Such personality idiosyncrasies of creative persons as a preference for disorder and complexity rather than neatness and simplicity may erroneously have earned them the nomenclature of maladjusted, emotionally unstable and eccentric. This field study explores the conventional approach to the evaluation of creative behaviour and suggests that there is an urgent need to revolutionise our acceptance and encouragement of such behaviour in an integrated social and educational sense. Chapter 1 reviews various definitions of creativity and in particular the sociological discrimination against creativity in contemporary society. The notion of the relativity of the predominant social, educational and psychological research perspective is raised. The confusion in meaning which the terms &quotegiftedness&quote, &quotegenius&quote and &quotecreativity&quote evoke in the context of classical research efforts is discussed in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 reviews traditional psychoanalytic, psychiatric and psychometric research into creativity. Orthodox methodology which fragments the total human individual, is seen as detrimental to understanding, accepting and facilitating research into creativity. It has only been where total personality has been considered, that research has proved meaningful. Chapter 4 attempts to correlate the theoretical viewpoints of various authors on creativity, in particular Jung, Barron, Maslow, Assagioli and Hudson. The empirical chapter 5 is divided into four sections. Section I explores teacher attitudes towards creative personality characteristics using Torrance's Ideal Pupil Checklist. The results of the sample of A.C.T. teachers surveyed,correspond closely with those found by Torrance in five other countries, although creativity is markedly less encouraged in Australia than in the United States. Section II explores the attitudes of a sample of Year 10 A.C.T. high school students towards creative personality characteristics. Results show an alarmingly low correlation with expert rankings. Section III compares the teachers' and students' responses on the checklist and finds interesting discrepancies. Section IV is concerned with identifying &quotecreativity&quote in students using a number of instruments, in particular the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator. Additionally, results on this instrument are compared with WL/WQ results and career preferences, where few trends emerged. Chapter 6 restates the necessity of adopting a total personality perspective when considering creativity. The &quotepsychosynthesis&quote model is suggested as fundamentalising and facilitating creative growth personally, educationally and socially. Futuristic aspects of evolution and creativity are raised. Wholeness as opposed to separatism and synthesis as opposed to fragmentation are considered paramount contemporary psychological issues, as exemplified by the &quotesoul searching&quote associated with the drug culture. The need to achieve growth and balance between the different, diverse and complementary, aspects of the psyche, both in individuals and in society is seen as being paramount and of increasing sociological relevance.