The dark side of creativity: biological vulnerability and negative emotions lead to greater artistic creativity
Open accessAbstract
Historical and empirical data have linked artistic creativity to depression and other affective disorders. This study examined how vulnerability to experiencing negative affect, measured with biological products, and intense negative emotions influenced artistic creativity. The authors assessed participants' baseline levels of an adrenal steroid (dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate, or DHEAS), previously linked to depression, as a measure of affective vulnerability. They then manipulated emotional responses by randomly assigning participants to receive social rejection or social approval or to a nonsocial situation. Participants then completed artistic collages, which were later evaluated by artists. Results confirmed a person-by-situation interaction. Social rejection was associated with greater artistic creativity; however, the interaction between affective vulnerability (lower baseline DHEAS) and condition was significant, suggesting that situational triggers of negative affect were especially influential among those lower in DHEAS, which resulted in the most creative products. These data provide evidence of possible biological and social pathways to artistic creativity.
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Negative social evaluation also elicits autonomic nervous system activation, proinflammatory cytokine increases, and self-reported negative affect.
“Negative social evaluation also elicits autonomic nervous system activation, proinflammatory cytokine increases, and self-reported negative affect (Akinola and Mendes, 2008; Bosch et al., 2009; Dickerson et al., 2009).”
From More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science (2018) · cites this paper as Akinola and Mendes, 2008
The Results (Manipulation Checks; page not available in our copy) report that participants receiving rejecting social feedback reported more negative emotion than those receiving approval, supporting the self-reported negative-affect component. The paper does not report autonomic nervous system activation or proinflammatory cytokine increases in response to negative evaluation; its Study Overview says DHEAS was assessed at the beginning of the experiment. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Akinola, M., & Mendes, W. B.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mendes, Wendy Berry
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2008-10-02
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1677-1686
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- PMC
- PMC2659536
- OpenAlex
- W2156126432
- Cited by
- 240
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 7.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL079383)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Conservation › Art Therapy and Mental Health
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Aesthetic Perception and Analysis
- Keywords
- artistic creativity, negative affect, emotional vulnerability, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, depression, social rejection, social approval, biological vulnerability, emotional responses, collage
- MeSH terms
- Art, Creativity, Emotions, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Models, Psychological, Negativism, Surveys and Questionnaires, Rejection, Psychology, Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate, Mood Disorders, Young Adult
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