Culture and Creativity

Catharine Dishke Hondzel,Marte Sørebø Gulliksen

doi:10.1177/2158244015611448

Catharine Dishke Hondzel, Marte Sørebø Gulliksen

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015611448

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Abstract

Creativity and divergent thinking are components of learning in childhood that often go unmeasured in favor of standardized subject assessments. To better understand the ways in which creativity develops and is related to environmental and cross-cultural factors, this study reports on the scores obtained by 8-year-old students living in differently sized communities in Norway and Canada measured using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT). Results of multivariate analyses indicate statistically significant differences between Norwegian and Canadian children on several Torrance Test subscales as well as surprising relationships between the size of the community in which the children lived and the scores they obtained. Results and discussion are framed in reference to the ways in which culture and communities potentially shape the development of divergent thinking skills and open up questions about the ways in which social environments can influence the development of creativity in childhood.

Highlights

It is evident that learning and the workforce are undergoing change, and we can see a cultural shift toward “knowledge work” and the automation of rote processes (Trilling & Fadel, 2009)
Average standard scores returned by Scholastic Testing Service (STS) were analyzed using SPSS software
The results indicate that Canadian and Norwegian children of the same age and relatively similar community size groupings provide evidence of divergent thinking, and in ways that have not yet been investigated in the literature

Summary

Introduction

It is evident that learning and the workforce are undergoing change, and we can see a cultural shift toward “knowledge work” and the automation of rote processes (Trilling & Fadel, 2009). Skills tied to creativity and innovation, such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and multimodal literacies, are required to keep up with technology and an increasingly connected world (Bellanca & Brandt, 2010; Trilling & Fadel, 2009). These skills support learners in their life and career, help them acquire knowledge, and provide. We use this notion of creativity as a part of self-development in a broader sense in terms of “human capital.”

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