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Sorry, Weed Probably Does Not Make You More Creative
Many cannabis users are convinced that the drug not only heightens their mood, but also their creativity. Creative luminaries also seem to endorse this idea. Steve Jobs said that marijuana and hashish would make him “relaxed and creative” while astronomer and author Carl Sagan believed that cannabis helps produce “serenity and insight.” In the artistic sphere, Lady Gaga said she smokes “a lot of pot” when writing music, and Louis Armstrong called marijuana “an assistant and friend.” Despite these popular beliefs about the creative potency of cannabis, scientific consensus has remained hazy. Now new research suggests that cannabis may not be a gateway drug to creativity after all.
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Experts Say Loneliness Isn’t Just a Social Problem — It’s Bad for Your Health, Too
Loneliness isn't just a social problem — it's a physical problem as well, as scientific research over the past decade has revealed in spades. Research into the topic has found links between social isolation and a variety of physical and mental health conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure, depression and anxiety. Knowing this, some social critics are asking a once-unthinkable question: should social contact be treated as a basic need, on par with food, water, sleep and shelter?
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New Content From Current Directions in Psychological Science
A sample of articles on the role of phenomenological control in experience, the positive impact of social connectedness, contextualizing empathy, and much more.
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Presenting Information About Mental Health in a Second Language Could Help Counter Cultural Norms Against Treatment
Bilingual people from cultural backgrounds in which mental health is a taboo topic may be more open to treatment when they hear information in their second language.
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Industrialized Cheating in Academic Publishing: How to Fight “Paper Mills”
Podcast: Dorothy Bishop talks with APS’s Ludmila Nunes about the metascience of fraud detection, industrial-scale fraud and why it is urgent to tackle the fake-article factories known as “paper mills.”
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How to Find Joy in Your Everyday Life, According to Psychologists
The increasingly materialistic society we live in has led many of us to believe that happiness is something to be chased, to obtain. The ultimate end goal that leads to everlasting bliss and contentment. Paradoxically, research shows that the more people chase materialistic pleasures as a means to seek happiness, the more depressed, anxious and less satisfied with life they are. "We get a lot wrong about what will make us happy," says Dr. Samantha Boardman, New York-based positive psychiatrist and author of Everyday Vitality: Turning Stress Into Strength.
