To Gertrude Stein, bicultural experiences were necessary for writers at both the artistic and the practical levels: Not only do experiences in foreign countries allow writers a critical abstract and physical distance from the subjects they write about, but immersion in foreign environments also provides an important source of inspiration, a multicultural muse for the craft of creation.
Creativity is perhaps just as valuable for psychologists as it is for writers; indeed, it is arguably the driving force in determining scholarly impact. When Sternberg and Gordeeva
(1996) asked 252 research psychologists what made a psychology article influential, the items that were rated as most important centered around creativity and novelty: making an obvious