Get Creative Activity Week 4: A Journey through the Life of Donald Wallace MacKinnon

Donald Wallace MacKinnon
Psychologist and Professor Emeritus Donald Wallace MacKinnon was born on January 9, 1903, in Augusta, Maine.
EDUCATION

• A.B. degree, summa cum laude, from Bowdoin College in 1925;
• M.A. at Harvard University in 1926;
• Ph.D. at Harvard in 1933. 

PROFESSOR

• Bryn Mawr College
• University of Maine
• Harvard University
• University of Minnesota
• University of Hawaii
  

PUBLICATIONS

• MacKinnon's first professional publication in psychology was in 1931, and his last in 1981, with over 100 papers, chapters, and books within that span. All of his writing was characterized by impeccable scholarship and graceful expression. Major themes may be noted, including creativity, personality structure, motivation, hypnotizable, and methodological issues in assessment.  Some of MacKinnon’s writings achieved classic status and are now standard reading for contemporary psychologists. Examples are:
  
• Analysis of The Structure of Personality. 1944;
• Book on Personality Assessment That He Co-Authored with Other Members Of The O.S.S. War-Time Staff (The Assessment of Men), 1948;
• Walter Van Dyke Bingham lecture and American Psychologist article on the nature and nurture of creativity, 1962;
• book In Search of Human Effectiveness, 1978.
• EDITORIAL BOARDS
  He was active in editorial work outside of the University, serving at various times on the editorial boards:
  
• Character and Personality (1940-44);
• Contemporary Psychology (1956-70);
• Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1944-61);
• Psychological Bulletin (1960);
• Journal of Creative Behavior (1969-87);
• Innovacion Creadora (1977-87).
• HONORS
  
• The Walter Van Dyke Bingham Lectureship of the American Psychological Association, 1962;
• The Richardson Foundation Creativity Award, 1967;
• The Founder's Medal from the Creative Education Foundation, 1978;
• Served on the Board of Trustees of the Creative Education Foundation, from 1974 until his death;
• The Henry A. Murray Award from the American Psychological Association for distinguished theoretical and empirical work in the field of personality psychology, 1981.
• NOTABLE WORK ASSIGNMENTS
  While a professorship at Bryn Mawr College, MacKinnon took a leave of absence from 1944-46 to serve as director of Station S in the U.S. Office of Strategic Services in World War II.  This organization was originally called the Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI). It was created by President Roosevelt to protect the United States from espionage, sabotage, “black” propaganda, guerrilla warfare, and other “un-American subversive practices.” MacKinnon developed assessments designed to identify persons who were “the best fit” for service within the OSS.
  In 1949, MacKinnon became the founding Director of the Assessment Center, the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research (IPAR).  This research program encompassed the study of the person within cultural, institutional, organizational and societal contexts. The center aim at the time was to apply an intensive, multi-method assessment program intended to gain an understanding of individuals who display outstanding personal effectiveness in their careers and lives.
  References Baumeister, R. F. (1991). Dialogue. Retrieved from Society for Personality and Social Psychology: http://spsp.org/sites/default/files/dialogue62.pdf
  MacKinnon, D. W. (1987). Some Critical Issues For Future Research in Creativity. The Creative Educator Foundation, Inc., 120-130.
  MacKinnon, D. W. (1994). How Assessment Centers Were Started in the United States. Pittsburg: Development Dimensions International, Inc.,.