Who are the Best‐Known National and Foreign Creators — a Comparative Study Among Undergraduates in China and Germany

Abstract

Separate studies of Chinese and Western individuals have suggested that there are cultural differences in perceptions of creativity, particularly in an emphasis on meritorious salience versus aesthetic salience as bases for creativity, but crosscultural studies are needed to substantiate that difference. In this study, undergraduates from Giessen in Germany and Hong Kong and Nanjing in China provided data on the recognition of famous creative persons. Chinese undergraduates in Hong Kong and Nanjing mostly nominated politicians, scientists or inventors, but rarely nominated artists, musicians. German undergraduates mostly nominated philosophers, artists, and writers but rarely nominated politicians. This supports our assumption that the Chinese evaluation of creators emphasizes the meritorious salience of creativity whereas the German evaluation of creators emphasizes the aesthetic salience of creativity. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed at the end of the paper.

Chinese students’ perceptions of their creativity and their perceptions of Western students’ creativity

“…It was found that American scores were uniformly higher than Chinese in fluency and flexibility, even though the expression of originality was similar between the respondents between the two countries. Niu and Sternberg (2003) Yue's studies (Yue & Rudowicz, 2000;Yue & Rudowicz, 2002;Yue et al, 2011) confirmed the research findings of Niu and Sternberg (2006). Yue and Rudowicz (2002) surveyed 489 undergraduate students in China asking students to nominate the most creative Chinese people in history and in modern times.…”

“…Cross-cultural study of creativity helps achieve awareness of the characteristics of the cultures studied (Hall, 1981). Some studies have discovered relevant differences and similarities between cultures (Jaquish & Ripple, 1985;Niu & Sternberg, 2003;Yue et al, 2011). Jaquish and Ripple (1985) conducted a comparative study between Americans and Chinese to assess developmental aspects of ideational fluency, flexibility, and originality.…”

“…However, artistic skill and humour were missing in the Chinese conceptions of creativity, in comparison with the Western core conception characteristics of creativity: "motivation, confidence, preference for aesthetic experiences, theoretical thinking, independence, and sense of humour" (Runco, 1987;Sternberg, 1985;Tardif & Sternberg, 1988). Yue, Bender, & Cheung (2011) conducted an interesting comparative study among undergraduate students in China and Germany; they discovered that Chinese judgement of creative persons emphasized the meritorious salience of the creativity, whereas…”

Cultural Effects on English Language Teachers’ Judgments of Metaphoric Creativity: A Mixed‐Methods Approach

“…Cultural influence on creativity judgments is also evident in a series of studies by Yue and his colleagues that focused on creator nomination (e.g., Yue et al., ). Comparing undergraduate students in China and Germany, Yue et al.…”

“…Cultural influence on creativity judgments is also evident in a series of studies by Yue and his colleagues that focused on creator nomination (e.g., Yue et al, 2011). Comparing undergraduate students in China and Germany, Yue et al (2011) investigated whom these students would nominate for being the best-known domestic and foreign creators and how they made their decisions.…”