TOWARDS A MORE CREATIVE SOCIETY OF ASIANS

1. Why Asians are less creative than Westeners2. Culture shapes the psyche of the individual

from young3. Give rise to • Creative behaviour(task-oriented,

individuated)• Uncreative behaviour(ego-oriented,

comforming)4. Asians are less creative because exposed to

different environmental influences.

ASIAN PARENTS1. Asian caretakers will draw a child’s attention to

shortcomings, problems or potentially negative features

2. The child may develop a habitual attentional bias toward negatives self-relevant information

3. Typical way of Asian to raise a child, leaves him with the intangible feeling that he is being belittled by his own parents

HELP THE ASIAN CHILD TO DEVELOP A POSITIVE SELF-CONCEPT

1. Spend more time in encouraging and complimenting them for doing things right

2. Spend less time in scolding and punishing them for get things wrong

3. Enable the child to develop a positive self-concept

4. Developing a positive self-concept is crucial for creativity

5. Creativity requires the person to feel confident of himself

• Able to attempt to do something that is risky and different

DON’T LET THE VOICE OF JUDGEMENT(VOJ) STRANGLE THE

CREATIVE SPIRIT OF THE ASIAN CHILD1. In The Creative Spirit, Goleman and his colleagues; termed

the inhibitory voice which discourages us from embarking on creative challenges as the Voice of Judgement(VOJ)

2. The voice inside oneself is usually the most daunting, but there is also judgement by others.

3. Cultural judgements; the rules of proper behaviour which forbid unconventional behaviour

• Once it gets hold of us, our VOJ can lead us into a maze of negativity(follow absurd situation)

• VOJ inhibits from doing something thus makes to feel depressed about the weakness of will

VOICE OF JUDGEEMENTVOJ can kill the creative spirit“Who do you think you are?”

“You’ll look like a jerk”“They will think you’re crazy”

Instead of confront the challenge, he will avoid to face it

NURTURE THE AUTONOMY OF THE ASIAN CHILD INSTEAD OF OVERPROTECTING HIM

1. To become confident and adventurous, Asian children needs;

• Space and freedom to explore and manipulate the objects in the sociocultural environment

2. Asian parents must change their child-rearing mindset• No harm should befall their wards• Promote the growing autonomy and independence and

creative mastery of their children• Latter mindset will lead Asian parents to encourage their

children whilst the former mindset leads to overprotect their children

PROMOTE THE ASIAN FAMILY AS THE “PLAYGROUND OF LIFE”

1. Asian societies need to “fine-tune” the familial aspect of their culture

2. In Singapore, the government wants to ensure that the family will be the basic building block of society

• Promotes a set of family values to Singaporeans• Includes: love, care and concern, mutual respect,

filial piety, commitment and responsibility

• Strong and intact families as the foundation of healthy lives and wholesome communities

• Creatively explore their shared environment together

• Enabling the child to develop an indomitable spirit of adventure and initiative in the process

NOTHING WITHOUT JOY1. From Italian phrase niente senza gioia2. Asian family should be more than just a

moralistic institution in which proper behaviour is cultivated

3. Children can grow up to become confident, mature and responsible

4. Enabling the child to be psychologically resilient in the face of adversity

CONFUCIUS IS NOT A STUFFY AND MORALISTIC OLD MAN

1. Promoting the Asian family as “the playground of life” is alien to the Confucian way of life which concerned about being right not about being fun

2. Confucian way of life places too much emphasis on propriety; doing what is proper and right, and not enough on creativity; doing what is different and novel

3. This extreme emphasis on propriety is a result of the zealous proselytising by the disciples of Confucius

4. In modern-day Singapore, the parent granted to sue his children in court if they refuse to take care of him in his old age

5. There is more to life than being moral, prim and proper all the time, or obeying the dictates of the VOJ

ANALECTS XI:26• Confucius was sitting with a group of disciples having a

conversation• He asked each of them to express his heart’s desires• One replied that he wanted to be Minister of War; the

second wanted to be Minister of Finance, while the third wanted to be Master of Ceremonies

• The fourth disciples, Tseng Tien replied he wanted to go bathing in the River Yi and enjoy the breeze on the Rain Altar, and then go home chanting poetry

