Article Version of Record

More is not always better: The differentiated influence of empathy on different magnitudes of creativity

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Form, Sven
Kaernbach, Christian

Abstract / Description

Recently, researchers have argued about the importance of social aspects in creativity. Based on these arguments, one could hypothesize that if creativity is indeed about social aspects, then a social ability, such as empathy, will be relevant for creativity as an “interface” allowing the person to connect with others. A thorough review of the literature suggests that the association between empathic abilities and creativity may not be as straightforward as this hypothesis and also two recent empirical studies have suggested. This could be attributed to the fact that creativity may involve quite different levels such as creative achievement or everyday creativity. We suggest that social interaction, and with it empathy, plays a larger role in creative achievement than in everyday creative activities. Furthermore, we argue that too much empathy hinders everyday creativity. To explore the impact of empathy on different magnitudes of creativity, we applied two different self-report measures of creativity: creative achievement was measured by the Creative Achievement Questionnaire, while everyday creative activity was measured by the Creative Behavior Inventory. We used the Interpersonal Reactivity Index to measure empathy. Empathy had a positive correlation to achievement, but an inverted-U relationship to everyday creativity. We conclude that more connectedness is not always better for creativity. Therefore, the relevance of social aspects for creativity should not be generalized, but may depend on the magnitude of creativity considered.

Keyword(s)

empathy everyday creativity Big C Creativity Little c Creativity social interaction

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2018-03-12

Journal title

Europe's Journal of Psychology

Volume

14

Issue

1

Page numbers

54–65

Publisher

PsychOpen GOLD

Publication status

publishedVersion

Review status

peerReviewed

Is version of

Citation

Form, S., & Kaernbach, C. (2018). More is not always better: The differentiated influence of empathy on different magnitudes of creativity. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 14(1), 54–65. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v14i1.1432
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Form, Sven
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Kaernbach, Christian
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2018-11-21T10:00:15Z
  • Made available on
    2018-11-21T10:00:15Z
  • Date of first publication
    2018-03-12
  • Abstract / Description
    Recently, researchers have argued about the importance of social aspects in creativity. Based on these arguments, one could hypothesize that if creativity is indeed about social aspects, then a social ability, such as empathy, will be relevant for creativity as an “interface” allowing the person to connect with others. A thorough review of the literature suggests that the association between empathic abilities and creativity may not be as straightforward as this hypothesis and also two recent empirical studies have suggested. This could be attributed to the fact that creativity may involve quite different levels such as creative achievement or everyday creativity. We suggest that social interaction, and with it empathy, plays a larger role in creative achievement than in everyday creative activities. Furthermore, we argue that too much empathy hinders everyday creativity. To explore the impact of empathy on different magnitudes of creativity, we applied two different self-report measures of creativity: creative achievement was measured by the Creative Achievement Questionnaire, while everyday creative activity was measured by the Creative Behavior Inventory. We used the Interpersonal Reactivity Index to measure empathy. Empathy had a positive correlation to achievement, but an inverted-U relationship to everyday creativity. We conclude that more connectedness is not always better for creativity. Therefore, the relevance of social aspects for creativity should not be generalized, but may depend on the magnitude of creativity considered.
    en_US
  • Publication status
    publishedVersion
  • Review status
    peerReviewed
  • Citation
    Form, S., & Kaernbach, C. (2018). More is not always better: The differentiated influence of empathy on different magnitudes of creativity. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 14(1), 54–65. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v14i1.1432
  • ISSN
    1841-0413
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1090
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1282
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychOpen GOLD
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v14i1.1432
  • Keyword(s)
    empathy
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    everyday creativity
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    Big C Creativity
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    Little c Creativity
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    social interaction
    en_US
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    More is not always better: The differentiated influence of empathy on different magnitudes of creativity
    en_US
  • DRO type
    article
  • Issue
    1
  • Journal title
    Europe's Journal of Psychology
  • Page numbers
    54–65
  • Volume
    14
  • Visible tag(s)
    Version of Record