Living Abroad and Thinking Outside of the Box



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Two weeks ago, I had the exciting opportunity to visit my sister in London where she is studying for the year. As she showed me her new lifestyle and daily routine, we reflected on some of the benefits she has gained from her time abroad thus far, such as greater knowledge about European history and new friends from different countries. We also talked about some less tangible advantages, like changing the way she thinks about the world, learning to interpret behaviors from a new perspective, and improving her ability to solve problems. In other words, we came to the conclusion that living abroad has helped foster her creativity.

The notion that living abroad enhances creativity may be quite familiar to you. There is certainly plenty of anecdotal evidence to support this idea and a long tradition of the “expatriate artist.” For example, while visiting Westminster Abbey, my sister and I saw memorials to George Händel and Henry James – two artists who were not born in England but who produced some of their most famous works while living there. It’s easy to conjure up glamorous ideas of artists living and working abroad, their creativity sparked by new environments and lifestyles, as in the movie Midnight in Paris. But can the rest of us improve our creativity by living abroad? Were my sister and I right to think that her experience abroad has fostered her creativity? In this post, I’ll present some evidence that such a connection does exist and that it occurs not just for artists, but also within the general population.

In multiple studies with MBA students and undergraduates, researchers William Maddux and Adam Galinsky have demonstrated that the amount of time spent living abroad, and not traveling abroad, is a significant predictor of creativity. They have also shown that time spent living abroad predicts creativity even when controlling for personality characteristics that might influence creativity, such as openness to experience.

Duncker Candle Problem

Researchers measure creativity in all kinds of ways. In some of these studies, creativity was assessed as performance solving problems that have hidden, unexpected solutions. One of these tasks is the Duncker candle problem. For this task, participants are shown a picture with a candle, a pack of matches, and a box of tacks on a table against a wall. They are told to figure out how to attach the candle to the wall so that it burns properly and doesn’t drip wax on the table or the floor. You can see the solution in the picture on the left – participants must empty the box of the tacks and attach it to the wall as a candleholder. Maddux and Galinsky's results showed that the more time participants had spent living abroad, the more likely they were to solve this problem.

When I first heard about these studies, I wanted to know why living abroad is so strongly associated with people’s creativity. Especially since time spent traveling abroad does not predict better performance on these tasks, there must be something important about the experience of actually living in a new environment that leads to more creativity. One aspect of living abroad that Maddux and Galinsky have found facilitates creativity is adaptation to one’s environment. If I’m traveling, I can bring most of the essentials I will need, stay in comfortable hotels, and potentially even eat at familiar, chain restaurants. I can pretty easily see the sights without changing my normal routine or going too far outside of my comfort zone. Living in a new culture, though, really requires people to learn how to think and behave differently.

To get some real-life examples, I asked my sister about the adjustments she has had to make, even in an English-speaking, Western country. If you take a look at what she said, you can get a sense for the kinds of changes in thinking and behavior that people make when immersed in a new culture.



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1) Crossing the street
My biggest hurdle was just trying to stay alive on my commute to school by re-training my brain to look right-left-right when I cross the street. I have finally adjusted, but I initially distrusted looking right-left-right, and I used to sneak one final look to the left, just to make sure a car wasn't coming.

2) Queuing

British people are very proud of their ability to queue (form a line) in any situation. At the grocery store, people will form a single file line that winds around several aisles without any trouble. When I arrived in London, I had to learn to become more aware of when/where a queue was forming so that I did not unintentionally do something very rude!

3) Interpersonal communication
It has taken me a while to understand the intention that is behind what people say and do. Upon arrival, London seemed to be the friendliest city, but once my courses started and I interacted more with students and faculty, I realized that the “friendliness” was actually more like politeness. Just because someone is being very polite doesn't mean they want to be your best friend. But that kind of behavior in the U.S. would mean that someone really wants to get to know you.

Maddux and Galinsky have found that experiences like these of adapting to a new culture help create the link between living abroad and greater creativity. I’m sure those of you who have lived abroad can come up with your own examples too!

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It turns out that you don’t have to be an artist like Ernest Hemingway or Gertrude Stein in order to benefit creatively from living abroad. Living in a new culture and adapting to new ways of thinking and behaving seems to be helpful for creativity even for your average Joe. When my sister finishes her year in London, I’ll expect her to return with more than just pictures and souvenirs. Based on this research, I predict that she will have enhanced her creativity as well!

If you have lived abroad, do you think your creativity was improved? What specific experiences do you think may have helped foster your creativity? Let us know in the comments!

Further reading:

Maddux WW, Adam H, & Galinsky AD (2010). When in Rome ... Learn why the Romans do what they do: how multicultural learning experiences facilitate creativity. Personality & social psychology bulletin, 36 (6), 731-41 PMID: 20445025

Maddux WW, & Galinsky AD (2009). Cultural borders and mental barriers: the relationship between living abroad and creativity. Journal of personality and social psychology, 96 (5), 1047-61 PMID: 19379035