• Confucius indicated, he was with the simple-minded Tseng Tien

• Confucius indeed who apreciated the joys of living

PLAYFULNESS CAN WIN YOU A NOBEL PRIZE

1. The physicist Richard Feynman was one such intelligent but playful Nobel laureate, whose unbridled curiosity about an everyday event led him to a great discovery in science

2. Confucius; the common folks marvel at uncommon things, while the person of genius marvels at the commonplace

3. Playfulness and humour are great antidotes to stultifying habit, a way of stepping outside established categories of thought

The story of Richard Feynman• Brilliant brains behind the Manhattan Project

in World War II• Aim of the project was to beat the German

and Japanese by building an atomic bomb to bring a quick end to the war

• After the way, Feynman went to work as a lecturer in Cornell University.

• Expertise in mathematical methods of physics.• In his opinion, the questions of students were

often the source of new research, as they tended to ask profound questions that he had thought about.

• To Feynman, teaching students kept life going.

Make Distinction Between Training and Educating students

• Professor Lee Yuan Tseh, a respected Chinese scholar

• He observed that Eastern European and Russian students tended to win top prizes in international school contests, but rarely went on to make scientific breakthrough.

• It same goes to the East Asian students.

• On the other hand, American students did not fare well in these competitions, but many of them later became Nobel Prize winners.

• According to Prof Lee, achievements in international competitions are an example of what good training in a regimental education system can produce.

• Achievements in scientific breakthrough are the result of being educated in an open, democratic society.

• Students are encouraged to ask questions and find out an answers on their own

• Key to nurturing creativity is to distinguish between training students and educating them to raise new questions and solve problems for the future

• Asian students were not creative because they had been trained to solve problems in order to do well in examinations.

• We have to educate them to solve pratical problems in the real world that could lead to a scientific breakthrough.

• This difference in solving problems is reinforced by the familial environment in the West and East. Example;

Israel- What question did you raise today? Asian- What score did you get?

How to Become a Creative Student: An Asian Nobel Laureate’s View

1. Learn to think independently and question “accepted” answers.

2. Learn to ask “good” question probe the frontiers of science and stump their teachers.

3. Learn to view the problems from all the different angles, so they could weigh the pros and cons of every issue.

4. Study a topic thoroughly, as this is the best way to learn about a subject. Be a mastery oriented

5. Attempt to tackle “unsolvable problems” such as question and puzzle with no correct answers so that they would learn to “think deep”.

6. The educator should respect his students as “complete persons with the right to express their opinions”.

What Sort of Educator Should We be in the East

• The hierarchical system of education in Asian society does not encourage students to be skeptical

• To ask questions and to tell teachers, “I think you might be wrong.”

• Instead, students feel intimidated by their professors, who seem to know everything.

• University professors should treat students as their equals.

• There would be more dialogue, students would feel free to ask penetrating questions.

• Educators should not be afraid to say I don’t know.

• Because there are lots of interesting unknowns in science which students should become very curious and want to find out about.

• Eastern educators have a lot to learn from the Western regarding egalitarian manner to our students.

• Educators in the West not prefer being addressed by their titles, but prefer to be known by their own names.

• An egalitarian attitude between teacher and student is not appropiate for the Confucian-oriented educational system in the East.

• Confucian-oriented educational system in the East emphasised rank and title.

• Confucius once remarked concerning the meaning of knowledge“To say you know when you know, and to say

you don’t know when you don’t know, this is knowledge”

• Mr Lee Kuan Yew said that the educational system in Asia should be amend and modify. The most important is the mindset.

How Should We Live in Asian society• Besides changing the way we deal with our

children at home and our students in school, we need to reconsider the way we live in the wider Asian society.

• Asian way of living puts a lot of emphasis on the accumulation of materialistic goods.

• As a result, the typical Asian behave in an ego-involved and uncreative manner.

• Behaviour of the kiasu Singaporean, who queues up overnight just to lay his hands on limited edition of Hello Kitty dolls.

• The kiasu Singaporean is the essential product of a Skinnerian society, in which people and institutions are ranked competitively from top to bottom, and materialistic rewards and punishments serve as a major means of providing individuals to behave.

• Intelligent individuals with a Machiavellian streak in their character mock any parrallel efforts to cultivate core values like integrity and honesty.

