Self‑transcendence in rituals and awe experiences tends to promote social bonding, particularly if these events involve synchronous movement. Here we suggest that the blurring of self-other boundaries, as a cognitive-perceptual mechanism underlying self-transcendence, may increase perceived self-other overlap, which in turn may lead to greater social connection, together with awe. Building on...
This article proposes a dual-self states framework to demonstrate how phenomenology and neuroscience of embodied and altered states of consciousness illuminate the nature of consciousness and the sense of self. It argues that consciousness is best conceived as dynamic configurations of a reflective and an experiential self state, rather than as static, taxonomic layers of self. The reflective...
This article proposes a dual-self states framework in which reflective and experiential modes of consciousness are understood as dynamic configurations along a processing continuum. The reflective/experiential self-state corresponds to narrative, denotational, and self-referential consciousness underpinned by default mode network activity. The experiential self state is characterized as an...
Conflicting findings have emerged from research on the relationship between thinking styles and supernatural beliefs. In two studies, we examined this relationship through meta-cognitive trust and developed a new: (1) experimental manipulation, a short scientific article describing the benefits of thinking styles: (2) trust in thinking styles measure, the Ambiguous Decisions task; and (3)...
Objectives: The beliefs and expectations people bring into mindfulness practice can affect the measurement outcomes of interventions. The aim of this mixed-method study was to examine the key beliefs in the powers of mindfulness-understood as non-judgmental awareness of the present moment-to transform the individual and the society, and to develop and validate the Belief in the Powers of...
This study was the first to test the feasibility of mind-body interventions with a randomised control research design in a sample that contains all ten types of personality disorders, and the first to provide a preliminary evaluation of responses using a combination of psychological, genomic, neural, and behavioural measures. Thirty prisoners with personality disorders were recruited within a...
October 7, 2021Valerie van Mulukom, Armin W. Geertz, Robert W. Clark et al.2 citations
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In this chapter, we explore parallels between art and religion through culture and symbolic systems, drawing from past sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and current cognitive research. We argue that the creation of the arts and religion – as particularly important human cultural phenomena – allowed for subjective knowledge to become represented in symbols and artefacts, the latter...
Psychoactive drugs have been central to many human group rituals throughout modern human evolution. Despite such experiences often being inherently social, bonding and associated prosocial behaviors have rarely been empirically tested as an outcome. Here we investigate a novel measure of the mechanisms that generate altered states of consciousness during group rituals, the 4Ds: d ance, d rums,...
Abstract Meditation generally has small to moderate effects on health and well-being, but some people experience greater benefits from meditation than others. What are the characteristics of the study participants or meditation students that lead to beneficial outcomes of meditation? This chapter adopts a multilevel approach to evaluate the evidence on the relationship between participant...
Recent research has shown that classical serotonergic psychedelic (CSP) drugs may be used to ameliorate certain health issues and disorders. Here we hypothesised that CSP experiences, through their ability to induce awe and ego-dissolution, may result in a reduction of maladaptive narcissistic personality traits, such as a strong sense of entitlement and lack of empathy. Our objective was to...
RationaleThere has been a recent increase in research showing that classical serotonergic psychedelic (CSP) drugs may be used to ameliorate certain health issues and disorders. Here we hypothesized that CSP experiences, through their ability to induce awe and ego-dissolution, may result in a reduction of maladaptive narcissistic personality traits, such as a strong sense of entitlement and lack...