Ravenna Helson
Ravenna Mathews Helson (born February 13, 1925) is an American psychologist known for her research on the psychology of women and creativity. Dacher Keltner has described her as "a pioneer in the study of women's lives". Career. Helson completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) in 1952. She joined the faculty of psychology at Smith College, but moved with her husband, mathematician Henry Helson, back to California in 1955 when he was offered a faculty position at UC Berkeley. Helson began working at the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research (IPAR ) in 1957, when she accepted an invitation from director Donald W. MacKinnon to join the Institute. She was promoted to the position of full-status researcher at IPAR in 1980, and became an adjunct professor of psychology at UC Berkeley the same year. Helson was a key figure in organizing and conducting the Mills Longitudinal Study, a long-term study of personality development over the lifespan. The study involved more than 100 Mills College senior undergraduates (born 1937-1939), who were recruited in 1958-1959, and continues to the present day. The main purpose of the study was to examine  personality in relation to creativity in women. Over the years, the study expanded to address varied topics including changes in personality over the lifespan and in relation to women's work lives, marital satisfaction after child rearing, and the impact of culture on individualism. Helson is an adjunct professor emeritus of psychology at UC Berkeley. Personal life. Helson was born in Austin, Texas to E. J. Mathews, Registrar and Dean of Admissions at the University of Texas and Ravenna Wakefield Mathews. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas and briefly worked as a newspaper reporter in Corpus  Christi, Texas before returning to school to study psychology. Helson married Henry Helson in 1954. The couple had three children together, and remained married until Henry's death in 2010.