Fight Injustice with Darkness: The Effect of Early Life Adversity on Malevolent Creativity Behavior

Two studies were conducted to investigate the relationship between Early Life Adversity and Malevolent Creativity as well as its underlying mechanism. Study 1 established a moderated mediation model to explore the mediating role of Belief in a Just World (BJW) and the moderating role of Dark Triad. A total of 353 college students (M_age = 21.25, SD_age = 2.21, 58.9% women) were recruited to fill out questionnaires. The results showed that Early Life Adversity positively predicted Malevolent Creativity behavior and indirectly predicted Malevolent Creativity behavior through BJW. Dark Triad reduced the effects of Early Life Adversity on BJW and intensified the effects of Early Life Adversity on Malevolent Creativity behavior. Study 2 explored the effect of threatening BJW on Malevolent Creativity potential. A total of 180 participants (M_age = 20.53, SD_age = 1.7, 64.4% women) were investigated with questionnaires and a Malevolent Creativity Problem-Solving Task. Study 2 validated study 1 and illustrated that the Malevolent Creativity potential (including fluency, originality, and malevolence) was enhanced when Belief in a Just World was threatened. However, greater fluency was only observed in men. As a whole, these finding emphasizes the important linking role of BJW between Early Life Adversity and Malevolent Creativity, and Dark Triad and gender influence the expression of Malevolent Creativity as well.