Antisocial Schizotypy Is Linked to Malevolent Creativity

ABSTRACT

The personality trait of schizotypy has received considerable attention in creativity research; however, to date, literature has exclusively focused on its relationship with benevolent creative ideation. The present study investigated how different subdimensions of schizotypy were related to malevolent creativity, where original ideas are generated to harm others intentionally. N = 104 participants completed a novel performance test for malevolent creativity and reported the frequency of engaging in malevolent creativity in daily life. Schizotypy was assessed with a multidimensional inventory (sO-LIFE). The sO-LIFE subdimension of Impulsive Non-conformity positively correlated with individuals’ performance on the malevolent creativity test as well as with their typical malevolent creativity behavior, confirming our expectations that individuals high in impulsive antisocial schizotypy demonstrate a greater capacity and willingness to use creativity toward malicious goals. Results also indicated a weak contribution of Unusual Experiences to malevolent creativity performance, yet correlations were only significant at the trend level. Unexpectedly, Cognitive Disorganization was positively correlated with malevolent creativity behavior in daily life. This pattern of relationships shows that individual differences in schizotypal personality traits are also related to darker sides of creativity, which may inform future investigations embedded into the rich framework linking creativity and psychopathology.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the University of Graz.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

The data set generated in this study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partly supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (Grant No. P30362).