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Beyond the Big Personality Dimensions: Consistency and Specificity of Associations Between the Dark Triad Traits and Creativity

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Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
Authors:
Natia Sordia at Tbilisi State University
Natia Sordia
Emanuel Jauk at MSB Medical School Berlin
Emanuel Jauk
Khatuna Martskvishvili
Khatuna Martskvishvili
Khatuna Martskvishvili
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Abstract

Creativity is commonly conceived as a socially desirable characteristic. Yet, some research also points to the role of socially aversive personality traits for different aspects of creativity. In 2 studies of Georgian (N = 130) and Austrian (N = 234) samples, we investigated the relations between the Dark Triad personality traits — narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy — and different creativity constructs (everyday creative activities, creative achievement, creative potential). We put special emphasis on testing both the consistency (across samples and measures) and the specificity (with respect to broad Big Six personality traits, i.e. Big Five plus honesty-humility) of the findings. We observed low to moderate associations of grandiose narcissism and creative activities across various domains in both studies, but the only domain-specific association that was consistent across both studies was in the domain of literature. This association was specific to narcissism. Grandiose narcissism was related to creative achievement in a self-report measure, but not when creative achievement was evaluated by independent raters. Interestingly, an unexpected relation between vulnerable narcissism (neurotic-introverted narcissism) and other-rated creative achievement as well as creative potential (divergent thinking) emerged, which might be a fruitful starting point for future research. Psychopathy, particularly psychopathic boldness, was related to creative activities in the sports domain, and displayed some associations with creative achievement. Taken together, these results support associations of narcissistic and to some extent also psychopathic personality traits with different aspects of creativity, but variability in sampling and operationalization must be considered when investigating these relationships.
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Beyond the Big Personality Dimensions: Consistency and Specificity of
Associations Between the Dark Triad Traits and Creativity
Natia Sordia
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Emanuel Jauk
Technische Universität Dresden and University of Graz
Khatuna Martskvishvili
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Creativity is commonly conceived as a socially desirable characteristic. Yet, some research also points
to the role of socially aversive personality traits for different aspects of creativity. In 2 studies of
Georgian (N⫽130) and Austrian (N⫽234) samples, we investigated the relations between the Dark
Triad personality traits — narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy — and different creativity
constructs (everyday creative activities, creative achievement, creative potential). We put special em-
phasis on testing both the consistency (across samples and measures) and the specificity (with respect to
broad Big Six personality traits, i.e. Big Five plus honesty-humility) of the findings. We observed low
to moderate associations of grandiose narcissism and creative activities across various domains in both
studies, but the only domain-specific association that was consistent across both studies was in the
domain of literature. This association was specific to narcissism. Grandiose narcissism was related to
creative achievement in a self-report measure, but not when creative achievement was evaluated by
independent raters. Interestingly, an unexpected relation between vulnerable narcissism (neurotic-
introverted narcissism) and other-rated creative achievement as well as creative potential (divergent
thinking) emerged, which might be a fruitful starting point for future research. Psychopathy, particularly
psychopathic boldness, was related to creative activities in the sports domain, and displayed some
associations with creative achievement. Taken together, these results support associations of narcissistic
and to some extent also psychopathic personality traits with different aspects of creativity, but variability
in sampling and operationalization must be considered when investigating these relationships.
Keywords: narcissism, psychopathy, creative potential, creative activities, creative achievement
Creativity is commonly conceived as a highly valuable ability
and socially desirable characteristic. Yet, creative individuals are
frequently reported to be nonconforming, eccentric, or socially
aversive personalities. Besides nonconformity and eccentricity,
creative individuals—for instance, pioneer of surrealism, creative
painter, filmmaker, and designer Salvador Dali—also show char-
acteristics such as narcissism. Dali’s narcissistic tendencies were
vividly expressed in his autobiographical book where he wrote: “In
this book, I want to dissect one and only one person - myself! - and
this living dissection of myself, I am performing, not through
sadism, or through masochism. I do so through narcissism” (Dali,
1942, p. 246). Beyond examples of eminent creators, there is
systematic evidence linking creativity to the “dark” personality
traits narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy (Jauk &
Sordia, 2018).
When investigating personality correlates of creativity, it is
important to distinguish cognitive creative potential from actual
creative activities or achievements (Jauk, 2019). Creative potential
refers to the ability of generating original and useful ideas ex-
pressed in either tangible or intangible products (Barron, 1955;
Runco, 2008;Runco & Jaeger, 2012;Sternberg & Lubart, 1996).
Realizations of these ideas in everyday life or in terms of socially
acknowledged accomplishments are referred to as creative activi-
ties and creative achievements (Carson, Peterson, & Higgins,
2005;Dollinger, 2003;Diedrich et al., 2018). While cognitive
creative potential is expressed in divergent thinking ability (Bar-
ron, 1955;Runco & Jaeger, 2012), creative activities reflect en-
XNatia Sordia, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and
Educational Sciences, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University;
XEmanuel Jauk, Department of Clinical Psychology and Behavioral
Neuroscience, Technische Universität Dresden, and Department of Psy-
chology, University of Graz; XKhatuna Martskvishvili, Department of
Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ivane Ja-
vakhishvili Tbilisi State University.
This research was supported by a grant from the Austrian Science Fund
(FWF): J 4344.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Natia
Sordia, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational
Sciences, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, I. Chavchavadze
av.#11a, Tbilisi, Georgia 0179. E-mail: natia.sordia900@pes.tsu.edu.ge
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
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Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
© 2020 American Psychological Association
ISSN: 1931-3896 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/aca0000346
2022, Vol. 16, No. 1, 30–43
30
This article was published Online First August 13, 2020.
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... Different types of narcissism may help explain the diverse findings in the relationship between narcissism and creativity. Grandiose narcissistic individuals tend to overestimate their creativity (Dahmen-Wassenberg et al., 2016;Furnham et al., 2013;Jonason et al., 2015;Sordia et al., 2022), which may reduce their motivation to generate novel ideals. In contrast, vulnerable narcissists not only overestimate their creativity but also experience self-doubt (Sordia et al., 2022), rendering their creative performance more susceptible to environmental influences. ...
... Grandiose narcissistic individuals tend to overestimate their creativity (Dahmen-Wassenberg et al., 2016;Furnham et al., 2013;Jonason et al., 2015;Sordia et al., 2022), which may reduce their motivation to generate novel ideals. In contrast, vulnerable narcissists not only overestimate their creativity but also experience self-doubt (Sordia et al., 2022), rendering their creative performance more susceptible to environmental influences. ...
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