Self-Reports of Past Malevolent Behavior and Narcissism as Predictors of Malevolent Creativity on a Real-World Ideation Task

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Abstract
Creativity has a dark side—malevolent creativity (MC), which is the application of original ideas to purposely harm others; i.e., creative problem-solving with malicious intent. Here, the influence of past MC behavior on MC ideation was examined while controlling for other individual-level factors relevant to the AMORAL model of MC. College undergraduates (N = 276 initially recruited; N = 248 final sample analyzed; 82% female) were surveyed on demographics, self-perception of problem-solving potential (SP-PSP), dark triad traits, and past MC behavior, and completed an adapted Malevolent Creativity Task (MCT), generating revenge ideas to an unfair scenario. Sequential regression models were used to predict MCT outcomes (fluency index, malevolence index, and composite score), incrementally controlling for age, sex, SP-PSP, dark triad traits, past MC behavior, and provocation level. In the final model, SP-PSP significantly predicted the MCT fluency index (R2 = 0.065). Past MC behavior significantly increased the R2 of the MCT malevolence index; the final model was significant (R2 = 0.084). Past MC behavior and narcissism significantly predicted the MCT composite score (R2 = 0.091). These findings align with and extend previous research linking past MC behavior to MC ideation by highlighting unique and incremental impacts of SP-PSP, narcissism, past MC behavior, and provocation on MC ideation.

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