On Ng's Why Asians Are Less Creative Than Westerners

The title of Ng’s book is indeed provocative, to both Asian and Caucasian readers. The ability to use provocations in a constructive manner is considered by De Bono (1990) an essential skill for anyone who wants to replace judgment with “movement” or “forward effect. ” Ng’s provocation seems to be very efficient in initiating such a “movement” and jerks our thinking and behavior out of well-established patterns. Ng’s provocation turned out to be a strong motivating power for us to start an intellectual affair with this well-written and engaging book. Why Asians Are Less Creative Than Westerners (2001) deserves the attention of anyone who wants to know more about creativity, as well as its influence in different historical times, societies, and cultures. The book, although written for the general public, is firmly rooted in solid scientific research but is free from jargon and technical language. For a creativity researcher, the book is thought-provoking, involving, and at times entertaining. For a novice to the creativity field, or for a lay person, the book offers interesting, vivid, and attractive initiation into the issues of an interplay between the self, culture, society, and creative behavior. For all readers, the book puts forward some suggestions on how to liberate oneself from habitual uncreative patterns of behavior and become a creative individual leading a more fulfilling life. The primary goal of the book, as stated by Ng, is to explain why it is much harder for Asians to behave in a creative manner, as compared to their counterparts in the West. The author attempts to achieve this objective by looking at how Asians and Westerners typically behave in their respective societies. Ng places much emphasis on the importance of cultural and societal influences on one’s psychological makeup, which in turn determines one’s behavior. Ng further argues that this psychological makeup, including among other things the indigenous conception of selfhood, value system, and perception of conflict, is manifested in childrearing philosophy and practices, which in turn lead to the observed differences in creative and task-involved behaviors between the Confucian/collectivistic societies of the East and liberal/individualistic societies of the West. Ng’s assertion that it is much harder for Asians to think, feel, and act in a creative manner than for Westerners is supported by the fact that Asian society is tightly organized, collectivistic, hierarchical, and face-conscious. It places great emphasis on social order and harmony, where the Galilean self (we-ness) is promoted. Asian parents socialize their children to be psychologically dependent on the in-group and to avoid conflict. In contrast, Western society is loosely organized, individualistic, and egalitarian. It places great emphasis on democratic exchange of opinions where the Ptolemaic self (I-ness) is promoted. Western parents socialize their children to be independent and to have a positive outlook on conflict. In fact, we are totally in line with the idea adopted by Ng from creativity theorists (Csikszenmihalyi, 1988; Mooney, 1975) that culture and social system is a major component in shaping behavior in general and creative performance in particular. But we have a general impression that the cultural/social perspective has been Creativity Research Journal Copyright 2003 by 2003, Vol. 15, Nos. 2 & 3, 301–302 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.