Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

9-2016

Abstract

Sympathy is usually evoked by heightened awareness of and concern for others' suffering by perceiving or reacting to their distress or need. Sympathetic contexts appear to spur creative solutions, because those who react sympathetically to others' suffering tend to seek novel, desirable, and prosocial solutions that alleviate suffering and promote well-being. We conducted two studies to investigate whether sympathy enhances creativity. Study 1 tested the feasibility of using images of distressed elderly as an unobtrusive method to induce sympathy. Study 2 sought to determine whether induced sympathy promotes creativity, and whether individual differences in trait empathy moderate this effect. Results demonstrate that sympathy fosters creative originality - but not creative fluency or flexibility - as assessed by either content-general or content-specific creativity measures. In addition, the beneficial effect of sympathy on originality is moderated by individual differences in trait empathy. The potential mechanisms that underlie these effects are discussed.

Keywords

Creativity, Flexibility, Fluency, Induced sympathy, Originality, Trait empathy

Discipline

Cognitive Psychology | Personality and Social Contexts

Research Areas

Psychology

Publication

Thinking Skills and Creativity

Volume

21

First Page

132

Last Page

143

ISSN

1871-1871

Identifier

10.1016/j.tsc.2016.06.002

Publisher

Elsevier

Embargo Period

6-16-2017

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2016.06.002

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