• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Future Expats

Create an Untethered Life Overseas

  • Home
  • Start Here
  • About
    • Big Fat Disclaimer
    • Privacy Policy
  • Portable Careers
    • Blogging
      • Blogging for Expats WordPress Tutorials
    • Life Coaching
    • Photography
    • Teaching
    • Websites
    • Writing
  • Prepping the Move
    • Countdown
    • Narrowing Your Country/City Search
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Australia/New Zealand
      • Central America
      • Europe
      • North America
      • Region
      • South America
    • Visas and Residency
    • Quality of Life
    • Learning the Language
    • Health Care
    • Technology
  • Panama
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Hire Me!
    • Expat Resources: Prepping the Move
    • Expat Resources: Portable Careers
    • Expat Resources: Technology
    • Book and Movie Reviews
You are here: Home / What Kind of Expat Are You? / Does Thinking About Moving Make You More Creative?

Does Thinking About Moving Make You More Creative?

July 23, 2009 by FutureExpat

Does Thinking About Moving Make You More Creative?
creativityA few months ago, I published the results of a Fast Company study of MBA students. The study concluded that those who had lived outside their home country performed better on a creativity test than those who had not. However, that study concluded that simply traveling abroad did not enhance creativity in the way that living abroad did.


Scientific American has just added more to the debate about expats and creativity. An article published on July 21 indicates that psychological distance makes us more creative. According to the article, An Easy Way to Increase Creativity, psychological distance affects how we represent things mentally. The distance can be geographic or temporal.

Psychologically distant things become more abstract, and close things become more concrete. The more abstractly we view a subject, the easier it is to form connections between concepts which seem unrelated – creativity.

“This pair of studies suggests that even minimal cues of psychological distance can make us more creative. Although the geographical origin of the various tasks was completely irrelevant – it shouldn’t have mattered where the questions came from – simply telling subjects that they came from somewhere far away led to more creative thoughts.”

The authors conclude that traveling to far-away places, or even just thinking about such places, increases creativity. However, this conclusion conflicts with the Fast Company study. While both indicate a correlation between expatriation and creativity, further research is needed.

Want Future Expats updates in your mailbox or RSS reader? Click here to sign up.

Filed Under: What Kind of Expat Are You? Tagged With: creative, creativity, expat, moving abroad

Primary Sidebar

Visit Panama

Panama Relocation Tours

VPN Services

Best VPN for TravelersBest VPN for Travelers

Best VPN for USA Netflix StreamingHMA! Pro VPN - 12 Months. Best VPN for USA Netflix Streaming!

Sale on .COM Domains!

KINGCOM domain salepixel

More Posts

International real estate sale

Adventures in International Real Estate Closings

Best Countries for Quality of Life in 2011

Villas Coco del Mar sign

The Pains, Perils and Joys of Buying Panama Oceanfront Property

Expat Books: A Year In Provence

Bangkok

Jump-Start Your Portable Career as a Travel Blogger

From New York to New York

Top Expat Blogs – How Cool is That?

Here's a new award. . . We've just been named to the Top Expat Blogs list at Ranked Blogs! If you like us, click the link and vote us up! we're one of the top expat blogs at Ranked Blogs! Future Expats was recently awarded a spot in the Top 100 Expat Blogs.

Follow Me

  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 Future Expats Forum
Proudly running on a Genesis Theme by StudioPress