magazine issue 7 2007 / Issue 4

Do Multicultural Experiences Make People More Creative? If So, How?

• written by Chi-yue Chiu & Angela Ka-yee Leung

To conclude, the increased level of global connectivity in contemporary societies has presented new opportunities for acquiring multicultural experiences. Not surprisingly, psychologists are increasingly aware of the need to understand the relationship between multicultural experiences and intellectual development (Chiu & Hong, 2005). A major research question in multicultural competence research concerns the potential beneficial effects of multicultural experiences on creativity and cognitive flexibility. Contemporary research on this topic has identified at least three ways multicultural experiences can increase creativity. First, it can liberate people from their mental sets by providing intellectual materials and opportunities for creative conceptual expansion. Second, it can foster the development of the cognitive skills that give rise to creative performance. Finally, it can increase people’s receptiveness to ideas from other cultures.

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