Why Does Forgiving Boost Creativity? The Role of Cognitive Persistence

Abstract

This study elucidates the specific cognitive mechanism by which the act of forgiving enhances creativity. We use the dual pathway to creativity model to examine whether the act of forgiving increases creativity via cognitive persistence (generating detailed ideas within a small number of categories), but not via cognitive flexibility (generating multiple categories and switching ideas between categories). Two experiments conducted within separate Korean and US samples provided convergent evidence that cognitive persistence, not flexibility, mediates the forgiving-creativity link. Our study suggests that how cognitive resources are deployed serves as a driving mechanism for the creativity-related benefits for forgiving.