The effects of plurilingualism and pluriculturalism on divergent thinking: testing the moderating role of personality traits

ABSTRACT

This study continued an in-depth investigation of the Plurilingual Creativity paradigm. It examined how Big Five personality traits moderated the relationship between plurilingualism/pluriculturalism and creativity. Data collection included assessments of plurilingual experience (measured by the abridged version of the Multilingual and Multicultural Experience Questionnaire), multicultural experience and desire (measured by the Multicultural Experience Questionnaire), intercultural competence (measured by Integrative Intercultural Competence Survey), and divergent thinking (measured by Unusual Uses test). A series of regression analyses using moderation models obtained evidence that neuroticism interacted with the plurilingual index (composed of the number of languages spoken by participants and their overall language proficiency), contributing to flexibility in divergent thinking. Extraversion interacted with the intercultural competence component, namely the management of intercultural interaction, contributing to fluency, flexibility, and originality in divergent thinking. It also interacted with multicultural experience in contributing to fluency. These findings emphasized the importance of considering personality traits in plurilingual creativity.

KEYWORDS:

• Plurilingualism
• pluriculturalism
• intercultural competence
• creativity
• divergent thinking
• Big Five personality traits
• moderation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Faculty of Social Sciences, HSE University.

Notes on contributors

Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin

Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin, PhD, is an associate professor of Psychology at HSE University (Russia). His research not only focuses on the relationship between multilingualism and creativity but also includes cognitive and sociocultural aspects of creativity and education. His work has appeared in a monograph, edited volumes, scientific journals, and encyclopedias. Currently, he is developing a new educational program Plurilingual Intercultural Creative Keys (PICK), which presents a unified curricular approach to foster students' adaptation through the development of multilingual, intercultural, and creative competencies. In addition to his scientific interests, he is a poet, a multimedia artist, and a curator.

Valeriya Koncha

Valeriya Koncha, MA, is a lecturer and a PhD student in the faculty of Politics and Governance at HSE University (Russia). She is a researcher at the International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development and the Laboratory for Linguistic, Intercultural, and Creative Competencies. Her research interests develop in two directions: a study of protest and counter–protest identity construction processes and a study of Plurilingual Creativity. She published several papers in academic journals and participated in a range of conferences related to her research interests.

Morteza Charkhabi

Morteza Charkhabi, PhD, is an assistant professor of psychology at the Institute of Education at HSE University (Russia). He is currently a member of the Center for Psychometrics and Measurement at this institute. He completed his joint PhD in psychology at KU Leuven, Belgium, and the University of Verona, Italy. He also teaches basic and advanced statistics for master and PhD programs. His research focuses on well–being and stress, test development, and language background.