Is It True That Smoking Pot Boosts Creativity?

Welcome to Orange County. Weed in Orange County is legal. You can Google ‘medical dispensary near me’ without worrying about the consequences and buy marijuana in OC.

A study was conducted and its results were published in Consciousness and Cognition, an international journal. That study compared the performances of nonsmokers and pot smokers who were sober at that time. Pot smokers performed better than nonsmokers in one of the two tests. Researchers created these tests to measure creativity. These tests also included the personality factor rather than pot itself.

How did the study work?

Researchers created these tests based on the Big 5 model of personality traits. The creativity of 979 participants (all being undergraduate students) was measured. First of all, sober smokers and nonsmokers were asked to self-report the level of their creativity. Then researchers subjected the creativity of both groups to two separate tests for creativity measurement.

Researchers assessed the creativity level of participants of both groups by measuring two different kinds of thought processes. The two thought processes were divergent thinking and convergent thinking.

Convergent Thinking

Researchers asked participants to complete a Remote Associates Test. This test contained 3 unrelated stimulus words all associated with a solution word. Depending on the results of this test, researchers measured the convergent thinking of smokers and nonsmokers.

Divergent Thinking

This is a thought process in which multiple possible solutions are generated to one problem. The participants in this study completed the Alternate Uses Test. They were asked to generate the different ways common objects could be used. They had to do it within one minute. Researchers used the results of this test to measure divergent thinking of every participant in both groups.   

What was the result?

Researchers found that the creativity difference was a little insignificant in the case of divergent thinking test. However, smokers performed better than nonsmokers in the Remote Associates Test that was for measuring the convergent thinking.

Why smokers performed better in the Remote Associates Test for convergent thinking?

According to the researchers, it was because of ‘openness to experience’.

‘Openness to experience’ is a dimension of the Big 5 model of personality. Attentiveness to inner feelings, fantasy, active imagination, aesthetic sensitivity, intellectual curiosity and preferences for variety are the characteristics of ‘openness to experience’. Those who are pretty high in this ‘openness to experience’ are more likely to be extroverted, liberal and tolerant of diversity.     

So, we can conclude that smoking weed has nothing to do with the creativity of an individual.        
  
Pot and the Creative Process

Let’s go beyond the scientific literature and consider some claims by some individuals. Maybe we will arrive at a conclusion that will be a little different from the conclusion of this study. There are many artists claiming that smoking weed plays a significant role in the creative process. Alanis Morissette is one of the artists believing that smoking weed boosts their creativity. According to Alanis Morissette, smoke pot has helped her in getting new perspectives and clarity when writing songs.  

Even Steve Jobs had claimed that he felt ‘relaxed and creative’ after smoking pot. And, our much loved George Carlin, according to him, weed is a “value-changing” drug and it can open up “doors of perception”.     

From Budweiser to Ayahuasca, there is a wide range of mind-altering substances. However, marijuana is the most studied substance when it comes to creativity. What’s so special about marijuana?

It is said that smoking marijuana can silence the self-editor that keeps on criticizing everything we create.  

So, according to the scientific literature, smoking weed hardly brings any change in the creative process. However, there are many successful artists claiming that it does.

Anyway, you are in Orange County. Search ’medical dispensary near me’ and buy marijuana in OC.

Smoke weed!