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, oftenaccompanied by a broader societal consensus. Recently, the fundamental assumptions ofcreativity being associated with only good outcomes has been called into question. Enquiryinto how creative thought can yield harmful or selfish outcomes suggests that not only doesthe dark side of creativity exist, but it is also worthy of investigation owing to its detrimentalconsequences. This chapter focuses on strides made in the measurement of this relativelynovel construct of dark creativity in three ways: (a) adaptations of existing creativityassessments, (b) the development of new assessment tools, and (c) future directions in themeasurement of dark creativity.