Hudson, Liam 1933-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 20, 1933, in London, England; died of a brain tumor February 19, 2005. Psychologist, educator, and author. Hudson was an innovative psychologist specializing in the study of the relationship between human intelligence and creativity. Initially a poor student himself, he later earned a scholarship to Exeter College, Cambridge. There he studied modern history, later switching to psychology and philosophy. Leaving Exeter in 1957, he studied at the Psychological Laboratory at Cambridge until 1965, completing his Ph.D. there. From 1966 until 1968, he was a fellow at King's College, Cambridge; he then joined the Edinburgh University faculty as a professor of educational sciences until 1977. Over the next ten years Hudson worked as a professor of psychology at Brunel University, and from 1987 until 1996 was a visiting professor at the Tavistock Clinic in London. As a researcher, he conducted studies that led to conclusions counter to his colleagues' belief that intelligence—as measured by IQ tests—goes hand in hand with creativity; that is, smart, scientific thinkers are less apt to also be creative. At first, Hudson thought this was true, and his book Contrary Imaginations (1966) categorized personalities as either "convergers" who scored high on intelligence but were not good at free association tests, and "divergers" who performed the opposite. Further research by Hudson revealed how factors such as culture, myth, self-image, and gender identification affected creativity and intelligence performance; this led to his writing of Frames of Mind: Ability, Perception and Self-Perception in the Arts and Sciences (1968) and The Cult of Fact (1972). These and other books by Hudson broke stereotypes about whether someone possesses a purely scientific or creative mind and how intelligence and creativity are not mutually exclusive but are greatly influenced by many environmental and personality factors. Among Hudson's many other books are Intelligence and Scientism (1972), The Nympholepts (1978), Night Life: The Interpretation of Dreams (1985), and Intimate Relations: The Natural History of Desire (1995), the last written with his wife, Bernadine Jacot. At the time of his death, he had just completed an autobiography.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Daily Telegraph (London, England), March 21, 2005.

Guardian (London, England), March 17, 2005, p. 31.

Times (London, England), March 30, 2005, p. 62.