ERIC Number: EJ1413068
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1040-0419
EISSN: EISSN-1532-6934
Available Date: N/A
Target Personification Influences the Positive Emotional Link between Generating and Implementing Malevolently Creative Ideas
Tin L. Nguyen; Kayla N. Walters; Alexis L. d'Amato; Scarlett R. Miller; Samuel T. Hunter
Creativity Research Journal, v36 n1 p42-57 2024
Research on malevolent creativity has rarely linked the generation of harmful ideas with their implementation (i.e., malevolent innovation). To explain why people might act upon their malevolently creative ideas, we drew on affective events theory. Specifically, given evidence that aggressive and creative thought events can elicit positive emotions, we argued that generating new and harmful ideas can evoke positive emotional states that make malevolent innovation a more desirable course of action. We first tested our mediational pathway in two studies with different malevolent creativity tasks. Finding only partial support for our predictions in Study 1 (N = 126), but full support in Study 2 (N = 296), we reflected on our study tasks and suspected that our mixed results may have occurred because the target of ideas in Study 2 embodied more human qualities than in Study 1. Thus, we integrated theory on target personification to see if assigning personhood to a target moderated the malevolent creativity-innovation pathway. We tested our updated model in Study 3 (N = 214) and found that the indirect effect of malevolent creativity on the desire to implement ideas (through positive emotions) was indeed conditional upon individuals' personification of a target.
Descriptors: Undergraduate Students, Aggression, Creativity, Psychological Patterns, Positive Attitudes
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: US Department of Homeland Security
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 20STTPC0000102
Author Affiliations: N/A