• This fact can be obtained from the smug comments made by one of the rich and bright selfish scholars who had tricked a certain institution in Singapore into giving him a prestigious scholarship to study overseas.

Smug comments

“It is a myth that a scholarship implies moral obligation. Our scholarship provides did not

choose us out of a sense of pity, but by virtue of our merit”

• Living in a such society, in which individuals are advise from birth to be competitive and to “grab opportunities for progress”, will only frustrate the deeper sense of meaning within the ordinary Singaporean, and create a spiritual void in him.

• He attempts to fill this spiritual void by acquiring the temporal stuff of this world which everyone else is going after in his society.

• Unfortunately, acquiring these material goods will not assure him of personal happiness and satisfaction in life.

Deeper Hunger Satisfaction• Human need to understand what life on this earth

is about.• Why are some people good while other people are

bad?• What will become of our society if everyone of us

engages in our own selfish pursuits?• Should we allow society to control our actions, so

that it will not become a free-for-all?• If we do so, then will we end up being very passive

and uncreative, like the kiasu Singaporean.

The kiasu Singaporean• They escape from moral and intellectual

dilemmas to indulge in trivial pursuits• Queuing up overnight for Hello Kitty dolls.• Same as the British who acquired an empire in a

fit of absence of mind, his mindless kiasuism lead to the rise of the chindogu society.

Chindogu • Japanese word for all the useless things which

a person may be tempted to buy, because others are doing so.

• Example, designer bags of different shapes and sizes.

• A chindogu society may chalk up good economic growth but it will not, on the face of it, provide good enough reasons for working or living.

People who are too immersed in the chindogu society implicitly assume that so long as they can satisfy those artificial wants which their

materialistic society has instilled in them, they will able to appease the deeper hunger for

spiritual meaning.

Money • Money is a necessary but not sufficient

condition for happiness.• More money will not enable you to live a

more meaningful life if you already have enough money to live on.

Koyaanisqatsi • It means life out of kilter with itself, • Crazy life, • Life disintergrating, • Unbalanced life• A state of life which calls for another way of

living.

• Koyaanisqatsi expresses the current state of imbalance in the lives of many Asians;

1. Living in a tightly-organised2. Collectivistic and hierarchical society3. Put too much emphasis on the acquisition of

material goods4. Enhancement of one’s mian-zi(social face)

before others

Solution

• Asians need to reinvent themselves and their societies

• So they can lead a creative and balanced life that is not out of kilter with itself

Conflict Is Not Necessarily Bad for the Asian Society

• To enable the Asian to live a creative, meaningful and balanced life,

• His society must become more open,• Allow him to pose a difficult and challenging

questions• Enable him to communicate his constructive

ideas and opinions to the rest of his society

• In many Asian countries much restriction is still placed on what the individual can do or say in public to maintain social order and harmony.

• There is the lingering fear among the political elite in these countries that if they were to create a more open society.

• Certain amount of conflict is good for Asian society.

• Diversity of views can flourish will eventually lead to a more creative and intellectually vibrant society,

• Can make a better decisions affecting the lives of its people.

• Example, the social psychologist concludes that constructive dissent by a minority group can actively promote the quality of decision-making and the performance in the group as a whole.

Dean Keith Simonton

• An American researcher on creativity• He indicates that the political environment of a

society in one generation affects the amount of creativity observed.

• Two aspects of the political environment1. Political instability- inhibits creative work in

the next generation2. Political diversity- creative accomplishments

across many literature, music, visual arts and science.

• Increase as the amount of political diversity in the previous generation increased.

• Great advances in the realm of ideas can only take place in times of peace and under stable government.

• Occurs when philosophers, scientists, artist and writers have abundant leisure to pursue undisturbed their creative activities.

The Danger Of Groupthink• Permitting a diversity of view to flourish in Asian

society help Asians to avoid the danger of groupthink.

• Groupthink- mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive ingroup.

• During groupthink, individual members try so hard to agree with the group that they make mistake and commit errors.

• Arises during decision-making process when like-minded people becomes so overwhelmed by consensus seeking that their apprehension of reality is undermined.

• This process is hastened when certain conditions are fulfilled.

1. When the decision group is highly cohesive2. When it is isolated from other sources of

information.3. When its leader clearly favours a particular

option.

