamoto has
continued his studies and currently publishes, but
Henrickson uses www.scribd.com as an outlet for his work
in this area.

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