Wan-chi Wong

Understanding Dialectical Thinking from a Cultural-Historical Perspective

The present essay aims to throw light on the study of dialectical thinking from a cultural-historical perspective. Different forms of dialectic are articulated as ideal types, including the Greek dialectic, the Hegelian dialectic, the contemporary German negative dialectic, the Chinese dialectic, and the Indian negative dialectic. These influential cultural products in the history of the East and the West, articulated as ideal types, serve as constellations that could facilitate further empirical studies on dialectical thinking. An understanding of the complexity of these constellations reveals the pitfalls of investigating dialectical thinking without an appropriate conceptualization of the research target. With the ideal types of dialectic as “figure,” and Vygotskys thesis of the cultural-historical origin of higher psychological processes as “ground,” we explore possibilities for further lines of inquiry on dialectical thinking. Adhering to the Scribnerian multilevel scheme that reconstructs Vygotskys thesis, and returning to the core ideas of Vygotsky himself, we discover new, meaningful questions about the study of dialectical thinking. In the research area of “culture and cognition,” consideration of a cultural-historical perspective appears to be both necessary and promising.

Co‐constructing the Personal Space‐Time Totality: Listening to the Dialogue of Vygotsky, Lewin, Bronfenbrenner, and Stern

Insightful ideals on the subtle and dynamic relation between the person and the environment have been expressed by Vygotsky, Lewin, Bronfenbrenner and Stern. Carefully following their intricate dialogue reveals that their ideas are mutually enriching. The present essay aims to revitalize this intricate dialogue, and to show how it converges to supply rich meaning to the concept of personal space-time totality. With a view to an empirical study of the personal space-time totality, a four-phase inquiry is proposed, which is essentially a refined co-construction between the subject and the researcher. It is suggested that such a co-construction can be meaningfully integrated into research areas such as autobiographical and narrative studies, commonsense psychology, and optimal human development.

Understanding Conceptual Development Along the Implicit–Explicit Dimension: Looking Through the Lens of the Representational Redescription Model

This study examined conceptual changes in children in the dimension of explicitness through the lens of the representational redescription model (A. Karmiloff-Smith, 1986, 1992). The 4- to 9-year-old participants (N = 24) had to balance blocks on a narrow support in one task and predict whether the blocks could be balanced in another task. In addition to the application of a microgenetic approach, various new methods were introduced to capture fine-grained changes in explicitness. Explicit understanding and behavioral performance were assessed separately with different measures. By using an adapted prediction task in a new way, evidence supporting the existence of an intermediate level of explicitness (Level E1) was found. The results also supported the existence of implicit-to-explicit development. The findings imply that the development of conceptual explicitness deserves further investigation.

Emotional Reactions Mediate the Effect of Music Listening on Creative Thinking: Perspective of the Arousal-and-Mood Hypothesis

This study examined the effect of music listening on creative thinking through the lens of the arousal-and-mood hypothesis, which posits that emotional reactions (i.e., arousal and valence) mediate the effect of music listening on cognitive functioning. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups: a positive music group (n = 198), a negative music group (n = 195), and a control group (n = 191). Creative thinking and emotional reactions were assessed with the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production and the Affect Grid, respectively. The results showed that both positively and negatively arousing music enhanced creative thinking. The results further revealed that arousal, regardless of valence, significantly mediated the music-creativity relationship. This study enriches the research on the arousal-and-mood hypothesis by (1) providing direct empirical testing on the mediating roles of emotional reactions; (2) including both positively and negatively arousing music in the study design; and (3) identifying that only arousal, and not valence, was a significant mediator in the music-creativity link.

Gender differences in means and variability on creative thinking: Patterns in childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood

Gender differences in creative thinking remain an unresolved research question. Researchers have increasingly recognized that both mean and variability analyses should be conducted to uncover a complete picture of gender differences. Moreover, it has been suggested that gender differences in intellectual abilities are dynamic across age, and gender differences need to be analyzed developmentally. This study aimed to reframe the study of gender differences in creative thinking by (1) using both mean and variability analyses and (2) employing a developmental perspective. Creativity was assessed with the Test for Creative Thinking–Drawing Production (TCT–DP) which was developed based on the componential model of creativity. The TCT–DP scores of six age groups (N = 2,224), which included participants of ages 3–4 years, 5–7 years, 10–12 years, 13–15 years, 18–19 years, and 20–22 years, were analyzed. Results showed that while mean analyses generally revealed trivial gender differences, variability analyses tend to support great gender differences. Furthermore, developmental data demonstrated that the magnitude and the direction of gender differences change across age. While greater female variability (favoring girls) was observed in young children, a reverse pattern that was found in adolescents and young adults. The findings shed lights on the different developmental trajectories of boys and girls in creativity.