Preventing Groupthink in the Asian Society

• The Asian leaders should be open and consultive• Permit a wide spectrum of views to emerge

during the group discussion• Encourage each member of the group to voice

his personal misgivings of a favoured plan.

• The leader should describe the problem, not recommend solution.

• He also should establish routine procedures in which several independent and smaller groups can work on the same problem.

• The leader should solicit the opinions of outside experts to assist in the decision-making process of the group.

Cuban Missile Crisis• United States and the Soviet Union were trying to

establish their hegemony in the world.• President Kennedy called on his top advisers to

considered the issues, debated possible solutions, and disagreed over strategies.

• They finally recommended a plan that involved a naval blockade of all Cuban ports.

• The Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved, as the Russian agreed to dismantle the launching sites.

• Group members admitted their personal inadequacies and ignorance.

• Wilingly consulted experts who were not members of the group.

• The committee discussed the ethics of the situation and the proposed solutions.

• No norm of conformity was given the slightest opportunity to develop

• Each person in the group was able to express doubts and worries openly.

• Rules of discussion were suspended, agendas were avoided, and new ideas are welcome.

• Group members felt so comfortable in their roles as skeptical critics.

• They were able to resist the temptation to go along with the consensus.

President Kennedy Credit• He dropped his closed style of leadership to

become an open leader;1. Refused to state his personal beliefs at the

beginning of the session2. Wait until others had let their views be

known

1. Required a full discussion, unbiased discussion of the pros and cons of each possible course of action

2. Convinced his subordinates that he would welcome healthy criticism and condemn

3. Arranged for the group to meet without him on several occasions.

In Search of the Soul of Singaporeans• The political authority in Asian societies like

Singapore is not unaware of the benefits of an open society.

• Singaporean government let the people have their own Speaker’s Corner

• Based on feedbacks from thousands of Singaporeans in all walks of life

• Emphasises what the people and government can do

• In order to create a society of active citizens in which every Singaporean matters.

• The Singapore citizen should “walk the talk” instead of merely criticising the Singapore government in neighbourhood coffee-shops.

• The Singapore governments should welcome the suggestions of its citizens

• The government have to keeps its word and leave its citizens to run their own lives.

• The citizens also have to make the effort to take up other pursuits in life.

Who Is The True Creator• Road to a freer and more open Asian society,

two caveats are in order;1. This is not a revolutionary call for a boycott or

overthrow of conventional Asian society.• The true creator is an independently minded-

thinker, who is best able to maintain an optimal balance between self-reliance and group identification.

• The true creator escapes the fate of both the extreme conformist and counter-conformist

• Extreme conformist- Too oversocialised. He follows what the majority says and does unthinkingly

• Extreme counter-conformist- too undersocialised. Rejecting whatever the majority says and does unthinkingly. He misses out on the chance to learn from others.

• The true creator is neither too oversocialised nor undersocialised.

• He is not too oversocialised because he can be independent and take the initiative.

• He is not too undersocialised because he can tap the resources of the community where appropiate.

On Not Blindly Emulating the West

• Asians should not blindly emulate the “free-for-all” societies of the West.

• The West may be more creative than the East in many ways, but its society is not perfect.

• It is the West which has brought to light the sinister power of the Id via the psychoanalytic genius of Sigmund Freud and his disciples.

• The West also has created a dire situation in which parents and students feel unsafe in schools, even with metal detectors.

• Example: the tragedy in Columbine High School, in which two teenage American students went on a murderous rampage and killed their teacher and 12 other students.

• That tragedy has stoked the feeling that American schools are not safe.

Paladin Press

• Mail-order publishing house in America.• They had published a book on how to commit

murder and get away with it.• Title, Hit-man: A Technical Manual for

Independent Contractors. Has sold 13,000 copies.

• It provides step-by-step instructions to the reader on

1. How to sneak into homes2. How to use a silencer3. How to kill most effectively-by putting a

single bullet between the eyes of the victim.

The Typical Western Arrogance• In spite of all the problems in their own

backyard, many hawkish critics in the west still insist on preaching to the East about various matters

• Example- calling Asian leaders “dictators” and describe Asian societies “nanny state”

The Typical Asian Arrogance• The Singapore government continuosly exhorts

its citizens to refrain from adopting the “decadent” moral values of the West, while preserving its Confucian values.

