Measuring the dark side of creativity

The traditional notion of creativity is tied to constructive acts that are generally beneficial. Originality and task-appropriateness comprise the essence of such ideas and behaviors, often accompanied by a broader societal consensus. Recently, the fundamental assumptions of creativity being associated with only good outcomes has been called into question. Enquiry into how creative thought can yield harmful or selfish outcomes suggests that not only does the dark side of creativity exist, but it is also worthy of investigation owing to its detrimental consequences. This chapter focuses on strides made in the measurement of this relatively novel construct of dark creativity in three ways: (a) adaptations of existing creativity assessments, (b) the development of new assessment tools, and (c) future directions in the measurement of dark creativity.