Adolescents’ Drawing and Divergent Thinking: Does Culture Matter?

Katherine Bottinelli,Yena Kyeong,Cecilia Cheung

doi:10.5539/jedp.v8n2p147

Abstract

The current study examined the association between adolescents’ divergent thinking and features of their drawings in the United States and China. A total of 321 American (n = 125) and Chinese (n = 196) adolescents completed a battery of assessments on divergent thinking and free drawing adapted from the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). Central (e.g., focal object) and contextual (e.g., background) features characterizing adolescents’ drawings were coded. Results indicated that Chinese adolescents included more central features in their drawings compared to their American counterparts. Chinese, but not American, adolescents’ inclusion of contextual features was positively associated with their divergent thinking. Findings suggest the potential for culture to influence adolescents’ cognition, such that contextual features in drawings may be particularly conducive to the development of divergent thinking in cultures where contextual sensitivity is emphasized.

Highlights

1.1 Problem StatementDivergent thinking, defined as the ability to produce a number of unique ideas in response to a problem, has been considered as an important component in the development of children’s creative outcomes (Ma, 2009; Runco, 1986; 2008)
With regard to drawing features, independent samples t-tests revealed that Chinese adolescents included more central features in their drawings, compared to American adolescents, t(231) = -2.83, p
The current study provides an emerging avenue for research on divergent thinking by introducing the role of central and contextual features in drawings as correlates of adolescents’ creative thinking skills

Summary

Introduction

1.1 Problem StatementDivergent thinking, defined as the ability to produce a number of unique ideas in response to a problem, has been considered as an important component in the development of children’s creative outcomes (Ma, 2009; Runco, 1986; 2008). Researchers argue that adolescence is an important stage marked by flexibility in cognition (Crone & Dahl, 2012; Steinberg, 2005), rendering it an ideal period to understand the development of divergent thinking (Kleibeuker, De Dreu, & Crone, 2013; 2016). Among a wide array of features characterizing adolescents’ drawings, the current study aimed to investigate the role of central features (e.g., focal object) and contextual features (e.g., background objects) in adolescents’ drawings in relation to their divergent thinking skills. In this context, we examined whether the association between drawing features and creative thinking skills is dependent on culture

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion