The Impact Of Social Distance On Creativity

Creativity, since the1950‘s, has been the focus of psychological research. With theproposing and development of Construal Level Theory, the research about influence ofpsychological distance which is the core concept of CLT to creativity is becoming a newfocus. A small amount of existing researches was committed to research the influence oftime distance and space distance which belong to psychological distance to creativity. Thisstudy is aimed to extended to social distance to discuss the influence mechanism of socialdistance and need for cognition (NFC) to creativity.Study1begins with the dimension of social distance “self-others”,discussing whetherthe creativity for individual under the condition of self, which is also close social distance,is different with the creativity for individual under the condition of others, which is also farsocial distance. And study1also wants to examine the mediation effect of construal level.Study1adopts two parallel single factor experiment design between subjects. Independentvariables are the two levels of self and other, represents the far or close social distance; thedependent variable are respectively insight problem solving ability and divergent thinkingability; mediation variable is construal level.Study2begins with interpersonal similarity which is another dimension of socialdistance, discussing whether the creativity for individual under the condition of highinterpersonal similarity, which is also close social distance, is different with the creativityfor individual under the condition of low interpersonal similarity, which is also far socialdistance. And study2still wants to examine the mediation effect of construal level. Study2still adopts two parallel single factor experiment design between subjects. Independentvariables are the two levels of interpersonal similarity, represents the far or close socialdistance; the dependent variable are respectively insight problem solving ability anddivergent thinking ability; mediation variable is construal level.Study3introduces need forcognition (NFC) as the personality variable, according to the result of study1and study2.This study is aimed to discuss the interaction effect of social distance "self-others"dimension and need for cognition on creativity. Thus, study3take2(social distance: self,others)*2(need for cognition: high, low) between-subject experiment design. One independent variables is the two levels of self and other, represents the far or close socialdistance; Another independent variables is need for cognition which has two levels, thedependent variable is only insight problem solving ability.Through the above experiments, the author summarizes conclusions as follows:1. The dimension of social distance “self-others” influences the insight problemsolving ability significantly. That is to say, the insight problem solving ability under thecondition of others is higher than the insight problem solving ability under the condition ofself. And the mediation effect of construal level is significant;2. The dimension of social distance “self-others” influences the divergent thinkingability significantly. That is to say, the divergent thinking ability which can be measuredwith fluency, flexibility and originality under the condition of others is higher than thedivergent thinking ability under the condition of self. And the mediation effect of construallevel is significant;3. The dimension of social distance interpersonal similarity influences the insightproblem solving ability significantly. That is to say, the insight problem solving abilityunder the condition of low interpersonal similarity is higher than the insight problemsolving ability under the condition of high interpersonal similarity. And the mediationeffect of construal level is also significant;4. Social distance "self-others" dimension and need for cognition have theinteraction effect on creativity. The insight problem solving ability under the condition ofself and high need for cognition is higher than the insight problem solving ability under thecondition of others and low need for cognition. This indicates that need for cognition canadjust the influence of social distance “self-others” on creativity.