Self-Transcendent Positive Emotions as a Potential Mechanism Underpinning the Effects of Meaningful Psychedelic Experiences on Connectedness to Nature
This retrospective survey (n=236) of those who had a meaningful psychedelic experience finds that self-transcendent positive emotions (STPE) predicted positive changes in connectedness to nature. The proposed mechanism (through exploratory analysis of the data) suggests that acute STPE can lead to experiencing more of that in daily life, which leads to feeling more connected to the natural world.
Abstract
Emerging research suggests that the use of serotonergic psychedelics may increase feelings of connection with the natural world. However, little is known about why this might be the case. Psychedelics often elicit self-transcendent positive emotions (STPE), and recent work has provided preliminary evidence suggesting that several of these emotions may have a causal influence on people's feelings of connectedness to the nature world, even when they are not elicited by nature. The present study aimed at extending this research into the context of psychedelics with the twin aims of furthering understanding regarding (a) the effects of STPE on connectedness to nature and (b) the psychological mechanisms through which psychedelics may increase feelings of connection to the natural world. Using an online retrospective survey, participants (N = 236) who had had a meaningful psychedelic experience in their life completed measures of (a) the acute effects of the meaningful psychedelic experience; (b) dispositions to experience STPE and feelings of connection to nature before and after the experience. Acute psychedelic effects (mystical experiences, ego-dissolution, and STPE) predicted changes in dispositional STPE and changes in connectedness to nature. Differing patterns were found for cognitive and emotional components of connectedness to nature, with more of the STPE significantly predicting changes in cognitive connectedness to nature. Exploratory mediation analyses found a significant indirect effect of acute STPE on connectedness to nature through dispositional changes in these emotions. These findings suggest that acute experiences of STPE during psychedelic experiences may lead to downstream changes in the tendency to experience these emotions in day-to-day life, and these downstream changes in emotionality may have a role to play in why psychedelics may increase feelings of connection with the natural world.
Research Summary of 'Self-Transcendent Positive Emotions as a Potential Mechanism Underpinning the Effects of Meaningful Psychedelic Experiences on Connectedness to Nature'
Introduction
Research with serotonergic psychedelics has increasingly reported increases in people’s sense of connection with the natural world, but the psychological mechanisms that might explain this effect remain unclear. Earlier work has emphasised acute features of psychedelic states—such as mystical-type experiences and ego-dissolution—as predictors of durable psychological change. Separately, a family of emotions often elicited by psychedelics, termed self‑transcendent positive emotions (STPE; e.g. awe, gratitude, compassion, love), have been shown in experimental and correlational studies to broaden attention away from the self and to promote social and prosocial outcomes; recent preliminary evidence also links some STPE (notably awe) to increased connectedness to nature even when those emotions are not elicited by nature itself. Newton and colleagues set out to test whether STPE could help explain why meaningful psychedelic experiences are followed by greater connectedness to nature. The study aimed to examine both acute STPE experienced during a recalled meaningful psychedelic episode and changes in dispositional tendencies to experience those emotions thereafter, and to compare effects on cognitive versus emotional facets of nature connectedness. An exploratory mediation model was proposed in which acute STPE would predict changes in connectedness to nature indirectly via changes in dispositional STPE following the psychedelic experience.
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Newton, K., & Moreton, S. G. (2023). Self-Transcendent Positive Emotions as a Potential Mechanism Underpinning the Effects of Meaningful Psychedelic Experiences on Connectedness to Nature. Ecopsychology, 15(2), 142-159. https://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2022.0044
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