Irving Maltzman Originality Theory by Phillip McGarry

Irving Maltzman Professor Emeritus at UCLA Office: 6629 FH Phone: (310) His primary areas of study are learning and behavior. His research and teaching interests are alcoholism, the orienting reflex, history and systems. Background

Behaviorism – an approach pioneered by James Watson and B. F. Skinner which views the purpose of psychology to be the study of observable behavior and behavior modification, without recourse to internal states, such as mind Background Maltzman introduced the study of creative behavior into the psychological field of behaviorism

Originality Theory Alcoholism Treatment Accomplishments

Irving Maltzman, along with Mary Pendery, a psychologist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in San Diego, became well-known for criticizing a study performed by Mark and Linda Sobell which claimed controlled-drinking was more successful than abstinence in treating alcoholism. Accomplishments

Maltzman and Pendery accused Linda and Mark Sobell of flawed methodology and even outright fraud. The Sobells continually sought to prevent details about the study from being reviewed by Maltzman and Pendery. When the names of the test subjects were finally discovered, Maltzman and Pendery found that the number of follow-ups which the Sobells had claimed had been grossly misrepresented and that there was evidence of coaching the test subjects to receive favorable responses. Treating Alcoholism

The two approaches of controlled-drinking and abstinence remain controversial today. Linda and Mark Sobell are now part of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and Irving Maltzman continues to do research on alcoholism at UCLA. Treating Alcoholism

Maltzman distinguished originality from creativity, the latter referring to the consequences of original behavior (including the reaction of society to the behavior). Information on Theory Originality Theory

Maltzman conducted his studies using word association tasks. Thus his findings are most directly applicable to originality that involves verbalization or language. Information on Theory

Originality can be increased through instruction or practice to produce uncommon responses. Basics of Theory

1) Present an uncommon stimulus situation 2) Evoke different responses to same the situation 3) Evoke uncommon responses as textual responses Basics of Theory Three Methods for Increasing Originality:

Maltzman’s theory is applicable in the classroom because it shows that originality can be increased through instruction and practice. Originality is not an innate quality, but something that can be taught. How It Works

1) Present an uncommon stimulus situation Students could be asked to respond to pictures such as these. They could explain what they think is happening in the picture, in what time period it was taken, where it is, what caused the events depicted, and could be asked to give it a title. How It Works

2) Evoke different responses to same the situation Students could be asked to give two or more different interpretations of the picture. After a lesson on the Great Depression, students could be asked to give yet another interpretation. How It Works

3) Evoke uncommon responses as textual responses Students could be asked to give uncommon one word responses when prompted abstract words or concepts that have be used in class, such as “democracy” or “utilitarianism.” The same design could be used given the pictures in the prior two slides as stimuli. How It Works

Remember, these are methods which are designed to increase originality so that our students may become for creative thinkers. How It Works

  Maltzman, I. (1960). On the training of originality. Psychological Review, 67(4),  n-nears-in-feud-over-alcohol-studies.html References