The 117 publications below may represent my best theoretical, empirical, and methodological journal articles. Most book chapters and books have one or more of these as the logical or factual foundation. If you would like to receive a pdf copy of a particular publication, please email your request to dksimonton@ucdavis.edu. Should you receive a copy, please note the errata when applicable.
Theoretical Analyses (20) | Research Integrations (14) | Methodological Techniques (7) | Empirical Investigations (77)
28. Simonton, D. K. (1980a). Intuition and analysis: A predictive and explanatory model. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 102, 3-60.
44. Simonton, D. K. (1984b). Creative productivity and age: A mathematical model based on a two-step cognitive process. Developmental Review, 4, 77-111 [errata].
58. Simonton, D. K. (1985c). Intelligence and personal influence in groups: Four nonlinear models. Psychological Review, 92, 532-547. See Antonakis, House & Simonton (2017) for a much belated empirical test.
164. Simonton, D. K. (1997c). Creative productivity: A predictive and explanatory model of career trajectories and landmarks. Psychological Review, 104, 66-89.
206. Simonton, D. K. (1999p). Talent and its development: An emergenic and epigenetic model. Psychological Review, 106, 435-457.
370. Simonton, D. K. (2009z).Varieties of (scientific) creativity: A hierarchical model of disposition, development, and achievement. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 441-452.
376. Simonton, D. K. (2010b). Creativity as blind-variation and selective-retention: Combinatorial models of exceptional creativity. Physics of Life Reviews, 7, 156-179.
392. Simonton, D. K. (2011b). Creativity and discovery as blind variation and selective retention: Multiple-variant definitions and blind-sighted integration. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 5, 222-228.
416. Simonton, D. K. (2012b). Creativity, problem solving, and solution set sightedness: Radically reformulating BVSR. Journal of Creative Behavior, 46, 48–65.
423. Simonton, D. K. (2012i). Foresight, insight, oversight, and hindsight in scientific discovery: How sighted were Galileo’s telescopic sightings? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 6, 243-254 [errata].
442. Simonton, D. K. (2013g). Creative problem solving as sequential BVSR: Exploration (total ignorance) versus elimination (informed guess). Thinking Skills and Creativity, 8, 1-10 [errata].
444. Simonton, D. K. (2013i). Creative thought as blind variation and selective retention: Why sightedness is inversely related to creativity. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 33, 253-266.
445. Simonton, D. K. (2013j). Creative thoughts as acts of free will: A two-stage formal integration. Review of General Psychology, 17, 374–383.
474. Simonton, D. K. (2014l). The mad-genius paradox: Can creative people be more mentally healthy but highly creative people more mentally ill? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9, 470-480.
492. Simonton, D. K. (2015j). On praising convergent thinking: Creativity as blind variation and selective retention. Creativity Research Journal, 27, 262-270 [errata].
500. Simonton, D. K. (2016c). Creativity, automaticity, irrationality, fortuity, fantasy, and other contingencies: An eightfold response typology. Review of General Psychology, 20, 194-204.
530. Simonton, D. K. (2018b). Creative genius as causal agent in history: William James’s 1880 theory revisited and revitalized. Review of General Psychology, 22, 406-420.
535 Simonton, D. K. (2018g). Defining creativity: Don’t we also need to define what is not creative? Journal of Creative Behavior, 52, 80-90.
580. Simonton, D. K. (2021h, August 23). Scientific creativity: Discovery and invention as combinatorial. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 721104.
588. Simonton, D. K. (2023a). The blind-variation and selective-retention theory of creativity: The development and current status of BVSR. Creativity Research Journal, 35, 304-323. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2022.2059919 (online open access). [errata]
81. Simonton, D. K. (1988a). Age and outstanding achievement: What do we know after a century of research? Psychological Bulletin, 104, 251-267.
196. Simonton, D. K. (1999f). Creativity as blind variation and selective retention: Is the creative process Darwinian? Psychological Inquiry, 10, 309-328.
