The Dark Side of Creativity: Original Thinkers Can Be More Dishonest

F.  Gino; D.  Ariely

Article | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | March 2012

The Dark Side of Creativity: Original Thinkers Can Be More Dishonest

by F. Gino and D. Ariely

Abstract

Creativity is a common aspiration for individuals, organizations, and societies. Here, however, we test whether creativity increases dishonesty. We propose that a creative personality and a creative mindset promote individuals' ability to justify their behavior, which, in turn, leads to unethical behavior. In 5 studies, we show that participants with creative personalities tended to cheat more than less creative individuals and that dispositional creativity is a better predictor of unethical behavior than intelligence (Experiment 1). In addition, we find that participants who were primed to think creatively were more likely to behave dishonestly than those in a control condition (Experiment 2) and that greater ability to justify their dishonest behavior explained the link between creativity and increased dishonesty (Experiments 3 and 4). Finally, we demonstrate that dispositional creativity moderates the influence of temporarily priming creativity on dishonest behavior (Experiment 5). The results provide evidence for an association between creativity and dishonesty, thus highlighting a dark side of creativity.

Keywords: Creativity; Ethics;

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Citation:

Gino, F., and D. Ariely. "The Dark Side of Creativity: Original Thinkers Can Be More Dishonest." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 102, no. 3 (March 2012): 445–459.

Air pollution is a serious problem that influences billions of people globally. Although the health and environmental costs of air pollution are well known, the present research investigates its ethical costs. We propose that air pollution can increase criminal and unethical behavior by increasing anxiety. Analysis of a 9-year panel of 9,360 U.S. cities found that air pollution predicted six different categories of crime; these analyses accounted for a comprehensive set of control variables (e.g., city and year fixed effects, population, law enforcement) and survived various robustness checks (e.g., non-parametric bootstrapped standard errors, balanced panel). Three subsequent experiments involving American and Indian participants established the causal effect of psychologically experiencing a polluted vs. clean environment on unethical behavior. Consistent with our theoretical perspective, anxiety mediated this effect. Air pollution not only corrupts people’s physical health, but can also contaminate their morality.

Article | Management Science | February 2018

Maintaining Beliefs in the Face of Negative News: The Moderating Role of Experience

Bradley R. Staats, Diwas S. KC and F. Gino

Many models in operations management involve dynamic decision making that assumes optimal updating in response to information revelation. However, behavioral theory suggests that rather than updating their beliefs, individuals may persevere in their prior beliefs. In particular, we examine how individuals’ prior experiences and the experiences of those around them alter their belief perseverance in operational decisions after the revelation of negative news. We draw on an exogenous announcement of negative news by the Food and Drug Administration and explore how it affects interventional cardiologists deciding between two types of cardiac stents. Analyzing 147,000 choices over six years, we find that individuals do respond to negative news by using the focal production tool less often. However, we find that both individuals’ own experiences and others’ experiences alter their responses. Moreover, although individual and other experience act as substitutes prior to negative news, we find that this substitution curtails significantly following the negative announcement. Finally, we find that experience leads doctors to discount negative news more rapidly over time. Two lab studies replicate our main findings and show that behavioral biases due to differences in perceptions of expertise drive the effect. Our research contributes not only to operations research, but also to the practice of health care and operations.

Keywords: Information; Announcements; Service Operations; Decision Making; Medical Specialties; Experience and Expertise; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry;

Citation:

Staats, Bradley R., Diwas S. KC, and F. Gino. "Maintaining Beliefs in the Face of Negative News: The Moderating Role of Experience." Management Science 64, no. 2 (February 2018): 804–824. View Details

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The Dark Side of Creativity: Original Thinkers Can Be More Dishonest

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