Exploring the Interactions between Asian Culture (Confucianism) and Creativity

According to Csikszentmihalyi (1988), creativity is a very complex interaction among a person, a field, and a culture. In keeping with this approach, a look at Asian culture in relation to its impact on creativity is in order. While people may vary in their native capacity for creativity, it is in the individual's interaction with the macrocosm where creative expression can be found. Therefore, this paper will explore the four principles of Confucianism, and how they compare to creativity research in order to discover how Asian culture influences creativity; and what we can do to enhance our students' creative capacity.     

The Relationship Between Diverse Components of Intelligence and Creativity

Intelligence and creativity are accounted for in terms of two different mental operations referred to as ‘convergent thinking’ and ‘divergent thinking’, respectively. Nevertheless, psychometric evidence on the relationship between intelligence and creativity has been controversial. To clarify their relationship, we characterized the relationship between diverse components of intelligence and creativity through the administration of psychometric tests on a large sample (WAIS, RPM, and TTCT‐figural: n = 215; TTCT‐verbal: n = 137). The general intelligence factor (g) score showed significant correlations with both TTCT‐figural and TTCT‐verbal scores. However, sub‐dimensional analysis demonstrated that their association was attributable to the specific components of both TTCTs (TTCT‐figural: Abstractness of Titles, Elaboration, and Resistance to Premature Closure; TTCT‐verbal: Flexibility) rather than to their common components (Fluency and Originality). Among the intelligence sub‐dimensions, crystallized intelligence (gC) played a pivotal role in the association between g and the specific components of both TTCTs. When the total sample was divided into two IQ groups, these phenomena were more evident in the average IQ group than in the high IQ group. These results suggest that the mental operation of creativity may be different from that of intelligence, but gC may be used as a resource for the mental operation of creativity.     

The Influence of Cultural Individualism-Collectivism,Self Construals,and Individual Values on Communication Styles Across Cultures

Individualism-collectivism has a direct effect on communication styles and an indirect effect that is mediated through self construals and values. It was hypothesized that cultural individualism-collectivism, self construals, and values would have separate effects on individuals’use of low- and high-context communication styles. As predicted, the results of this study suggest that independent self construals and individualistic values mediate the influence of cultural individualism-collectivism on the use of low-context communication, and interdependent self construals and collectivistic values mediate the influence of cultural individualism-collectivism on the use of high-context communication. The patterns for cultural individualism-collectivism were not as clear-cut. The findings suggest that individual level factors (i.e., self construals and values) are better predictors of low- and high-context communication styles across cultures than cultural individualism-collectivism.     

COMMUNICATION PATTERNS OF FOREIGN IMMIGRANTS IN THE PROCESS OF ACCULTURATION1

This paper reports the theoretical development and testing of a causal model of communication patterns of foreign immigrants in the process of acculturation. Communication patterns are conceptualized on two levels: cognitive and behavioral. The cognitive level is observed by the complexity of an immigrant's perception of the host society; the behavioral level by the immigrant's involvement in the host society through interpersonal and mass communication. Three causal factors are identified as major determinants of the immigrant's communication patterns: language competence, acculturation motivation, and accessibility to host communication channels. The theory consists of nine propositions which explain the relationship among the three causal factors, behavioral participation in host communication channels, and cognitive structure in perceiving the host society. The theory was tested and supported by a survey among 400 randomly selected Korean immigrants in the Chicago area.