The Outsider’s Advantage: Social Rejection Can Fuel Creative Thought

Eminently creative people working in fields as disparate as Physics and Literature refer to the experience of social rejection as fuel for creative thought. Yet, the evidence of this relationship is anecdotal, and the psychological process that might explain it is as yet unknown. We theorize that the experience of social rejection may indeed stimulate creativity but only for individuals with an independent sense of self. In Study 1, the trait “Need for Uniqueness” was positively correlated with creative performance for individuals who experienced social rejection but not for those who experienced inclusion. In Study 2, participants primed with an independent self-construal performed significantly better on a creative task following social rejection than did participants with an interdependent self-construal. Our findings suggest that people with a more independent sense of self may be able to better manage the negative consequences of rejection and use it to stimulate creative problem solving.