• A survey identified the Philippines as the most favourited expatriate posting in the region, because of kaleidoscopic nightlife.

• A Singaporean called for the authorities to refrain from loosening regulations governing nightclubs and discos in an attempt to lure foreign talent to work in Singapore

• He worried that Singapore’s nightlife would erode moral values.

• Many Western expatriates in Singapore who read his letter felt offended.

Culture Is Nothing to Brag About• Heelas and Lock- Our indigenous psychology

works to maintain and fulfil what our social world defines as that which we should be.

• Sociocultural views of the self do not necessary fulfil the needs of the self as a natural psychology entity.

• Cultural notion of selfhood which we rely on to be a person in society will not always be good for us.

East and West, Neither Is Best• It might be a more instructive exercise for us to

ponder upon the fact that all human beings are hominid wimps.(weak creatures)

• We are more inclined to think of ourselves as being different, unique and superior, not only to our own kind, but to every other creature on earth, living or extinct.

Ten Comprehensive Guidelines to Becoming a Creative Asian

• There is much in that Asians can learn from their Western counterparts in enhancing their creativity.

• There is much in Asian society which is commendable, and which in my view should be preserved.

• The creative Asian should integrate the best of the East and West, instead of chucking out the East in favour of the West.

1. Maintain a flexible discipline in every situation. Strength of the West- flexibility Strength of the East- discipline2. The creative Asian should maintain a flexible

discipline in every situation.3. Flexible discipline helps him not only to be in

control of the situation, but also to adapt himself creatively to it.

2. Seek peace and harmony within the social group, but don’t be afraid to take a moral

stance if you have to. The creative Asian should strive to preserve

social peace and harmony within his community.

Moral integrity is a hallmark of the true creator. It is also the foundation of social life.

3. Give face to the other, but don’t seek to gain face for yourself by the acquisition of material goods.

One way to preserve social harmony is by giving face to the other.

It helps to keep the peace and maintain the relationship.

4. Infuse yourself with passion; help the poor; be an everyday creator

Infuse himself with passion for a certain activity. Occupy his time meaningfully by assisting those

people who are less fortunate than him. He can strive to be an everyday creator: this will

add a lot of zest into his everyday life.

5. Be modest, yet believe in yourself Adapt a modest attitude in life. Believe in oneself In this way, he remains teachable He also gets to function at the edge of his

competence.

6. Use reason to prune tradition• The Asian has been brought to respect

tradition.• The Westener has been brought up to rely on

his own powers of reasoning.• Tradition enriches our lives.• The creative Asian should use his power of

reasoning to decide which tradition should be retained and which should be discarded.

7. Don’t be a pushover• Asian people should assert himself against these

internal and external forces that prevent him from exercising his autonomy or belittle his

dignity as a person.

8. Adopt an experimental attitude by taking calculated risks in life.

Research shown that Westeners tend to adopt an experimental attitude in life such as try out something new and they learn from their mistakes.

Asians have high uncertainty avoidance. Low tolerance of ambiguity.

The Asian should adopt an experimental attitude in life, learn to take calculated risks.

9. Maintain a playful attitude towards life

Needs to cultivate a playful and humorous attitude towards a life.

10. Imagine that you are a butterfly dreaming that you are a human being

The creative Asian should free himself by adopting the playful and irreverent attitude

towards.

Creative Asian Society Asian parents should assist their children to

develop a positive self-concept. Asian parents should nurture the autonomy of

their children. Asian family should be a “playground of life” Asian educators should learn from their

counterparts in the West in educating students.

Islamic Thought

o The needs to explore new knowledge.ه الل صلى ه الل رسول قال قال مالك بن أنس عن

. مسلم كل على فريضة العلم طلب م وسل عليه) وغيره) ماجه ابن

This hadith clearly states that learn the new knowledge is a must for every muslim.

o We need to respect people and also other living things.

فليقل اآلخر واليوم بالله يؤمن كان منبالله يؤمن كان ومن ليصمت، أو خيراكان ومن جاره، فليكرم اآلخر واليوم

ضيفه فليكرم اآلخر واليوم بالله يؤمنومسلم البخاري رواه

This hadith means that we must respect our neighbour and do good things towards them.