Intergroup threat stimulates malevolent creative idea generation

Abstract

In response to intergroup threats, group members typically exhibit aggressive behaviors. These aggressive behaviors include malevolent creativity (MC), which refers to the application of novel ideas to intentionally harm others. However, whether and how intergroup threats affect MC remains unclear. This study comprehensively examines the impact of intergroup threats on MC, along with its underlying mechanisms, across three experiments. Study 1 investigated the effects of intergroup threats on MC performance. The results revealed that while intergroup threat improved MC originality, it had no significant impact on general creativity, which indicates that intergroup threat enables individuals to invest more resources in generating original malevolent ideas. Building on these findings, Study 2 focused on how the target directivity of MC influences the relationship between intergroup threat and MC performance. The results demonstrated that MC originality was higher when the MC target was directed at threatening outgroup members rather than at irrelevant persons. These findings imply that threatened individuals tend to retaliate vicariously against out-group members using original malevolent methods. Study 3 explored whether realistic and symbolic threats exerted distinct effects on MC performance. Their results showed that only symbolic threats promoted originality and fluency in MC. This indicates that only symbolic threats compelled the incentives to promote the generation of malevolent ideas. In conclusion, these findings suggested that intergroup threats significantly amplify MC, particularly when directed at perceived threatening outgroup members, while symbolic threats appear more conducive to fostering the generation of malevolent ideas.