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Zhongyong thinking is a common approach adopted by Chinese people to solve problems encountered in life and work. Based on the four modes of zhongyong thinking proposed by Pang (Social Sciences in China, 1, 1980, 75), this study chooses the "neither A nor B" form, which represents the "mean" (中) characteristics of zhongyong thinking, called eclectic thinking, and the "both A and B" form, which reflects the "harmony" (和) feature, called integrated thinking. This study primed eclectic thinking and integrated thinking, respectively, through self‐compiled problem situations, and 150 college students and postgraduates students were the participants. Experiment 1 explored the role of the priming of zhongyong thinking in three classic creative thinking tasks: a divergent thinking test, remote association test, and insight problem‐solving test. Experiment 2 further examined the effect of priming of zhongyong thinking on "market investment problems" with higher ecological validity. The findings show that priming integrated thinking can improve remote associates test performance and promote creative solutions to market investment problems, but there is no significant impact on the scores of divergent thinking test and insight problem‐solving; priming eclectic thinking has no significant impact on any of the subsequent creative tasks. This study shows that integrated thinking primes cognitive processing related to information association and information integration, promoting subsequent creative tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explores the effect of perceived teacher support on three forms of thinking related to creativity. Tests of convergent thinking (by means of the Remote Associates Test), insight thinking (explored through a brain‐teaser test), and divergent thinking (by means of a verbal creativity test) were given to 512 middle school students in China, along with assessments of their perceived teacher support and creative self‐efficacy. The results of this study indicate that perceived teacher support positively predicts convergent thinking and insight thinking, with creative self‐efficacy playing a partial mediating role between perceived teacher support and convergent thinking. However, no significant relationships were found between perceived teacher support and divergent thinking. The findings partly lend support to the expectancy–value model of achievement motivation that teacher's behavior influences student performance through self‐belief pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Doctrine of the Mean (zhongyong) introduced by Confucianism is not only an aspect of faith, but also a way of thinking for Chinese individuals. Zhongyong includes two thinking forms: eclectic thinking (ET; i.e., "neither-A-nor-B") and integrated thinking (IT; i.e., "both-A-and-B"). Given the inclination of Asian individuals toward situational cognition, this study used questions about situations familiar to Chinese undergraduates to activate either ET or IT. This was done to investigate the effects of the two divergent thinking forms of zhongyong on performance levels on the Remote Associates Test (RAT). Both behavioral and EEG results found that participants in the IT condition demonstrated higher RAT scores than those in the ET condition. The conclusion was that the RAT and priming tasks shared the same neural mechanism. This meant that the priming tasks of IT allowed participants to enter a state of creative preparation in advance, further affecting resolution of the RAT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given inconsistent discoveries about the effects of social exclusion on creativity, this study divided social exclusion into different types – social rejection and social ignoration, and compared respective effects on two creative thinking forms – divergent thinking (explored through an imaging impossible events task and an Alternate Uses Task) and convergent thinking (by means of the Remote Associates Test). The results show that a "being ignored" experience significantly promotes the convergent thinking and fluency in divergent thinking; while a "being rejected" experience only contributes to the fluency in a divergent thinking task. Also, for different individuals with different types of self-construal, the effects of being rejected and being ignored on creative thinking are different. Specifically, being ignored, compared to being rejected, significantly promoted the Remote Associates Test (RAT) scores of individuals with independent self-construal. The effects of being ignored or being rejected on creative thinking (convergent thinking and divergent thinking) for individuals with interdependent self-construal are not significant. Our results suggest that individuals with independent self-construal are more vulnerable to social exclusion and benefit more from the ignored experience than the rejected experience; and individuals with interdependent self-construal seem not to be affected by social rejection or social ignoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Primary students' perceived teacher support was positively associated with their creative thinking. • Creative self-efficacy mediated the relationship between perceived teacher support and divergent thinking. • Gender moderated the mediating effect of creative self-efficacy between perceived teacher support and divergent thinking. • The effect of perceived teacher support on divergent thinking was more pronounced in boys than girls. This study explored the relationship between perceived teacher support and primary students' creative thinking as well as the mechanism underlying these associations and gender differences. A sample of 362 primary students (196 boys) was surveyed using the Perceived Teacher Support Questionnaire, Creative Self-efficacy Scale, Divergent Thinking Test, and Remote Associate Test. The results indicated that perceived teacher support was positively associated with students' creative thinking, and creative self-efficacy mediated the relationship between perceived teacher support and divergent thinking. Additionally, gender moderated the first stage of the mediating model of creative self-efficacy between perceived teacher support and divergent thinking; specifically, the effect of perceived teacher support on divergent thinking was more pronounced in boys than girls. These findings suggest that teachers can be considered valid attachment figures for students and have a positive effect on improving primary students' creative thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]