A Multifaceted Approach to Measure Creativity across Cultures: The Role of the Centrality of Context in Divergent Thinking Tasks

Creativity is a multifaceted construct, yet traditionally measured as divergent thinking (DT) with originality as its main focus. As originality tends to be discouraged in East Asian cultures, this measurement discrepancy is especially problematic in cross-cultural studies. Given cultural variations in the centrality of context, in the current study we added two context-dependent dimensions to frequently used DT tasks: a holism dimension to Torrance repeated circles subscale and a usefulness dimension to the Alternates Uses Task (AUT). In Study 1, South Korean and Israeli students completed the Torrance subscale. As hypothesized, while Israelis evinced higher DT ability, Koreans demonstrated a holistic approach. In Study 2, Japanese and Israeli students completed the AUT. Once again, Israelis evinced higher DT ability. Although no significant difference was found on the usefulness dimension, within-culture analysis indicated that relative to the DT dimensions (originality, flexibility, fluency), usefulness was the highest score among Japanese and the lowest among Israelis. Furthermore, in both studies the “Eastern” dimensions loaded on a separate factor than the DT dimensions, implying that they might represent distinct facets of creativity. We propose that adopting a multifaceted approach, offers a unique opportunity for understanding creativity in general and in a cross-cultural context in particular.