APPLIED MYSTICISM: A DRUG‐ENABLED VISIONARY EXPERIENCE AGAINST MORAL BLINDNESS

Intellectuals such as William James and Aldous Huxley have thought it possible to develop a technique to apply to this world the mystical‐type insights gained during drug‐enabled experiences. Particularly, Huxley claimed that the visionary experience triggered by psychedelics could help us rethink our relationship with technology and promote a much‐needed cultural change. In this article, we explore this hypothesis. To do so, we build a philosophical framework based on Günther Anders's philosophy of technique, presenting human beings as morally blind when facing technological development. Mystical experiences are then proposed as a means to improve our moral faculties—and psychedelic drugs as tools to enable them. We finally explore the empirical feasibility of such a hypothesis by thoroughly reviewing the recent scientific literature on the nature of the psychedelic experience, concluding that the long‐term effects in the personality domain openness and in nature relatedness point to the emergence of a morally improved agent, thus providing substance to an application of mysticism.     

National and ethnic identification,intergroup attitudes,and sport participation in the context of the London Olympics

In the run‐up to the 2012 London Olympics, the sense of national identity was salient. We tested children (N = 401) aged 5–15 years living near the Olympic site on national (British) and ethnic identification, national ingroup and outgroup attitudes, and sport participation. It was found that the strength of British identification peaked at age 9 years, but the strength of ethnic identification remained stable with age. Both liking for, and stereotyping of, different national groups diverged from age 9 years, but whilst stereotyping remained diverged liking converged by 15 years. The ingroup was one of the most liked, but one of the least positively stereotyped groups. Sport participation declined with age and was higher among boys, whilst the lowest socio‐economic group showed the greatest discrepancy between normal and recent reported participation. The strength of British identification was associated with liking for, and stereotyping of, the British as well as sport participation, but the degree of associations varied between different groups of children.     

WOMEN AND THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

Women have been active in the American Psychological Association (APA) almost from the beginning. In general, however, they did not attain high-level office, editorships, and significant committee posts at the same level as their male counterparts. During one 51-year period, for example, no women were elected to the APA presidency. Despite protests, little changed. Finally, in the 1970s, the climate in the APA shifted. The Committee on Women in Psychology was formed, as was the APA Division of the Psychology of Women. From then on, women's issues have remained an important concern of the association.