Three Studies on Culture and Creativity: The Influence of Cultural Syndromes, Multicultural Personality, and Multicultural Experience on Divergent, Convergent, and Holistic Tasks of Creativity

Abstract

Studies have found that the cultural syndrome of individualism promotes creativity while collectivism inhibits creativity. There is some evidence that creativity is enhanced by multicultural experiences. However, it is not clear if multicultural identity influences creativity. The influence of variables like (i) long-term daily multicultural experience, (ii) individualism and collectivism, (iii) multicultural personality, (iv) ethnic identity, and (v) multicultural knowledge, caring, and action on creativity were examined. Multiple measures of creativity were used that included (i) domain general divergent thinking, (ii) domain specific divergent thinking, (iii) verbal convergent thinking, (iv)figural convergent thinking, (v) insight tasks, and (vi) holistic fairy tale task. The responses were coded for six measures of creativity: fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, appropriateness, responses embedded in culture (REC) for domain general DT tasks, and creativity for domain specific DT tasks. Three studies were conducted using a student sample of 524 participants. The participants completed the online battery of instruments that measure creativity. Information about demographic variables including multicultural experience was also collected. Study one examined if the four typologies of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism predicted creativity. Study two examined if multicultural identity factors of openness, flexibility, multicultural knowledge, caring, and action, and ethnic identity predicted creativity. Study three used four groups, with different levels of multicultural experience, to examine if long term daily multicultural experience enhanced creativity. The four groups were: those born and raised in Hawai‘i, those who are not born or raised in Hawai‘i, a group that has studied abroad, and a group with experience living on the mainland, in Hawai‘i, and abroad. Regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. Results found that experience alone did not predict an overall increase in creativity. Instead, a variety of multicultural experiences increase ideational pool size. Multicultural personality and individual measures point to an increase in originality, overall creativity, flexibility, and insight. Collectivism, specifically the horizontal typology, predicted creativity, providing evidence that individualism does not solely enhance creativity.