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.

This article reviews contemporary studies on the concept of creativity across two cultures-Eastern (Asian) cultures and Western (American and European) cultures -by examining two bodies of literature. One is on people's implicit theories of creativity across different cultures and the other is on crosscultural studies of creativity. Studies on implicit theories of creativity in the East suggest that many Asians have similar but not identical conceptions of creativity to many people in the West. Cross-cultural studies of creativity reveal that Easterners and Westerners differ, on average, in their divergent-thinking performance and creative expressions. A view of creativity as relatively culture-specific is presented and the appropriateness of using divergent-thinking tests to measure creativity is discussed.

Chinese students outperform American students in many international competitions in mathematics and the natural sciences. Does this superiority of Chinese students over American students also apply in other domains? Our previous research has shown that compared with their American counterparts, Chinese students' artwork is perceived as less creative by both Chinese and American judges. In a new study, we find that Chinese students' creativity is increased when given direct instructions to be creative or guidance on how to be creative. Three different factors are posited to be responsible for the discrepancy in rated creativity between Chinese and American students, namely, social values, school pedagogic practices, and educational testing systems. This article argues that high-stakes standardized tests could impair the development of students' creativity. Although there is a general tendency for school educators in both China and the United States to overemphasize analytical skills at the expense of the development of creative abilities, in general, the tendency for the Chinese to do so is stronger than it is for the American. Suggestions are proposed to educators on how to foster students' creativity. Furthermore, the article suggests that school and national leaders in the United States and China, as well as elsewhere, should learn from one another's educational successes, while maintaining their unique cultural and educational characteristics.

This essay reviews the philosophical roots and the development of the concept of creativity in the West and East. In particular, two conceptions of creativity that originated in the West -divinely inspired creativity and individual creativity-are discussed and compared to the two Eastern conceptions of creativity that are rooted in ancient Chinese philosophical thought -natural and individual creativity. Both Western and Eastern conceptions of individual creativity come from a theistic or cosmic tradition of either divinely inspired or natural creativity. However, a defining feature of the Western concept of creativitynovelty-is not necessarily embraced by ancient Chinese concepts of creativity, but does exist in both modern Eastern conceptions. Reasons for cultural differences are explored and discussed.The influence of culture on people's conceptions of creativity has been one of the most exciting topics in the recent literature on creativity. It has attracted the interest of many psychologists (e.g.

The study examines an important philosophical root for the Chinese notion of creativity, that is, the Confucianism, and concludes that the Confucian ideology has shaped how Chinese have viewed creativity in the past, and may still have a great impact on how contemporary Chinese perceive creativity.