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GENIUS
Broadcast starting week of February 18, 2004

Listen to this program now

We see it in figures as different - and distant - as Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein: a rare combination of unusual intelligence, remarkable insight, and amazing inventiveness. It's called genius, and most of us, at one point or another, wish we had it. But what is genius, and where does it come from? Are there many types of genius? And is there any real connection between genius and madness?

Joining host Dr. Fred Goodwin are Dr. Dean Keith Simonton, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and the author of "Genius and Creativity" and "Greatness: Who Makes History and Why"; Dr. Ellen Winner, professor psychology at Boston College, who studies artistic genius; Dr. Darold Treffert, professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, and a world leading expert on Savant Syndrome, the unusual combination of severe mental disability and intellectual giftedness; and Dr. Harold Bloom, eminent literary and cultural critic, Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University, and the author of Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Minds. Plus commentary by John Hockenberry.

Dr. Fred Goodwin begins with an essay exploring the nature of genius as something more than simply unusual intelligence. Genius, Dr. Goodwin suggests, is also about creative thought, courage, determination, and a willingness to look at things from new and surprising perspectives. While he doesn't claim to be a genius, Dr. Goodwin offers an example from the earlier part of his own career as a psychiatric researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health. Engaging in biologically oriented research which was new for him, Dr. Goodwin says his own ignorance of some accepted wisdom in the field - regarding lithium and manic depressive illness - led to an important discovery about the illness and its treatment. Dr. Goodwin suggests he might never have made this discovery had he been more familiar with common thought and practice. Instead, his mind was open to new possibilities and unusual ways of considering the problem before him.

Following Dr. Goodwin's essay, we hear the first-person account of teenage genius Gregory Smith. With an IQ in the top one-fourth of one percent in the world, Smith has been on the educational "fast track" most of his life. He went to high school at age seven; now, at fourteen, Smith is working on a PhD in mathematics at the University of Virginia. In this account, Smith shares his fascination with higher mathematics, what it's like to be a teenage scholar in a world dominated by adults, his ambitions to earn four PhD's and become president of the United States, and his love for NASCAR racing. Throughout all, Smith insists he's not that different from most other fourteen year olds.

To visit Gregory Smith's website, please click here: http://www.gregoryrsmith.com/

Next, Dr. Goodwin interviews Dr. Dean Keith Simonton,, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and the author of Genius and Creativity, Scientific Genius: A psychology of Science, Greatness: Who Makes History and Why, and other books on intelligence, creativity, and leadership. Dr. Simonton says genius is often defined by a certain level of IQ (and therefore a genetic phenomenon) or by unusual personal achievement (which takes into account environmental influences). He prefers the second definition, and suggests that many people considered geniuses in terms of IQ are not known for groundbreaking accomplishments. Instead, lasting genius requires a certain level of high intelligence combined with creativity, imagination, and an ability to think "outside the box." Nor is academic achievement necessary for the flowering of genius - many accepted geniuses, such as Thomas Edison, did poorly in school, and Dr. Simonton argues that exceptional school performance can sometimes be a "counter-indicator" of genius-level achievement. Dr. Goodwin and Dr. Simonton also talk about how geniuses think - often more broadly, holistically, and unconventionally than the rest of us - and they look at some of the more famous geniuses in history, including Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein.

To contact Dr. Simonton, please write to: Dr. Dean Keith Simonton, Department of Psychology, One Shields Avenue, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616-8686 or visit his Website at: www.psychology.ucdavis.edu/simonton. To order one of Dr. Simonton's books, including Creativity, Scientific Genius: A psychology of Science, Greatness: Who Makes History and Why, please click here.

