In a study released last week in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers put forth evidence that creative people are more prone to be dishonest, and that creativity is a predictor of unethical behavior.
Needless to say, we took the accusations personally. Sure, maybe we copied an answer or two on a history test back in 10th grade, but does that mean that Connelly Partners is rife with potential Ken Lays and Bernie Madoffs?
The researchers say that creativity has a dark side in ethical situations. When given the opportunity to bend the rules, creative people are more likely to choose the unethical solution and then justify their actions. This is the part of the research that you’ve likely read online or heard on NPR.
The general takeaway from these pieces is this: Creative people are bad – they’ll cheat, and then lie to cover it up. In contrast, those who follow the rules by rote are set up as the good guys.
But what is lost in these summaries of the research is the ‘how’ and the ‘why.’
Creative people aren’t just cheaters and liars. The researchers also call them ‘divergent thinkers’ and ‘cognitively flexible.’ That sounds pretty impressive, doesn’t it?
What it means is that creative thinkers are able to develop original ideas and find multiple solutions to a given problem. We can look at a situation and restructure what we see depending on the situation.
Another takeaway from this research? Creative people can find novel and innovative ways to solve tough problems.
We’re going to go out on a limb and say that the people that you probably want as your partner are the people who can look at something that you’ve been struggling with and bring forth fresh ideas.
We creative-types are good to have around; trust us on this one.