Investigating the Effects of Negative Affect on Creativity

Sammanfattning: Prominent research of creativity and affect has historically illuminated the relationship between positive affect and creativity, whereas little is known about the effects- influence of negative affect on creativity. The present study aimed to investigate how negative affect influenced creativity by using a divergent and convergent creativity task. A sample of 54 participants was recruited and randomly assigned to a negative or positive affect condition. Before performing the creativity tasks, participants were exposed to a stimulus which were meant to induce either positive or negative affect. Results shows no significant differences between the participants’ performance on either of the tasks. The limitations of the study, it’s contributions and the potential cause for the non-significant results are discussed thoroughly.