212. Simonton, D. K. (2000e). Creativity: Cognitive, developmental, personal, and social aspects. American Psychologist, 55, 151-158.
261. Simonton, D. K. (2003o). Scientific creativity as constrained stochastic behavior: The integration of product, process, and person perspectives. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 475-494.
349. Simonton, D. K. (2009d). Cinematic success criteria and their predictors: The art and business of the film industry. Psychology and Marketing, 26, 400-420.
364. Simonton, D. K. (2009t). The “other IQ”: Historiometric assessments of intelligence and related constructs. Review of General Psychology, 13, 315-326.
389. Simonton, D. K., & Ting, S.-S. (2010). Creativity in Eastern and Western civilizations: The lessons of historiometry. Management and Organization Review, 6, 329-350.
394. Simonton, D. K. (2011c). Creativity and discovery as blind variation: Campbell’s (1960) BVSR model after the half-century mark. Review of General Psychology, 15, 158-174 [erratum].
417. Simonton, D. K. (2012c). Creative genius as a personality phenomenon: Definitions, methods, findings, and issues. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6, 691-706.
465. Simonton, D. K. (2014d). Creative performance, expertise acquisition, individual-differences, and developmental antecedents: An integrative research agenda. Intelligence, 45, 66-73.
509. Simonton, D. K. (2016m). Reverse engineering genius: Historiometric studies of exceptional talent. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1377, 3-9.
541. Simonton, D. K. (2018m). Intellectual brilliance and presidential performance: Why pure intelligence (or openness) doesn’t suffice. Journal of Intelligence, 6, 18; doi:10.3390/jintelligence6020018
547. Simonton, D. K. (2019d). Creativity and psychopathology: The tenacious mad-genius controversy updated. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 27, 17-21.
565. Simonton, D. K. (2020d). Galton, Terman, Cox: The distinctive Volume II in Genetic Studies of Genius. Gifted Child Quarterly, 64, 275-284.
16. Simonton, D. K. (1977b). Cross-sectional time-series experiments: Some suggested statistical analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 84, 489-502 [erratum].
205. Simonton, D. K. (1999o). Significant samples: The psychological study of eminent individuals. Psychological Methods, 4, 425-451.
258. Simonton, D. K. (2003l). Qualitative and quantitative analyses of historical data. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 617-640.
328. Pardoe, I., & Simonton, D. K. (2008). Applying discrete choice models to predict Academy Award winners. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 171, 375-394.
342. Simonton, D. K. (2008l). Scientific talent, training, and performance: Intellect, personality, and genetic endowment. Review of General Psychology, 12, 28-46 [erratum].
364. Simonton, D. K. (2009q). Historiometry in personality and social psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 3, 49-63.
510. Simonton, D. K. (2016n). Scientific genius in Islamic civilization: Quantified time series from qualitative historical narratives. Journal of Genius and Eminence, 1, 4-13.
Of Eminence (Multiple Regression, Structural Equation Models, and Confirmatory Factor Analyses)
8. Simonton, D. K. (1976a). Biographical determinants of achieved eminence: A multivariate approach to the Cox data. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 218-226.
13. Simonton, D. K. (1976f). Philosophical eminence, beliefs, and zeitgeist: An individual-generational analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 630-640.
17. Simonton, D. K. (1977c). Eminence, creativity, and geographic marginality: A recursive structural equation model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 805-816.
43. Simonton, D. K. (1984a). Artistic creativity and interpersonal relationships across and within generations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 1273-1286.
108. Simonton, D. K. (1991e). Latent-variable models of posthumous reputation: A quest for Galton’s G. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 607-619.
174. Simonton, D. K. (1998a). Achieved eminence in minority and majority cultures: Convergence versus divergence in the assessments of 294 African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 804-817 [erratum].
332. Simonton, D. K. (2008b). Childhood giftedness and adulthood genius: A historiometric analysis of 291 eminent African Americans. Gifted Child Quarterly, 52, 243-255.
