TY - JOUR
T1 - Creative potential of Chinese children in Hong Kong and French children in Paris
T2 - A cross-cultural comparison of divergent and convergent-integrative thinking
AU - Cheung, Ping Chung
AU - Lau, Sing
AU - Lubart, Todd
AU - Chu, Dennis H.W.
AU - Storme, Martin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
This research was supported by a grant ( RGC HKBU242207 ) from the Research Grants Council of the University Grants Committee, Hong Kong .
PY - 2016/12
Y1 - 2016/12
N2 - It is argued that a comprehensive assessment of creative potential should include convergent-integrative thinking as well as divergent thinking. Accordingly, an electronic creativity battery of widely-used divergent measures (Wallach-Kogan Creativity Tests; WKCT) and newly constructed divergent-plus-convergent measures (Evaluation of Potential Creativity; EPoC) was used to compare the creative potential of Chinese school children in Hong Kong and French school children in Paris. It was found that the HK-Chinese outscored the Paris-French, irrespective of gender and grade, in all the eight divergent measures (verbal and figural fluency, flexibility, uniqueness, and unusualness) of the WKCT. Results with the EPoC indicated that only male HK-Chinese outscored the male Paris-French in the graphic divergent-exploratory measure. Also the HK-Chinese outscored the Paris-French in the verbal convergent-integrative measure, particularly for the boys and the senior grade students. The contrasting findings for Chinese and French school children in these two representative cities in the East and the West are discussed. Interpretations of the findings of the present study for cross-cultural differences and implications for creativity in mixed cultural settings are suggested.
AB - It is argued that a comprehensive assessment of creative potential should include convergent-integrative thinking as well as divergent thinking. Accordingly, an electronic creativity battery of widely-used divergent measures (Wallach-Kogan Creativity Tests; WKCT) and newly constructed divergent-plus-convergent measures (Evaluation of Potential Creativity; EPoC) was used to compare the creative potential of Chinese school children in Hong Kong and French school children in Paris. It was found that the HK-Chinese outscored the Paris-French, irrespective of gender and grade, in all the eight divergent measures (verbal and figural fluency, flexibility, uniqueness, and unusualness) of the WKCT. Results with the EPoC indicated that only male HK-Chinese outscored the male Paris-French in the graphic divergent-exploratory measure. Also the HK-Chinese outscored the Paris-French in the verbal convergent-integrative measure, particularly for the boys and the senior grade students. The contrasting findings for Chinese and French school children in these two representative cities in the East and the West are discussed. Interpretations of the findings of the present study for cross-cultural differences and implications for creativity in mixed cultural settings are suggested.
KW - Convergent-integrative thinking
KW - Creative potential
KW - Cross-cultural comparison
KW - Divergent thinking
KW - Evaluation of potential creativity
KW - Wallach-Kogan creativity tests
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84993967095&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187118711630116X?via%3Dihub
U2 - 10.1016/j.tsc.2016.09.005
DO - 10.1016/j.tsc.2016.09.005
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84993967095
SN - 1871-1871
VL - 22
SP - 201
EP - 211
JO - Thinking Skills and Creativity
JF - Thinking Skills and Creativity
ER -