Inside a Creativity Mirage: Bipolar Traits Are Related to Biases in Self-Evaluations of Originality

The romanticized notion of the creative "mad genius" or "tortured artist" often places bipolar tendencies at the very center of the narrative. Yet the literature reveals a mixed relationship between bipolar traits and ideational originality. In this correlational study, we examine whether bipolar traits differentially relate to subjective and objective originality in a non-clinical sample. Three hundred participants completed four divergent thinking tasks (Alternate Uses and Consequences Tests) and subsequently self-rated the overall originality of their ideas, capturing what we refer to as subjective originality. Objective originality was assessed using a validated automated scoring technique. Creative self-identity was measured with creative self-beliefs and achievements, alongside cyclothymic (TEMPS) and bipolar traits (HPS). The results revealed a positive association between bipolar traits and subjective originality, even after controlling for creative self-identity and cyclothymia. In contrast, bipolar traits were negatively associated with objective originality, suggesting a "creativity mirage"—a divergence between perceived and observed originality. Interactions revealed that the association between subjective and objective originality was slightly positive among individuals with low bipolar traits but negative among those with high bipolar traits. Bipolar traits were measured via trait-level hypomanic tendencies (HPS), limiting inferences about self-evaluation biases during active hypomanic states. Generalizability is limited to a non-clinical population of non-eminent creative individuals. These findings show the importance of distinguishing subjective from objective assessments of creativity, revealing that bipolar traits could be related to biases in self-evaluations of originality.