Howard Ernest Gruber (November 6, 1922 – January 25, 2005), was an American

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

and pioneer of the psychological study of

creativity Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed literary w ...

. A native of Brooklyn, Gruber graduated from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

with a degree in psychology, earned his Ph.D. from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, and went on to a distinguished academic career. He worked with

Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, , ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called " genetic epistemolog ...

in Geneva and later co-founded the Institute for Cognitive Studies at

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

with Dorothy Dinnerstein. At Columbia University

Teachers College A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

, he continued to pursue his interests in the

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...

, and particularly the work of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

. Gruber's work led to several important discoveries about the

creative process Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed literary w ...

and the

developmental psychology Developmental psychology is the science, scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult deve ...

. His work on

entitled ''Darwin on Man: A Psychological Study of Scientific Creativity'', became the groundwork of his methodological approach for the

case study A case study is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context. For example, case studies in medicine may focus on an individual patient or ailment; case studies in business might cover a particular fi ...

of evolving systems. This book was awarded Science Book of the Year for 1974 by

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

. Key aspects of this approach are a radical focus on individuals as situated in a network of enterprise. The method uses a strong

existential Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...

perspective as regards the "creative" individual who is said to act at all times with knowledge, purpose and affect. Creativity is purposeful work.

Bibliography

# The Howard Gruber World Wide Web Site - http://davidlavery.net/Gruber/ # Wallace, Doris and Howard E. Gruber, eds. (1989). Creative People at Work: Twelve Cognitive Case Studies. New York: Oxford University Press. # NY Times Obituary - https://web.archive.org/web/20070221055145/http://condor.admin.ccny.cuny.edu/~hhartman/howie%20gruber%20obit.doc # http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-247330/Howard-E-Gruber # Darwin on Man: A Psychological Study of Scientific Creativity. 2nd. ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980.
DOI.org
# Gugghenheim Fellowship winner -

List of Guggenheim Fellowships awarded in 1974 {{short description, None List of Guggenheim fellowship winners for 1974. United States and Canada fellows * Hazard Adams, Byron W. and Alice L. Lockwoood Emeritus Professor of Humanities; Professor of English, University of Washington. * Flavi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruber, Howard 1922 births 2005 deaths Charles Darwin biographers Cornell University alumni 20th-century American psychologists Brooklyn College alumni Rutgers University faculty American expatriates in Switzerland