Linking creativity to psychological well-being: integrative insights from the instrumental emotion regulation theory

Research has recognized that people regulate their emotions not only for seeking pleasurable experiences but also for receiving instrumental gains. We draw on the theoretical framework of instrumental emotion regulation (IER; Tamir, 2005, 2009) to shed new light on the relationships among creativity, emotion, and psychological well-being. We outline propositions that explain why there are concurrent creative and well-being benefits when people experience emotional states that are consistent with their personality trait (e.g., worrisome emotions being consistent with trait neuroticism) even if such trait-consistent emotions are negative. The IER perspective offers new interpretations of the creativity—well-being relationship through motivating a more holistic view of emotion regulation and well-being. We present an integrative theoretical model explicating that instrumental regulation toward trait-consistent emotions engages people in emotional states that feel affectively right (affective path), motivate them intrinsically (motivational path), and boost cognitive efficiency (cognitive path), thus yielding potential downstream benefits on creativity and well-being