Chapter 4 - Malevolent creativity: personality, process, and the larger creativity field

Abstract

Creativity is considered to be prosocial, with inventions and ideas that propel individuals, organizations, and societies forward. However, creativity can result in negative outcomes that harm rather than help. In the past two decades, there has been growing interest in the dark side of creativity. Specifically, researchers have focused on the intentional use of creative means to harm others. This malevolent creativity research has been largely separated from the broader study of creativity. We explore the current state of malevolent creativity along with creative personality and process variables used in both dark side research and the broader creativity research field. We provide recommendations and review implications of the current state of research concerning malevolent creativity.