Heighten Creativity by Breaking a Few Rules

By Arthur Mebius

Being creative and being dishonest both involve breaking a set of rules. In a study by Harvard University Francesca Gino and University of Southern California Scott Wiltermuth, they found that dishonesty may lead to creativity. Gino and Wiltermuth had participants partake in five experiments where they had the opportunity to cheat and then one task to measure creativity:

Those who cheated were subsequently more creative than non cheaters, even when we accounted for individual differences in their creative ability. Using random assignment, we confirmed that acting dishonestly leads to greater creativity in subsequent tasks. The link between dishonesty and creativity is explained by a heightened feeling of being unconstrained by rules…

Disregarding the rules, whether design principles or social norms, provides access to options that were not readily available before. It also removes constraints that may be completely unnecessary. So the next time you are in a creative rut, think of all the design rules you follow. Then break one. Then another. It may not lead to the most beautiful work, but it will have your mind thinking differently. After all, finding ways around the rules requires a lot more creativity than simply following them.

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