Creative Brainstorming Activates Indulgent, Possibly Unhealthy Eating, Drinking and Exercise Choices

What is it about?

Across ten experiments, we show that a short creative idea generation (vs. control) task led to more indulgent eating, drinking, and exercise choices and behaviors. Participants who generated creative ideas subsequently assembled burgers with higher calorie content, proposed cocktails with higher alcohol content, planned workouts that burned fewer calories, chose candy more often and ate more candy than participants who engaged in control tasks. The reason is that engaging in creative idea generation activates the uninhibited pursuit of desires and rewards.

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Photo by Eaters Collective on Unsplash

Photo by Eaters Collective on Unsplash

Why is it important?

To date, we have mainly thought of creative idea generation as a positive behavior that leads to organizational profit, competitive advantage and scientific progress. However, we know rather little about the psychological side effects for those who are engaged in creative tasks. Here we find that creative idea generation can increase indulgent choices that are widely deemed unhealthy. Organizations will thus have to balance the pros and cons of engaging in creative tasks for their employees.