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13 - Both Sides of the Coin? Personality, Deviance, and Creative Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
Luis Daniel Gascón  and
James C. Kaufman
Edited by
David H. Cropley ,
Arthur J. Cropley ,
James C. Kaufman  and
Mark A. Runco
Luis Daniel Gascón
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine
James C. Kaufman
Affiliation:
California State University, San Bernardino
David H. Cropley
Affiliation:
University of South Australia
Arthur J. Cropley
Affiliation:
University of Hamburg
James C. Kaufman
Affiliation:
California State University at San Bernardino
Mark A. Runco
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
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Summary

Rupert Holmes wrote in the musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1979), “Would you not quite feel quite the fool of deception/To find the same face on both sides of the coin?.” To elaborate on this a bit, consider Hannibal Lecter's escape from prison in Silence of the Lambs. He attacks and kills two guards. Rather than trying to run, he puts on a guard's uniform, dumps the guard down an elevator shaft, and places the guard's removed face onto his own. The responding officers assume that Lecter is actually the guard and put him in an ambulance – from which he escapes. Lecter is not only evil; he is also amazingly creative. Are his deviant behavior and creativity linked together as common traits, the way that a talented novelist also may write interesting e-mails? Or are they distinct entities in the same manner that a talented novelist also may make excellent birdcalls, cook tasty hash browns, or run a marathon? The relationship between creativity and deviant behavior – with the common ground of personality – is the subject of this chapter.

Personality is an immensely complicated facet of human psychology that is affected by heredity, social ties, environmental factors, biology, and the list goes on. Personality, in turn, affects human behavior in a variety of ways. Keeping Lecter's creative maneuvering in mind, the important questions to consider are (a) Does personality cause deviant behavior? and (b) Can personality predict future likelihood of involvement in criminal behavior?

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The Dark Side of Creativity , pp. 235 - 254
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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