Cultural influences on artistic creativity and its evaluation
Title:
Cultural influences on artistic creativity and its evaluation
Author:
Niu, Weihua Sternberg, Robert J.
Appeared in:
International journal of psychology
Paging:
Volume 36 (2001) nr. 4 pages 225-241
Year:
2001-08-01
Contents:
Two studies were designed to compare (a) the rated creativity of artworks created by American and Chinese college students, and (b) the criteria used by American and Chinese judges to evaluate these artworks. The study demonstrated that the two groups of students differed in their artistic creativity. American participants produced more creative and aesthetically pleasing artworks than did their Chinese counterparts, and this difference in performance was recognized by both American and Chinese judges. The difference between the use of criteria by American and Chinese judges was small, and consisted mainly of the American judges' use of stricter standards in evaluating overall creativity. Moreover, in general, there was a greater consensus among Chinese judges regarding what constitutes creativity than among American judges. The study also revealed, but preliminarily, that the artistic creativity of Chinese students was more likely to be reduced as a function of restrictive task constraints or of the absence of explicit instructions to be creative. The results of this study seem to support the hypothesis that an independent self-oriented culture is more encouraging of the development of artistic creativity than is an interdependent self-oriented culture. Other possible explanations, such as differences in people's attitudes toward and motivation for engaging in art activities, or socioeconomic factors might also account for differences in people's artistic creativity. Deux etudes comparent (a) l'evaluation de la creativite d' -uvres d'art produites par des etudiants americains et chinois de niveau collegial et (b) les criteres employes par des juges americains et chinois pour evaluer ces -uvres d'art. Les resultats montrent que les deux groupes d'etudiants different quant a leur creativite artistique. Les participants americains produisent des -uvres d'art plus creatives et esthetiquement plaisantes que les participants chinois et cette difference de performance est reconnue autant par les juges americains que par les juges chinois. La difference entre les criteres employes par les juges americains et chinois est petite et consiste principalement dans l'utilisation de standards plus strictes par les juges americains pour evaluer la creativite globale. De plus, il y a en general un plus fort consensus entre les juges chinois qu'entre les juges americains sur ce qu'est la creativite. Les resultats revelent aussi, de facon preliminaire, que la creativite artistique des etudiants chinois risque plus d'etre diminuee par les contraintes de la tache ou par l'absence de consignes explicites incitant a la creativite. L'ensemble des resultats appuie l'hypothese selon laquelle une culture du soi independant encourage davantage le developpement de la creativite artistique qu'une culture du soi interdependant. D'autres explications possibles, comme les differences dans les attitudes et la motivation face aux activites artistiques ou des facteurs socio-economiques, peuvent aussi expliquer les differences de creativite artistique.
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