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Does Exposure to Foreign Culture Influence Creativity? Maybe It's Not Only Due to Concept Expansion
Liu Tan1,2, Xiaoqin Wang2, Chanyu Guo1,2
1Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Frontiers in Psychology
|May 21, 2019
Summary
Exposure to American culture enhances creative writing by increasing novelty and uniqueness. Multicultural experiences boost physiological arousal and brain activity, positively impacting creative performance.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Cross-Cultural Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Multicultural experiences involve interacting with diverse cultures.
- Understanding how these experiences affect creativity and physiological mechanisms is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if cultural knowledge improves creative performance.
- To explore the role of physiological changes in mediating multicultural influences on creativity.
Main Methods:
- Study 1: Chinese college students exposed to American, dual, or Chinese cultural priming before a creative writing task.
- Study 2: Biofeedback measurements (skin conductance, thermal, EEG, heart rate) recorded during cultural exposure and creative tasks.
Main Results:
- American culture priming significantly increased the uniqueness and novelty of creative stories compared to the control group.
- Contact with foreign cultures elevated physiological arousal and brain activity.
Conclusions:
- Exposure to diverse cultures, particularly American culture, can enhance creative output.
- Increased physiological arousal and brain activity resulting from multicultural experiences contribute to improved creative task performance.
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