After a short break, Dr. Goodwin looks at the stereotype of the mad genius with Dr. Ellen Winner, professor of psychology at Boston College and a specialist in human cognition and the arts. Dr. Winner says there is a scientific basis for the popular belief that genius and madness are somehow connected. However, she says that link is mostly between madness - specifically, manic-depressive illness - and the arts. Dr. Winner says there is less evidence of a link between scientific achievement and madness. Within the arts, poets seem especially prone to a form of madness. A number of prize-winning poets have struggled with manic-depressive illness, often with tragic results. Dr. Goodwin and Dr. Winner talk about some of the better known artists who struggled with a form of madness, including Edgar Allan Poe and Vincent Van Gogh. Dr. Winner suggests that the earlier phases of manic-depressive illness - in which thought patterns may be accelerated and extended in unusual ways - may encourage heightened creativity. In other words, an artist who suffers from manic-depressive illness might be creative because of his illness, rather than in spite of it. However, Dr. Winner says there's no evidence that proper treatment will diminish such an artist's creativity. In fact, treatment is necessary for the artist's survival.

To contact Dr. Winner, please write to: Dr. Ellen Winner, Department of Psychology, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3807; to visit Dr. Winner's Website, click here: www.bc.edu/schools/cas/psych/facultystaff/faculty/alphabetical/winner

Next, The Infinite Mind's Deryl Davis investigates the phenomenon known as Savant Syndrome. A rare combination of severe mental disorder and unusual mental ability, Savant Syndrome occurs in one-in-ten persons with autism. Many moviegoers were introduced to the phenomenon by the 1988 film Rain Man, in which actor Dustin Hoffman portrayed an autistic savant with lightning-fast mathematical abilities. In this report, we hear from Tony DeBlois, an award-winning musician who suffers from both autism and blindness. However, DeBlois also is an example of what experts call a "prodigious savant," a person with Savant Syndrome whose gifts would be considered spectacular even in a non-disabled person. According to psychiatrist Darold Treffert, an expert on savants at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, DeBlois is one of only about fifty living prodigious savants. DeBlois can play twenty instruments and has an estimated 8,000 songs committed to memory - a mental gift he shares with many savants, whose memories are, according to Treffert, "exceedingly narrow but very deep." Dr. Treffert and other experts believe Savant Syndrome may be caused by damage to the left hemisphere of the brain, often in utero, and resulting overcompensation by the right hemisphere. Many savants struggle with language and comprehension skills (primarily left brain functions), but often have amazing skills in music, mathematics, and calculation (primarily right brain skills). Although some experiments are underway to replicate the savant abilities by temporarily disabling part of the brain, Dr. Treffert believes we will eventually discover a non-intrusive way to tap into "the inner savant" within each of us."

To contact Tony DeBlois, please write to: Tony DeBlois, 31Cochato Park, Randolph, MA 02368-4209; to visit Mr. DeBlois' Website, please click here: www.tonydeblois.com; to order Mr. DeBlois' CDs Thank God For Life, 4000 Years of Music, Beyond Words, or Mercer Mercy Me click here.

To contact Dr. Darold Treffert, please write to: Dr. Darold A. Treffert, M.D., St. Agnes Hospital, 430 East Division Street, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 54935. To visit Dr. Treffert's Website with information about the Savant Syndrome and living savants, click here: www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant/default.cfm

We visit the world of literary genius next with Dr. Harold Bloom, eminent literary and cultural critic, Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University, and the author of over 25 books, including Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Minds. Dr. Goodwin speaks with Professor Bloom about his list of 100 geniuses in the world of ideas and how he chose them. Professor Bloom says each of his geniuses represents the highest achievements in literary art - power of language, originality, and the ability to illuminate our lives in unusual ways. At the top of Professor Bloom's list is William Shakespeare, perhaps no surprise, given Professor Bloom's well-earned reputation as "Bardolater-in-Chief." However, Professor Bloom details his reasons why Shakespeare is the greatest writer who ever lived, and he shares with us a passage which has come to have great meaning for him personally.

To contact Professor Bloom, please write to: Department of English, Yale University, 63 High Street, Room 109, P.O. Box 208302,
New Haven, CT 06520-8302. To order one of Professor Bloom's books, including Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Minds, please click here.

Finally, commentator John Hockenberry considers the phenomenon of genius and shares a possible encounter with it - in the form of a Ukranian cleaning lady. Hockenberry suggests that most of us are fearful of the power and nature of genius, even while we might wish to claim it for ourselves. In the end, Hockenberry says, this mingling of fear and desire regarding genius may reveal just how far we are from really having it.

---Deryl Davis

 

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