The Role of Instrumental Emotion Regulation in the Emotions-Creativity Link: How Worries Render Individuals with High Neuroticism more Creative
Based on the instrumental account of emotion regulation (Tamir, 2005), the current research seeks to offer a novel perspective to theemotions–creativity debate by investigating the instrumental value of trait-consistent emotions in creativity. We hypothesize that emotionssuch as worry (vs. happy) ar...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1555 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/2812/viewcontent/RoleERegulationEmotionCreativity_2014.pdf |
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| Institution: | Singapore Management University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | Based on the instrumental account of emotion regulation (Tamir, 2005), the current research seeks to offer a novel perspective to theemotions–creativity debate by investigating the instrumental value of trait-consistent emotions in creativity. We hypothesize that emotionssuch as worry (vs. happy) are trait-consistent experiences for individuals higher on trait neuroticism and experiencing these emotions can facilitate performance in a creativity task. In 3 studies, we found support for our hypothesis. First, individuals higher in neuroticism had a greater preference for recalling worrisome (vs. happy) events in anticipation of performing a creativity task (Study 1). Moreover, when induced to recall a worrisome (vs. happy) event, individuals higher in neuroticism came up with more creative design (Study 2) and more flexible uses of a brick (Study 3) when the task was a cognitively demanding one. Further, Study 3 offers preliminary support that increased intrinsic task enjoyment and motivation mediates the relationship between trait-consistent emotion regulation and creative performance. These findings offer a new perspective to the controversy concerning the emotions–creativity relationship and further demonstrate the role of instrumentalemotion regulation in the domain of creative performance. |
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