354. Simonton, D. K., & Song, A. V. (2009). Eminence, IQ, physical and mental health, and achievement domain: Cox’s 282 geniuses revisited. Psychological Science, 20, 429-434.
475. Simonton, D. K. (2014m). More method in the mad-genius controversy: A historiometric study of 204 historic creators. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 8, 53-61.
482. Damian, R. I., & Simonton, D. K. (2015). Psychopathology, adversity, and creativity: Diversifying experiences in the development of eminent African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108, 623-636.
Of Genius (Generational Time-Series Analyses)
7. Simonton, D. K. (1975f). Sociocultural context of individual creativity: A transhistorical time-series analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 1119-1133.
10. Simonton, D. K. (1976c). Do Sorokin’s data support his theory?: A study of generational fluctuations in philosophical beliefs. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 15, 187-198 [erratum].
14. Simonton, D. K. (1976g). The sociopolitical context of philosophical beliefs: A transhistorical causal analysis. Social Forces, 54, 513-523.
84. Simonton, D. K. (1988d). Galtonian genius, Kroeberian configurations, and emulation: A generational time-series analysis of Chinese civilization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 230-238.
114. Simonton, D. K. (1992b). Gender and genius in Japan: Feminine eminence in masculine culture. Sex Roles, 27, 101-119.
167. Simonton, D. K. (1997f). Foreign influence and national achievement: The impact of open milieus on Japanese civilization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 86-94.
542. Simonton, D. K. (2018n). Intellectual genius in the Islamic Golden Age: Cross-civilization replications, extensions, and modifications. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 12, 125-135.
Of Creative Productivity (Life-Span Developmental Analyses)
2. Simonton, D. K. (1975a). Age and literary creativity: A cross-cultural and transhistorical survey. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 6, 259-277.
15. Simonton, D. K. (1977a). Creative productivity, age, and stress: A biographical time-series analysis of 10 classical composers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 791-804 [erratum].
104. Simonton, D. K. (1991a). Career landmarks in science: Individual differences and interdisciplinary contrasts. Developmental Psychology, 27, 119-130.
106. Simonton, D. K. (1991c). Emergence and realization of genius: The lives and works of 120 classical composers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 829-840 [erratum].
210. Simonton, D. K. (2000c). Creative development as acquired expertise: Theoretical issues and an empirical test. Developmental Review, 20, 283-318.
312. Simonton, D. K. (2007f). Creative life cycles in literature: Poets versus novelists or conceptualists versus experimentalists? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 1, 133-139 [erratum].
496. Simonton, D. K. (2015n). Thomas Alva Edison’s creative career: The multilayered trajectory of trials, errors, failures, and triumphs. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 9, 25-34 [errata].
Of Psychological Science in Historical, Philosophical, and Psychological Context (Scientometric and Historiometric Analyses)
116. Simonton, D. K. (1992d). Leaders of American psychology, 1879-1967: Career development, creative output, and professional achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 5-17.
141. Simonton, D. K. (1995b). Behavioral laws in histories of psychology: Psychological science, metascience, and the psychology of science. Psychological Inquiry, 6, 89-114.
216. Simonton, D. K. (2000i). Methodological and theoretical orientation and the long-term disciplinary impact of 54 eminent psychologists. Review of General Psychology, 4, 13-24.
275. Simonton, D. K. (2004g). Psychology’s status as a scientific discipline: Its empirical placement within an implicit hierarchy of the sciences. Review of General Psychology, 8, 59-67 [erratum].
305. Simonton, D. K. (2006m). Scientific status of disciplines, individuals, and ideas: Empirical analyses of the potential impact of theory. Review of General Psychology, 10, 98-112.
336. Simonton, D. K. (2008f). Gender differences in birth order and family size among 186 eminent psychologists. Journal of Psychology of Science and Technology, 1, 15-22.
