We’ve heard a lot about the benefits of creativity, but very little about its darker sides. Do creative individuals pay a price for their creativity?
Recent psychological studies have begun to explore the darker aspects of creativity, revealing some intriguing findings.
The Liars
An alien observing humanity for the first time might wonder why we pay others to lie to us. We would have to explain that we call this fiction, TV shows, and fantasy films, rather than lies.
We would then admit that sometimes we enjoy being deceived, particularly when the lies are much more interesting than reality.
Thus, we might expect that creative people are better at lying.
Indeed, this appears to be true: Walczyk et al. (2008) tested this by presenting participants with a series of daily dilemmas to handle. Highly creative individuals lied more and were more adept at it than those with lower creativity.
Arrogance
Positively, creative individuals tend to be open to new experiences, but are they easy to get along with?
So far, there has been considerable research on agreeableness, one of the five core personality traits, which has been somewhat mixed.
New research has examined two alternative styles of agreeableness (Silvia et al., 2011). This study found no link between agreeableness and creativity, but it did find a definite negative correlation with honesty-humility.
In other words, creative individuals tend to become arrogant.
Skepticism
Is there a connection between skeptical thinking and increased creativity?
Consider this: becoming skeptical means being less likely to trust appearances and having a desire to discover what is truly going on. In other words, skepticism fosters a “what if” attitude: precisely the kind of mindset associated with creativity.
Skepticism can also nurture cognitive flexibility. Rather than accepting things at face value, skeptical minds attempt to view situations from different perspectives. This is another sign of creativity.
When Mayer and Mussweiler (2011) tested this perspective experimentally, they found supporting evidence. Participants who were made to be skeptical came up with more creative ideas and showed greater cognitive flexibility.
However, importantly, these results were only found when participants were creative in private. When people thought their creative ideas would be made public, skepticism did not increase creativity.
Perhaps this is why it’s hard to identify creative individuals. They are more likely to be skeptical of others and keep their creative ideas to themselves.
Wickedness
So far, creative individuals have been seen as arrogant, skeptical, and good liars, but not truly wicked. But perhaps there is something to the stereotype of the wicked genius?
Through a series of studies, Gino and Ariely (2011) found that creative individuals exhibit all sorts of dishonest traits:
Creative individuals are more likely to cheat in laboratory settings. They are also better at justifying their dishonesty.
While creativity can lead to all sorts of positive outcomes, it also enables people to deceive more easily and cover up their dishonest behavior.
Criminality
Does creativity help you become a skilled criminal?
Certainly, there are examples of creative criminals, such as the notorious British thief, Shirley Pitts.
However, this may be an unusual exception as there is little solid evidence that creativity is unusually high among criminals (Cropley & Cropley, 2011). On average, criminals show relatively low creativity, low self-control, and a lack of adherence to social norms.
Nonetheless, there is some evidence suggesting that when it comes to specific crimes, criminals can be quite creative. After all, it is their “job.”
Or perhaps the truly creative criminals are too creative to get caught…
Madness
There is a strong public perception linking madness and creativity. However, the evidence is uncertain.
Certainly, creative individuals score higher on mental health disorders, meaning they tend to be colder, more antisocial, selfish, self-centered, and less empathetic. But overall, this is balanced by higher self-esteem, greater intelligence, and the ability to control those excessive negative traits.
It also depends on your type of genius. On average, those with the best mental health among creative geniuses are natural scientists (like physicists and chemists), while social scientists (including psychologists) fare worse, anthropologists fare even worse, and artists fare the worst (Simonton, 2009).
Simonton argues that creative geniuses are not necessarily mad; a better term to describe them would be eccentric.
Conclusion
Thus, creativity is not entirely positive. Creative individuals are more likely to be arrogant, skilled liars, skeptical, and perhaps just a little mad – let’s call it eccentric or quirky.
But what would the world be like without these quirky creative individuals? I would say: a very boring place.
So perhaps you should think twice the next time you confess how creative you are!
