Open AccessAdolescents’ Drawing and Divergent Thinking: Does Culture Matter?
Author(s) -
Katherine Bottinelli,
Yena Kyeong,
Cecilia Y. Cheung
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of educational and developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1927-0534
pISSN - 1927-0526
DOI - 10.5539/jedp.v8n2p147
Subject(s) - psychology , divergent thinking , association (psychology) , developmental psychology , torrance tests of creative thinking , object (grammar) , inclusion (mineral) , creative thinking , social psychology , creativity , linguistics , philosophy , psychotherapist
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.