We learned this week from the Harvard Business Review of a study alleging that mild intoxication can enhance “creative thinking.” “You often hear of great writers, artists, and composers who claim that alcohol enhanced their creativity, or people who say their ideas are better after a few drinks,” the study’s author, Andrew Jarosz of Mississippi State University, tells the Review. “We wanted to see if we could find evidence to back that up, and though this was a small experiment, we did.”
Jarosz and his coauthors put a series of word-association questions to two groups of students—one tipsy, the other sober. For example: Which word relates to these three: “duck,” “dollar,” “fold”? The answer is “bill.” Or this one: “cry,” “front,” “ship.” The answer: “war” or “battle.” In general, the tipsy subjects answered slightly more accurately and quickly.
