“Cannabis Use Does Not Increase Actual Creativity but Biases Evaluations of Creativity”, 2022-07-28 ():
In this research, we examine the effects of cannabis use on creativity and evaluations of creativity. Drawing on both the ‘broaden-and-build theory’ and the ‘affect-as-information model’, we propose that cannabis use would facilitate more creativity as well as more favorable evaluations of creativity via cannabis-induced joviality.
We tested this prediction in two experiments, wherein participants were randomly assigned to either a cannabis use or cannabis abstinence condition.
We find support for our prediction that cannabis use facilitates joviality, which translates to more favorable evaluations of creativity of one’s own ideas and others’ ideas. However, our prediction that cannabis use facilitates creativity via joviality was not supported.
Our findings suggest that cannabis use may positively bias evaluations of creativity but have no impact on creativity. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
[Keywords: cannabis use, creativity, evaluations of creativity, joviality]