Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
10-2014
Abstract
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.
Keywords
Creativity, Emotional Regulation, Emotions, Instrumentality, Neuroticism
Discipline
Personality and Social Contexts | Social Psychology
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Emotion
Volume
14
Issue
5
First Page
846
Last Page
856
ISSN
1931-1516
Identifier
10.1037/a0036965
Publisher
American Psychological Association
Citation
LEUNG, Angela K.-Y., LIOU, Shyhnan, QIU, Lin, KWAN, Letty Y. Y., CHIU, Chi-Yue, & YONG, Jose C..(2014). The Role of Instrumental Emotion Regulation in the Emotions-Creativity Link: How Worries Render Individuals with High Neuroticism more Creative. Emotion, 14(5), 846-856.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1555
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036965