Harnessing Diversity: Majority‐Group Acculturation Predicts Creativity and Flourishing Over Time
ABSTRACT Creativity and flourishing are core aims of higher education (HE) institutions and government initiatives globally. Large‐scale projects have linked creativity and flourishing with cultural diversity, yet their associations with majority‐group acculturation (i.e., how members of dominant culture groups adopt minority‐cultural elements and/or maintain their national culture) remain unexplored. We tested relationships between majority‐group acculturation and seven components of creativity and flourishing in UK (Study 1, N = 323) and Chinese (Study 2, N = 174) majority‐group university students and a three‐wave, English majority‐group longitudinal sample (Study 3, N at Time 1 = 219). Results found integration (i.e., adopting other cultures while maintaining one's own) predicted higher cognitive flexibility (Study 1), meaning‐in‐life (Studies 1 and 2) and quality of interpersonal relationships (Studies 1 and 2), while cultural adoption predicted higher cognitive flexibility, curiosity‐exploration and flourishing over time (Study 3). Findings align majority‐group acculturation with key priorities of HE and government programmes.
Authors
- Mioara Cristea (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2944-3791)
- Nelli Ferenczi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3757-6244)
- Jonas R. Kunst (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5319-1256)
- Katharina Lefringhausen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2998-1311)
- David Colledge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3561-1521)
- Tara C. Marshall (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1379-5290)
- Daniel Dauber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4324-4796)
- Y. Zhu
- H. Zagefka
- K. H. Kim
Institutions
- University of London (GB)
- BI Norwegian Business School (NO)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Royal Holloway University of London (GB)
- Dongguk University (KR)
- Heriot-Watt University (GB)
- University of Warwick (GB)
- Brunel University of London (GB)
- McMaster University (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- European Journal of Social Psychology
- Published
- 2026-08-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70106
- Primary Topic
- Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00