Previous studies have clearly established the impact of culture on design creativity. For example, the presence of cultural values with low uncertainty avoidance (UA, the degree of anxiety and risk aversion that people feel during ambiguous situations) is linked to low workability of creative ideas. Currently, there is limited research on potential remedies to alleviate the impact of culture, specifically with respect to UA. Therefore, this study investigates the use of technology to prime UA cultural values and mitigate their potential negative impacts on design creativity. This was achieved using stimuli that had been generated by virtual reality (VR) technology and presented in an immersive environment. Participants in an experimental study were exposed to VR stimuli designed to either decrease or increase their UA. The results showed that the VR stimuli had successfully increased and decreased low and high UA values, respectively, which mitigated the influence of UA on design creativity. Furthermore, the VR stimuli influenced the emphasis of the participants on ideation, with lowered and enhanced UA values leading to them prioritizing novelty and usefulness, respectively. Overall, the findings provided evidence that VR could be leveraged from a psychological standpoint to reduce cultural influences on creativity through targeted priming. These findings indicated the essential implications of the study in terms of understanding the effect of immersive technologies in shaping human behaviors and mindsets.

The relationship between culture and creativity has sparked the interest of researchers for decades. Although researchers have attempted to establish a connection between culture and creativity, the precise relationship between the two remains ambiguous. The current paper examined extant literature on the subject matter and synthesized the relations between culture and creativity in ideation over the past twenty years. The present study expounds upon the utilized samples, measures implemented to assess creativity and culture, and the study results.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest among researchers in the field of virtual reality (VR) storytelling. There is a lack of studies on using VR storytelling to prime culture-related content. The cultural aspects, particularly the tendency to avoid uncertainty, have yet to be thoroughly examined within VR. Therefore, we developed VR storytelling intending to prime individuals’ uncertainty avoidance values. An experiment was conducted to assess the efficacy of VR storytelling in priming individuals’ uncertainty avoidance values. The participants’ encounter with VR storytelling was assessed through various parameters, including but not limited to their experience of presence and engagement in the virtual environment. The study provides evidence that VR storytelling has the capacity to influence individuals’ cultural values, particularly their inclination to uncertainty avoidance. Furthermore, the feedback provided by the participants revealed that they had positive emotions, a feeling of being present, engagement, and immersion while engaging with such VR storytelling.