412. Overskeid, G., Grønnerød, C., & Simonton, D. K. (2012). The personality of a nonperson: Gauging the inner Skinner. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 187-197.
493. Simonton, D. K. (2015k). Psychology as a science within Comte’s hypothesized hierarchy: Empirical investigations and conceptual implications. Review of General Psychology, 19, 334-344 [erratum].
523. Simonton, D. K. (2017i). Eminent female psychologists in family context: Historical trends for 80 women born 1847-1950. Journal of Genius and Eminence, 1(2), 15-25.
530. Simonton, D. K. (2018a). Achieved eminence in 80 female psychologists: Family, marriage, children, education, career, and contributions. Journal of Genius and Eminence, 3, 1-12.
Of Leadership (Quantitative Biographical Analyses)
29. Simonton, D. K. (1980b). Land battles, generals, and armies: Individual and situational determinants of victory and casualties. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 110-119.
34. Simonton, D. K. (1981b). Presidential greatness and performance: Can we predict leadership in the White House? Journal of Personality, 49, 306-323.
41. Simonton, D. K. (1983d). Intergenerational transfer of individual differences in hereditary monarchs: Genes, role-modeling, cohort, or sociocultural effects? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 354-364.
50. Simonton, D. K. (1984h). Leaders as eponyms: Individual and situational determinants of monarchal eminence. Journal of Personality, 52, 1-21.
60. Simonton, D. K. (1985e). The vice-presidential succession effect: Individual or situational basis? Political Behavior, 7, 79-99.
70. Simonton, D. K. (1986j). Presidential greatness: The historical consensus and its psychological significance. Political Psychology, 7, 259-283.
71. Simonton, D. K. (1986k). Presidential personality: Biographical use of the Gough Adjective Check List. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 149-160 [erratum].
86. Simonton, D. K. (1988f). Presidential style: Personality, biography, and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 928-936.
110. Simonton, D. K. (1991g). Predicting presidential greatness: An alternative to the Kenney and Rice Contextual Index. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 21, 301-305.
158. Simonton, D. K. (1996g). Presidents’ wives and First Ladies: On achieving eminence within a traditional gender role. Sex Roles, 35, 309-336.
184. Simonton, D. K. (1998k). Mad King George: The impact of personal and political stress on mental and physical health. Journal of Personality, 66, 443-466.
229. Simonton, D. K. (2001g). Predicting presidential greatness: Equation replication on recent survey results. Journal of Social Psychology, 141, 293-307.
303. Simonton, D. K. (2006k). Presidential IQ, Openness, Intellectual Brilliance, and leadership: Estimates and correlations for 42 US chief executives. Political Psychology, 27, 511-639.
Of Creativity, Discovery, and Aesthetics (Product-Unit Analyses):
In Classical Music
31. Simonton, D. K. (1980d). Thematic fame and melodic originality in classical music: A multivariate computer-content analysis. Journal of Personality, 48, 206-219.
32. Simonton, D. K. (1980e). Thematic fame, melodic originality, and musical zeitgeist: A biographical and transhistorical content analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 972-983.
51. Simonton, D. K. (1984i). Melodic structure and note transition probabilities: A content analysis of 15,618 classical themes. Psychology of Music, 12, 3-16.
92. Simonton, D. K. (1989f). The swan-song phenomenon: Last-works effects for 172 classical composers. Psychology and Aging, 4, 42-47.
131. Simonton, D. K. (1994a). Computer content analysis of melodic structure: Classical composers and their compositions. Psychology of Music, 22, 31-43.
145. Simonton, D. K. (1995f). Drawing inferences from symphonic programs: Musical attributes versus listener attributions. Music Perception, 12, 307-322.
180. Simonton, D. K. (1998g). Fickle fashion versus immortal fame: Transhistorical assessments of creative products in the opera house. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 198-210.
491. Simonton, D. K. (2015i). Numerical odds and evens in Beethoven’s nine symphonies: Can a computer really tell the difference? Empirical Studies of the Arts, 33, 18-35.
