Cultural adaptation fosters chronic multi-perspective awareness that raises creativity.

Evidence

Thus, we expected that adaptation would be a key psychological element that explains why living abroad is associated with creativity. Because culture is such a pervasive force, impacting and shaping literally every aspect of one’s life, adapting oneself to a new culture—learning how to feel, behave, and think in a different way, in short, learning how to become a different person altogether—may make individuals chronically aware of multiple perspectives and approaches when dealing with even mundane and novel situations and thus lead to increased chronic levels of creativity. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2230

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to cognitive flexibility and its relation to how rigid versus fluid category boundaries shape outgroup perception. — connects to: A culturally evolved tool can restructure an individual’s mental capacities — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 747; Indigenous storytelling develops creative and metaphoric thinking capacities across the lifespan. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1602
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2230