He explains that individual geniuses and innovations are only created when the culture is equipped to accept them. Here his opposition to "the great man theory of history" is made clear when he emphasizes the idea that culture, as opposed to individuals, shapes human behavior. In Configurations of Culture Growth, Kroeber developed his idea of ​​individual nature from “The Superorganic.” He studied the historical “greats” of all the great civilizations of the world and found that “greatness” occurred in groups throughout history. Most notably, he found that these groups were temporally parallel to cultural growth, evidence which he used to support his idea that geniuses are created within the context of culture. He also noted that individual achievements accentuate, but do not explain, what he calls "cultural literacy ».