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E. Paul Torrance
Ellis Paul Torrance (1915-2003) was an American psychologist.
Born on October 8, 1915 in Milledgeville, Georgia, he received his undergraduate degree from Mercer University, his Master’s degree fr...view moreEllis Paul Torrance (1915-2003) was an American psychologist.
Born on October 8, 1915 in Milledgeville, Georgia, he received his undergraduate degree from Mercer University, his Master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, and his doctorate from the University of Michigan. His teaching career spanned from 1957-1984. First, he taught at the University of Minnesota and then later at the University of Georgia, where he became professor of Educational Psychology in 1966.
Torrance was best known for his research in creativity. A prolific writer, he published in excess of 80 books, as well as hundreds of reports, manuals, tests, conference papers, reports and articles, many of which appeared in popular journals or magazines. He was also the creator of the Future Problem Solving Program International, the Incubation Curriculum Model, and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.
There has been debate in the psychological literature about whether intelligence and creativity are part of the same process (the conjoint hypothesis) or represent distinct mental processes (the disjoint hypothesis). Torrance proposed what was to become a very popular model known as “the threshold hypothesis”, which holds that, in a general sample, there will be a positive correlation between low creativity and intelligence scores, but a correlation will not be found with higher scores.
In 1984, the University of Georgia established the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development. The National Association for Gifted Children has designated a special lecture dedicated to Torrance in one of its focus interest groups.
Torrance passed away on July 12, 2003, aged 87.view less