Creative thinking does not promote dishonesty
We assessed the relation of creativity and unethical behaviour by manipulating the thinking style of participants (N = 450 adults) and measuring the impact of this manipulation on the prevalence of dishonest behaviour. Participants performed one of three inducer tasks: the alternative uses task to p...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230879 |
| _version_ | 1827386551811702784 |
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| author | Moritz Reis Roland Pfister Wilfried Kunde Anna Foerster |
| author_facet | Moritz Reis Roland Pfister Wilfried Kunde Anna Foerster |
| author_sort | Moritz Reis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We assessed the relation of creativity and unethical behaviour by manipulating the thinking style of participants (N = 450 adults) and measuring the impact of this manipulation on the prevalence of dishonest behaviour. Participants performed one of three inducer tasks: the alternative uses task to promote divergent thinking, the remote associates task to promote convergent thinking, or a simple classification task for rule-based thinking. Before and after this manipulation, participants conducted the mind game as a straightforward measure of dishonesty. Dishonest behaviour increased from before to after the intervention, but we found no credible evidence that this increase differed between induced mindsets. Exploratory analyses did not support any relation of trait creativity and dishonesty either. We conclude that the influence of creative thinking on unethical behaviour seems to be more ambiguous than assumed in earlier research or might be restricted to specific populations or contexts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:47:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a219f9bac73142958eccc439287d2462 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:47:57Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-a219f9bac73142958eccc439287d24622024-01-09T09:59:12ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032023-12-01101210.1098/rsos.230879Creative thinking does not promote dishonestyMoritz Reis0Roland Pfister1Wilfried Kunde2Anna Foerster3Department of Psychology (III), University of Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychology (III), University of Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychology (III), University of Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychology (III), University of Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, GermanyWe assessed the relation of creativity and unethical behaviour by manipulating the thinking style of participants (N = 450 adults) and measuring the impact of this manipulation on the prevalence of dishonest behaviour. Participants performed one of three inducer tasks: the alternative uses task to promote divergent thinking, the remote associates task to promote convergent thinking, or a simple classification task for rule-based thinking. Before and after this manipulation, participants conducted the mind game as a straightforward measure of dishonesty. Dishonest behaviour increased from before to after the intervention, but we found no credible evidence that this increase differed between induced mindsets. Exploratory analyses did not support any relation of trait creativity and dishonesty either. We conclude that the influence of creative thinking on unethical behaviour seems to be more ambiguous than assumed in earlier research or might be restricted to specific populations or contexts.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230879dishonestycreativitythinking styleunethical behaviourmorality |
| spellingShingle | Moritz Reis Roland Pfister Wilfried Kunde Anna Foerster Creative thinking does not promote dishonesty Royal Society Open Science dishonesty creativity thinking style unethical behaviour morality |
| title | Creative thinking does not promote dishonesty |
| title_full | Creative thinking does not promote dishonesty |
| title_fullStr | Creative thinking does not promote dishonesty |
| title_full_unstemmed | Creative thinking does not promote dishonesty |
| title_short | Creative thinking does not promote dishonesty |
| title_sort | creative thinking does not promote dishonesty |
| topic | dishonesty creativity thinking style unethical behaviour morality |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230879 |
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