While cannabis users appear to demonstrate enhanced creativity, these effects are an artifact of their heightened openness levels

Inspired by Mary Jane? Mechanisms underlying enhanced creativity in cannabis users. Emily M. LaFrance, Carrie Cuttler. Consciousness and Cognition, Volume 56, November 2017, Pages 68–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2017.10.009

Highlights
•    Sober cannabis users showed enhanced self-reported creativity to non-users.
•    Sober cannabis users demonstrated superior convergent thinking ability to non-users.
•    Cannabis users were more extraverted, open to experience and less conscientious.
•    Differences in openness to experience explained cannabis users’ enhanced creativity.

Abstract: Previous research suggests cannabis may enhance some aspects of creativity, although the results remain somewhat equivocal. Moreover, it is unclear whether differences in cannabis users’ personalities may account for any potentially beneficial effects of cannabis on creativity. This study was designed to examine whether sober cannabis users demonstrate superior self-reported and objective creativity test performance relative to non-users, and to determine whether any of the Big 5 personality domains underlie these effects. A sample of sober cannabis users (n = 412) and non-users (n = 309) completed measures of cannabis consumption, personality, self-reported and objective creativity. Relative to non-users, sober cannabis users self-reported higher creativity, and performed significantly better on a measure of convergent thinking. Controlling for cannabis users’ higher levels of openness to experience abolished these effects. Therefore, while cannabis users appear to demonstrate enhanced creativity, these effects are an artifact of their heightened levels of openness to experience.

Keywords: Cannabis; Creativity; Divergent thinking; Convergent thinking; Openness to experience; Big 5 personality