Der Nobelpreisträger Theodor Kocher 1841—1917

grounds. From the mean score of a group you cannot say anything at all about the score of one exceptional member of the group, as Simonton must know. In another case Simonton assesses the relationship of educational level to rated eminence in Cox's sample of 301 eminent figures from history. He finds that, among the 192 "creators" (artists, scientists, etc.) in this sample, the most eminent had education equivalent (for their time and place) to "a college education just shy of a bachelor's degree" (p. 66). Those with more education or less ranked lower on the eminence scale. His conclusion is that "the development of creative potential may be weakened by formal training", although he cautiously admits that "the more impressive intellects simply may not need a doctorate" (p. 73). But to reach such a general conclusion, on the strength of 192 individuals selected from the past 500 years precisely because they were exceptional, is clearly nonsense. This is the psychology of testimonials, and is equivalent to saying: the world's ten richest men never graduated from university, therefore graduating from university will not make you -any richer either. Fallacious reasoning such as this will inevitably reduce the credibility of Simonton's analyses overall. This is a pity, as there is much in the book that may be valuable. Simonton's approach deserves to be extended and developed, but a good deal more carefully.