title: Peacocks, Picasso, and parental investment: The effects of romantic motives on creativity.
abstract: Four experiments explored the effects of mating motivation on creativity. Even without other incentives to be creative, romantic motives enhanced creativity on subjective and objective measures. For men, any cue designed to activate a short-term or a long-term mating goal increased creative displays; however, women displayed more creativity only when primed to attract a high-quality long-term mate. These creative boosts were unrelated to increased effort on creative tasks or to changes in mood or arousal. Furthermore, results were unaffected by the application of monetary incentives for creativity. These findings align with the view that creative displays in both sexes may be linked to sexual selection, qualified by unique exigencies of human parental investment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104, USA. vladasg@asu.edu
authors.forename: Vladas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Griskevicius
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Cialdini
authors.forename: Douglas T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Kenrick
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal; D001154:Art; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001717:Birds; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003380:Courtship / Q000523:psychology*; D003405:Creativity; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008149:Love; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D012928:Social Desirability; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology