Weed smokers aren’t as indolent as what you might think. Here’s how new psychological research has … [+] If you were around in the late ‘90s or early 2000s, you might recall a particularly memorable PSA. It featured a girl named Sarah, slumped on the couch, completely deflated—like a balloon that had lost all its air. Her friend, sitting beside her, explained in a solemn tone, “She won’t answer you… Or, she can’t. This is the way it’s been since she started smoking pot. She’s all lazy… and boring.” This image of Sarah, reduced to a mere shell of her former self, was the centerpiece of an anti-marijuana campaign that sought to convey a powerful message: weed makes you lazy. The PSA suggested that smoking marijuana could strip you of your energy, your enthusiasm and your work ethic—leaving you a lifeless, unmotivated “couch potato.”
This isn’t a relic of a bygone era. The idea that marijuana makes you lazy has been a recurring theme in anti-drug campaigns and remains a widely held belief. Many people still view cannabis users as unmotivated slackers, content to waste their days in a haze of smoke. But is this really true? According to recent research published in Social Psychological and Personality Science , it may be little more than a myth. 1. Smoking Weed Impacts Your Self-Regulation
In the April 2024 study, researchers Michael Inzlicht, Taylor Bridget Sparrow-Mungal and Gregory John Depow set out to examine the effects of marijuana on self-regulation. Naturally, they found that when participants were high, they indeed exhibited slight declines in self-regulation. In simple terms, chronic marijuana users might become less orderly, less thoughtful and a bit more impulsive while under the influence.
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At first glance, these findings might seem to support the lazy stoner stereotype. If someone is less organized and more impulsive, it’s easy to infer that they’d be less productive or less motivated to accomplish tasks. But this intuitive leap is not supported by research. […]
A Psychologist Debunks The Single Greatest Myth About Marijuana
