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32 - Creativity and Malevolence

Past, Present, and Future

from Manifestations of Creativity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2019

By
David H. Cropley  and
Arthur J. Cropley
Edited by
James C. Kaufman  and
Robert J. Sternberg
James C. Kaufman
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
Robert J. Sternberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

The concept of creativity, both in colloquial terms and in more academic discussions, has long carried with it an association with positive qualities and outcomes. This bias toward benevolence has been challenged in recent years, with a growing interest in the application of creativity for purposes involving deliberate harm. Interest in malevolent creativity has developed in recent times as it was recognized that many of the advantages that are fundamental to benevolent creativity – novelty and effectiveness, for example – can also be exploited by criminals and terrorists. In the last decade, research has emerged, exploring a variety of relationships between the person, the outputs they generate, the environment in which this takes place, and the cognitive processes employed, all focused on malevolent – i.e., deliberately harmful – applications of creativity.
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The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity , pp. 677 - 690
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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