8 must-read books on the psychedelic experience

Psychedelics are going mainstream. Here's your reading list.

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  • Hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring into psychedelics companies right now.
  • With loosening restrictions on clinical research, new therapeutic modalities are being investigated for anxiety, depression, and more.
  • The psychedelic literature is rich with anecdotal accounts and clinical studies.
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Pattern recognition influences religious belief, according to new study

Christians and Muslims that pick out unconscious patterns are more likely to believe in a god.

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  • Georgetown researchers found strong implicit pattern learning implies belief in a god.
  • The study included American Christians and Afghani Muslims, representing two different religious and cultural backgrounds.
  • Further research on polytheistic religious believers could provide insights into a cognitive basis of religion.
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New research reveals what it's like to inhabit someone else's body

You actually score worse on memory tests.

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  • The idea of inhabiting someone else's body can be found in some of humanity's earliest mythologies.
  • A team at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet conducted a body-switching experiment with 33 pairs of friends.
  • The findings could have profound clinical implications down the road, such as in depression treatment.
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Study: Viewing religion, science as incompatible is uniquely American

In some countries, religiosity and pro-science attitudes are actually positively correlated, according to the results of a recent study.

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  • Americans have longed seemed to view science and religion as competing forces.
  • A new study examined views on science and religion among roughly 70,000 people across 60 countries.
  • The results showed that while many countries show a negative correlation between religiosity and science views, the correlation is far more consistent in the U.S.
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Why ‘Christian nationalists’ are less likely to wear masks and social distance

In a recent study, researchers examined how Christian nationalism is affecting the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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  • A new study used survey data to examine the interplay between Christian nationalism and incautious behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The researchers defined Christian nationalism as "an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of American civic life with a particular type of Christian identity and culture."
  • The results showed that Christian nationalism was the leading predictor that Americans engaged in incautious behavior.
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