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Implicit Theories of Creativity in Computer Science in the United States and China
Author(s) -
Tang Chaoying,
Baer John,
Kaufman James C.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the journal of creative behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.896
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 2162-6057
pISSN - 0022-0175
DOI - 10.1002/jocb.61
Subject(s) - creativity , likert scale , mainland china , china , psychology , ethnic group , scale (ratio) , domain (mathematical analysis) , mathematics education , social psychology , developmental psychology , sociology , anthropology , political science , mathematical analysis , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , law
To study implicit concepts of creativity in computer science in the United States and mainland China, we first asked 308 Chinese computer scientists for adjectives that would describe a creative computer scientist. Computer scientists and non‐computer scientists from China ( N = 1069) and the United States ( N = 971) then rated how well those adjectives described creative computer scientists using a 5‐point Likert Scale. Factor analysis revealed that the concept of a creative computer scientist had four dimensions: (1) smart/effective, (2) outgoing, (3) creative thinking and (4) unsociable. Differences in the implicit concepts across disciplines, ethnicity, gender, age, and working experience were analyzed. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of the domain specificity of creativity.