Depravity and the Protestant Work Ethic: Creativity in Western Religions
type: CreativeWork
description: An experiment was run to test the effects of feelings of guilt and transgression on creativity and hard work. Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish male participants were given two different tasks designed to elicit a sense of temptation and transgression in specific conditions. Subsequently participants completed several tasks measuring creativity and concentrated hard work. Results showed that Protestants primed with dirty words in a lexical decision task produced more creative poems and clay sculptures than Protestants primed with clean words. Catholics and Jews produced more creative poems and sculptures when primed with clean words. These results are discussed in light of the Protestant Work Ethic.
abstract: An experiment was run to test the effects of feelings of guilt and transgression on creativity and hard work. Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish male participants were given two different tasks designed to elicit a sense of temptation and transgression in specific conditions. Subsequently participants completed several tasks measuring creativity and concentrated hard work. Results showed that Protestants primed with dirty words in a lexical decision task produced more creative poems and clay sculptures than Protestants primed with clean words. Catholics and Jews produced more creative poems and sculptures when primed with clean words. These results are discussed in light of the Protestant Work Ethic.
author: Zeppenfeld, Veronika A.
language: en
keywords: Protestant Work Ethic, Creativity, Religion, transgression, temptation
date published: 2010-08-20T17:59:13Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:09Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/16831