Magnetism: An Introductory Survey by E. W. Lee (review)

Books 269 individuals and groups carried out under the author at the University of Michigan. The painstaking descriptions of the procedures employed and the analyses of results obtained in psychometric optics showclearlythat the book waswritten primarilyfor specialistsin psychology. At the beginning of each large section of the book, a chapter is devoted to theoreticaldiscussionsthat aremoreaccessibletothe lay reader. Interested in the mechanism of creative thought, Maier setsout to showthat there is a largedifference between:(1) theprocessoflearning;(2)the mobilization of known solutions in confronting the solving of a problem(reproductivethinking)and (3)creative thinking, which occurs when no known answer is applicable. To learn is to build a stock of information by association; to solve a classicproblem is to restore associated information in a certain manner; to create is to break the old associations to devise new ones. The studies show that individuals differ very muchin their capacityto recallfrom their stock of information and in their capacity to form new associations. It is also clear that some persons are creativein certain activities and little, or not at all, in others. Doparticular factorsstimulatecreativity? It is noted that simply telling a subject that he is creative puts him in a favorable mental state. Women who obtain scoreslower than those of men in problem solvingsituations where encouragement is not given achieve scores 10% abovethose of their masculine colleagues when they are informed that they have been chosen for testing because of their exceptional creative capacity. Maier studied also the effect of thinking habits and demonstrates at whatpoint stereotypecharacteristicsbecomereadily effective, inhibiting creativity. In a more general way, he views creativity as an extremely complex behavior, where the individual mobilizes simultaneously his learningand his ability to disassociate this learningunder the influenceof differentstimuli. The major portion of the book is devoted to investigations of group problem solving.He reveals clearlythat a team can achieveremarkable resultsif each of its members is particularly attentive to the way in which the project is conducted, with the indispensable cooperation of the group leader. Discussionmakes availableto them a largernumber of possible solutions. A leaderimprovesthe quality ofteamperformance,insofarashereducespressures toward conformism and provokes fruitful disagreements . ‘Memberscannot learnfrom one another by agreeing. They can avoid generating hard feeling, but generallythey may becomebored‘, statesMaier. That is why he recommendsteam work in situations where there are numerous possibilities for disagreement . Another aspect favorable to the team approach is that in problems involvinghumans the acceptability of a solution increases appreciably when severalpersons are involved in the debate. This book furnishes an excellent introduction to the technique of research in the psychology of creativity. Some of the problems givenby Maier to his subjects are so well chosen that the reader can by trying to solve them himself (of course, by not looking at the answers!) better understand his own mental processes. Magnetism: An Introductory Survey. E. W. Lee. Dover Pub., New York, 1970. 280 pp., illus. $2.50. Reviewed by: Peter M. Levy* Magnetism plays a very important role in our society. The Nobel Prize in physics for 1970 was shared by Louis Nee1 for his contribution to the understandingof magnetism. Althoughwe may not be aware of it, magnetsare used to form the images we see on the televisionscreen,the Earth’s magnetic field helps us navigate and magnetsare used in high energy physics in the search for new particles. An excellent overviewis presented of the early developments of magnetism, the modern theory and the many uses of magnetism in our industrial society. It is to the author’s credit that he is able to convey all the essentialideas and concepts with a minimum use ofmathematics. Thereare onlyabouttwodozen equations in the entire book. It is a reprint of an earlierpublicationin 1963. In spiteof the fact that nearly a decadehas passed, this work is very much up-to-date and givesacleartreatment of such topics as the magnetic memory cores used in computers, superconducting magnets and the Earth’s magnetic field. Thetextisideallysuitedto helpthe laymanunderstand the many devices that use magnets and other magnetic materials. However, it does not provide an artist with sufficientinformation from which he can design works of art using magnetic materials. I can imagine an artist who would like to suspend an object in space without any strings...