O Creativity, Where Art Thou? The Impact of Fear on Creativity Perception: An Abstract

Abstract

While prior research has sought to define the creativity construct and has examined factors influencing creativity generation, research has not examined external factors which may influence creativity perception. Yet, creativity generation and perception are independent processes (Groborz and Necka 2003), so their drivers cannot be assumed to be the same. Further, perceptions of creativity often vary between individuals (Young 2000). Given the positive consequences of perceived creativity combined with its subjective nature, there is value in identifying factors which could enhance perceived creativity. In this research, we show that perceived creativity is indeed malleable and identify a factor, fear, which can be used to enhance creativity perceptions. Creativity incorporates two key dimensions: novelty/unexpectedness and meaningfulness (relevant to the audience/context). Thus, appreciating creativity requires the viewer to engage with the ad in order to connect its unexpected elements in a meaningful way. Because fear increases visual attention (Dunn and Hoegg 2014), supports the extra effort to decipher the environment (Smith and Ellsworth 1985), and heightens engagement with and attention to an immediate stimulus, those experiencing fear should be more likely to appreciate a creative ad’s complexities. They should be more likely to connect divergent pieces of the ad and connect them together to form an overall meaning for the ad, leading to an increased appreciation of its creativity. Thus, we expect fear, but not other negative emotions, to positively impact creativity and in turn, attitudes toward the ad and behavioral intentions. In Study 1, using IAPS images within the advertisement to integrally manipulate emotion (i.e., emotion as an appeal) and two different contexts (commercial/cookie ad, public service/alleviating hunger ad), we show a positive effect of fear on perceived creativity and that this effect is mediated by engagement. In Study 2, we replicate this result using an incidental task (watching videos) to manipulate emotions and a real (juice) advertisement. In Study 3, we extend the findings to a larger ad pool by gathering 162 real (texting and driving) advertisements. In each study, we compare fear with other main negative discrete emotions which share similar features with fear (e.g., uncertainty and situational control appraisals, sadness; appraisal of unpredictability, disgust; arousal, anger), neutral emotion, and a positive emotion, happiness (high in arousal like fear), and find that fear (vs. other emotions) enhances creativity perceptions, leading to higher attitudes toward the ad and more positive behavioral intentions. Our inquiry shifts the focus from creativity generation to creativity perception and contributes to the literatures of creativity and discrete emotions by showing that fear (vs. other negative discrete emotions) influences creativity perception positively.