Shankar Vedantam
Hidden Brain NPR Podcast
Transcript
The edge effect occurs when two ecosystems meet. There, "the most new life-forms are created." This podcast applies the ecological edge effect to human interactions. Hypothesis: When people deeply engage with those who have a different culture, they become more creative.
Richard Freeman did a study in which he found scientists who collaborated with scientists outside their culture wrote higher-quality scientific papers, as evidenced by the number of citations.
Yo-Yo Ma created the Silk Road Ensemble, which brings together musicians of different cultures. They create music mixing instruments from these diverse cultures, including traditional instruments.
Adam Galinski is an American Jewish social psychologist, married to the daughter of Filipino immigrants. He conducted a study with students who had dated both someone of their own culture and someone of a different culture. They asked one group to reflect on the intercultural dating experience, and the other to reflect on the cross-cultural dating experience, then gave them a creativity test. Those who reflected on the cross-cultural experience were more creative.
The results of this study were confirmed by a different study by Adam's friend, Dan Wang, who conducted a study on J-1 visa holders. A J-1 visa allows the holder to temporarily work in the US, usually between three months and two years. Those who had frequent contact with American friends after returning to their home country were more likely to become entrepreneurs or introduce new practices within their company.
Adam also applied this theory to fashion designers, finding that the amount of time a designer lived abroad predicted their fashion line creativity.
Hidden Brain NPR Podcast
Transcript
The edge effect occurs when two ecosystems meet. There, "the most new life-forms are created." This podcast applies the ecological edge effect to human interactions. Hypothesis: When people deeply engage with those who have a different culture, they become more creative.
Richard Freeman did a study in which he found scientists who collaborated with scientists outside their culture wrote higher-quality scientific papers, as evidenced by the number of citations.
Yo-Yo Ma created the Silk Road Ensemble, which brings together musicians of different cultures. They create music mixing instruments from these diverse cultures, including traditional instruments.
Adam Galinski is an American Jewish social psychologist, married to the daughter of Filipino immigrants. He conducted a study with students who had dated both someone of their own culture and someone of a different culture. They asked one group to reflect on the intercultural dating experience, and the other to reflect on the cross-cultural dating experience, then gave them a creativity test. Those who reflected on the cross-cultural experience were more creative.
The results of this study were confirmed by a different study by Adam's friend, Dan Wang, who conducted a study on J-1 visa holders. A J-1 visa allows the holder to temporarily work in the US, usually between three months and two years. Those who had frequent contact with American friends after returning to their home country were more likely to become entrepreneurs or introduce new practices within their company.
Adam also applied this theory to fashion designers, finding that the amount of time a designer lived abroad predicted their fashion line creativity.
