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Updated: Sep 22, 2025
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Brain Morphology of Cannabis Users With or Without Psychosis: A Pilot MRI Study
Published on: August 18, 2020
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Cannabis consumption and prosociality.
Jacob Miguel Vigil1, Sarah S Stith2, Tiphanie Chanel3
1Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA. vigilj@unm.edu.
Scientific Reports
|May 19, 2022
Summary
Cannabis use in healthy young adults is linked to increased prosocial behaviors and empathy, but decreased ingroup loyalty. These psychological effects diminish over time after consumption.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Cannabis Research
Background:
- Existing research on cannabis primarily focuses on health risks and pharmacodynamics.
- Limited studies investigate the normative psychological effects of cannabis consumption in healthy individuals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between cannabis use and prosociality constructs in healthy young adults.
- To investigate potential differences in psychological measures between cannabis users and non-users.
Main Methods:
- Recruited 146 healthy adults aged 18-25 with varying tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels in urine.
- Controlled for sex, age, ethnicity, and childhood socioeconomic status.
- Utilized validated measures for prosocial behaviors, empathy, moral judgments, and personality traits.
Main Results:
- Cannabis users exhibited higher prosocial behaviors, empathy, moral harmlessness, and moral fairness compared to THC-free individuals.
- Users showed lower ingroup loyalty. Female users reported higher aggression, while male users showed higher agreeableness.
- Positive linear associations were found between recency of use and prosociality measures.
Conclusions:
- Cannabis consumption is associated with enhanced prosociality and humanitarian focus, which wanes over time.
- Findings suggest a complex psychological profile associated with cannabis use.
- Further research is needed to explore individual differences in cannabis effects.
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