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Deductive reasoning and creativity: a cross-cultural study.

Author
Abstract
:

The present cross-cultural study examined the relationship between deductive reasoning and creativity among college students (M age=20.4 yr., SD= .6) from Hong Kong (n=39) and the United States (n=38). Participants performed tasks designed to measure deductive reasoning, creative writing, and insight problem-solving, all in verbal form. No correlation was found between the performance for deductive reasoning and creativity as measured by creative writing. Insight problem-solving performance correlated significantly with that for both reasoning and creativity. Significant cultural differences favoring the American participants were only found on the creative writing and insight problem-solving tasks, both of which supposedly involve creative thinking. There seems to be cultural dependence for creativity but not for deductive reasoning which suggests a qualification of a strong cultural-relevance view positing pervasive cultural influences on human thinking processes.

Year of Publication
:
2007
Journal
:
Psychological reports
Volume
:
100
Issue
:
2
Number of Pages
:
509-19
ISSN Number
:
0033-2941
URL
:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2466/pr0.100.2.509-519?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dpubmed
DOI
:
10.2466/pr0.100.2.509-519
Short Title
:
Psychol Rep
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