Williams, Cedric (2025) How bad can it be, when it is creative? Master thesis, Psychology.
![[img]](https://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/style/images/fileicons/text.png) |
Text
MsCThesisC.M.TWilliamss3580571.pdf Restricted to Repository staff only Download (217kB) |
Abstract
Creativity has become a relevant topic over the past decades, and has often been associated with inherent positive or pro-social aspects. However, this assumption has been challenged by newer lines of research that propose the concept of malevolent creativity, creativity that is used to harm others. This study is concerned with the influence of creativity on malevolent ideas and their perception. It is hypothesized that highly creative ideas moderate the relation between malevolence in ideas and malevolence perceptions, such that malevolent ideas are perceived as less malevolent. For this a 2x2 repeated measures design was used, in which 193 participants rated ideas varying in creativity and malevolence. While malevolence of an idea had a strong main effect on malevolence perception, the main effect of creativity was smaller and had the opposite direction than what was hypothesized. Highly creative ideas were rated as more malevolent. The interaction effect was found insignificant, contradicting the hypothesis. In the exploratory research it was revealed that the manipulation of creativity failed, as highly creative ideas were consistently rated as uncreative. This highlights the importance of properly validated manipulation materials in the assessment of malevolent creativity. This study suggests that creativity might increase perceptions of malevolence, and directs future research towards a more complete understanding of the complex nature of creativity. Keywords: malevolent creativity, receiving side of creativity, idea perception, creativity, creative ethicality
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Rietzschel, E.F. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology (WOP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 23 May 2025 13:18 |
| Last Modified: | 23 May 2025 13:18 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4900 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |