From self-serving to harm-seeking: Evolutionary pathways from negative to malevolent creativity and intervention

Abstract: Creativity is a neutral cognitive capacity that can generate constructive outcomes, but it may also lead to negative social consequences. The latter includes negative creativity and malevolent creativity. Both are grounded in the cognitive basis of novelty and appropriateness and both involve negative social value in their outcomes, yet they differ in motivational orientation: negative creativity is primarily self-serving, with harm occurring mainly as a byproduct, whereas malevolent creativity takes harming others, organizations, or society as its core objective. This review systematically clarifies the conceptual boundaries and measurement challenges of negative creativity and malevolent creativity. It further argues that the evolution from negative creativity to malevolent creativity is neither linear nor inevitable, but is dynamically driven by cognitive control failure, situational triggers, motivational reinforcement, moral disengagement, and insufficient social regulation, which may operate independently or in combination. Building on this analysis, this review proposes the Cognitive-Motivational-Development (CMD) intervention model. Through cognitive evaluation training, motivational value reconstruction, and developmental ecological support, the model aims to provide upstream guidance for children’s negative creativity. This framework offers both theoretical and practical implications for understanding the developmental mechanisms underlying the negative side of creativity and for promoting healthy creative development in childhood.