Affective state contributes to creative self-efficacy: Evidence from an experimental study of emotion induction

The present study aims to examine the effect of emotional state on creative self-efficacy through the lens of social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997), which posits that affective state is an important personal source of creative self-efficacy. An experimental study was conducted to illustrate the roles of emotion induction in creative self-efficacy. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups: a positive emotion induction group (n = 223), a negative emotion induction group (n = 223), and a control group (n = 222). Emotional state and creative self-efficacy were assessed with the Affect Grid and the Creative Self-Efficacy subscale in the Short Scale of Creative Self (SSCS[CSE]), respectively. Lending support to social cognitive theory, our findings illustrate that emotional state significantly accounted for 15–21% of the variance in creative self-efficacy. Enriching the discourse of social cognitive theory, our findings further reveal the significant roles of both dimensions of emotional state (i.e., arousal and valence) in predicting creative self-efficacy. The findings highlighting the facilitating role of moderately aroused positive affect in creative self-efficacy respond to the call for research related to the positive psychology movement, which is an important trend that seeks to improve human functioning by promoting positive affect and human characteristics.