In the Shakespeare Canon
69. Simonton, D. K. (1986i). Popularity, content, and context in 37 Shakespeare plays. Poetics, 15, 493-510 [errata].
91. Simonton, D. K. (1989d). Shakespeare’s sonnets: A case of and for single-case historiometry. Journal of Personality, 57, 695-721.
98. Simonton, D. K. (1990e). Lexical choices and aesthetic success: A computer content analysis of 154 Shakespeare sonnets. Computers and the Humanities, 24, 251-264.
278. Simonton, D. K. (2004n). Thematic content and political context in Shakespeare’s dramatic output, with implications for authorship and chronology controversies. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 22, 201-213.
In Science and Technology
21. Simonton, D. K. (1978c). Independent discovery in science and technology: A closer look at the Poisson distribution. Social Studies of Science, 8, 521-532.
24. Simonton, D. K. (1979a). Multiple discovery and invention: Zeitgeist, genius, or chance? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1603-1616.
In the Visual Arts
312. Simonton, D. K. (2007f). The creative process in Picasso’s Guernica sketches: Monotonic improvements or nonmonotonic variants? Creativity Research Journal, 19, 329-344.
390. Damian, R. I., & Simonton, D. K. (2011). From past to future art: The creative impact of Picasso’s 1935 Minotauromachy on his 1937 Guernica. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 5, 360-369 [erratum].
In Feature Film
234. Simonton, D. K. (2002a). Collaborative aesthetics in the feature film: Cinematic components predicting the differential impact of 2,323 Oscar-nominated movies. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 20, 115-125.
264. Simonton, D. K. (2004b). The “Best Actress” paradox: Outstanding feature films versus exceptional performances by women. Sex Roles, 50, 781-794.
271. Simonton, D. K. (2004f). Film awards as indicators of cinematic creativity and achievement: A quantitative comparison of the Oscars and six alternatives. Creativity Research Journal, 16, 163-172.
272. Simonton, D. K. (2004i). Group artistic creativity: Creative clusters and cinematic success in 1,327 feature films. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34, 1494-1520.
281. Simonton, D. K. (2005c). Cinematic creativity and production budgets: Does money make the movie? Journal of Creative Behavior, 39, 1-15.
285. Simonton, D. K. (2005g). Film as art versus film as business: Differential correlates of screenplay characteristics. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 23, 93-117 [erratum].
310. Simonton, D. K. (2007d). Cinema composers: Career trajectories for creative productivity in film music. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 1, 160-169 [errata].
317. Simonton, D. K. (2007k). Film music: Are award-winning scores and songs heard in successful motion pictures? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 1, 53-60.
320. Simonton, D. K. (2007n). Is bad art the opposite of good art? Positive versus negative cinematic assessments of 877 feature films. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 25, 121-143 [erratum].
330. Pardoe, I., & Simonton, D. K. (2008). Applying discrete choice models to predict Academy Award winners. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 171, 375-394.
346. Cerridwen, A., & Simonton, D. K. (2009). Sex doesn’t sell – nor impress: Content, box office, critics, and awards in mainstream cinema. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 3, 200-210.
350. Simonton, D. K. (2009d). Cinematic success, aesthetics, and economics: An exploratory recursive model. Psychology of Creativity, Aesthetics, and the Arts, 3, 128-138.
352. Simonton, D. K. (2009f). Controversial and volatile flicks: Contemporary consensus and temporal stability in film critic assessments. Creativity Research Journal, 21, 311-318.
433. Simonton, D. K., Graham, J., & Kaufman, J. C. (2012). Consensus and contrasts in consumers’ cinematic assessments: Gender, age, and nationality in rating the top-250 films. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 1, 87-96.
434. Simonton, D. K., Skidmore, L. E. & Kaufman, J. C. (2012). Mature cinematic content for immature minds: “Pushing the envelope” versus “toning it down” in family films. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 30, 143-166.