Creativity and nonattachment: A relationship moderated by pride

Previous research has shown that nonattachment, or the ability to release from mental fixations, has many positive outcomes (Sahdra, Shaver, & Brown, 2010). Because creativity is one of the most im- portant pro-social behaviors, we investigated the link between nonattachment and creativity. In addi- tion, we investigated the moderating role of mood. We found that nonattachment was indeed positively related to creativity, but only when people were induced to feel authentic pride, that is, pride which re- sults from attributing success to hard work. The link between nonattachment and creativity disappeared when people were merely induced to feel a positive or neutral mood.