Cannabis would only give the impression of being more creative, but in reality it would not be.
- Cannabis would not make you more creative.
- On the other hand, it promotes joviality, “resulting in a more favorable evaluation of the creativity of one’s own ideas”.
- After this study, it remains to be determined whether long-term cannabis use can make a person more creative.
Before composing or writing a song, some bet on cannabis to get more inspiration, because they are convinced that it improves creativity. But “it seems that this theory is not supported by the data”, said, at washington post, Christopher Barnes, professor of organizational behavior at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business. To find out for sure, the researcher and his team conducted a study published in the journal Journal of Applied Psychology.
Two experiments to test the effects of cannabis on creativity
As part of this work, scientists first hypothesized that cannabis would indirectly increase creativity by making users more cheerful. To verify this theory, they asked several people to participate in two experiments.
In the first intervention, 107 light cannabis users were asked to take a creativity test, which involved handling a brick and finding the most innovative uses, fifteen minutes after smoking the substance. The authors also asked 84 adults to take the test only if they had not used cannabis in the past 12 hours.
During a second series of experiments, 140 cannabis smokers had to imagine that they were working in a consulting company in charge of increasing the income of a local company. The team asked them to find as many ideas as possible in five minutes and to evaluate the creativity of the other volunteers who had not consumed this substance.
Cannabis makes you more cheerful but not more creative
According to the data, people who participated in the first experiment and used cannabis felt more cheerful, which made them feel that their ideas were more creative than those of participants who did not smoke. Similar results were observed during the second intervention.
“Our prediction that cannabis use promotes joviality, which results in a more favorable evaluation of the creativity of one’s own ideas and those of others, is confirmed. In contrast, our prediction that cannabis use promotes creativity through joviality has not been confirmed. Our results suggest that cannabis use may positively bias ratings of creativity but does not impact creativity.” can we read in the searches. Now the authors wonder if it’s possible that long-term cannabis use can make a person more creative.