Recent research is Journal of Psychopharmacology This suggests that psychedelic substance use does not reliably change authoritarian political attitudes. These findings contrast with previous reports showing that psychedelic drugs can weaken individuals’ authoritarianism, and provide evidence that such psychological changes are likely inconsistent and dependent on other unknown factors.
Psychedelics are a type of psychoactive substance that can cause significant changes in perception, mood, and cognitive processes. Common examples include psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, and lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD. These drugs interact with the brain’s serotonin system, which helps regulate mood and human perception.
These substances are thought to increase neuroplasticity by stimulating specific serotonin receptors. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reconfigure itself, adapt, and form new neural connections. Because of this heightened state of plasticity, during psychedelic experiences, the human mind tends to be more open to change and highly sensitive to environmental influences.
Researchers note that the psychological effects of psychedelic experiences are often highly dependent on the context in which the drug was taken. This concept is often referred to as configuration. The environment includes the physical space, the social environment, and the presence of guides and therapists who facilitate the experience.
Authoritarian attitudes generally describe a person’s psychological makeup as demanding authority, social conformity, and strict obedience to traditional values. Previous small studies have suggested a potential link between psychedelic use and a reduction in these authoritarian views. For example, a previous pilot study in patients with treatment-resistant depression found that their authoritarianism scores decreased after psilocybin therapy.
However, that early study relied on small sample sizes and lacked a randomized control group, limiting the strength of its conclusions. To better understand this relationship, scientists aimed to re-evaluate the effects of psychedelics on political views using a larger participant pool and more robust experimental design.
Otto Simonson, lead author of the study, explained the inspiration behind revisiting this topic. “This project actually has quite a long history,” he said. “We started in 2019 and have evolved significantly over time. One of our main motivations was to revisit and build on previous research suggesting that psychedelic use may reduce authoritarian attitudes. Rather than relying on a single study, we wanted to see if that relationship held across multiple datasets.”
To accomplish this, the researchers analyzed data from three separate studies. The first study was a naturalistic observational project with adults who planned to voluntarily take psychedelics. Recruitment took place through online advertisements on social media and internet drug forums.
The sample initially included 629 participants, with an average age of 32 years. Most participants planned to use LSD, psilocybin, or ayahuasca. Researchers followed this group over time, with 269 people responding to the two-week follow-up survey and 180 responding to the four-week follow-up survey.
The authors measured authoritarianism in all studies using a five-item questionnaire. Participants rated their agreement with the statements on a scale from 1, meaning strongly disagree, to 5, meaning strongly agree. The statement included concepts such as whether young people lack respect for traditional values, whether lawbreakers need harsher punishments, and whether protests against the government should be banned.
In this first study, statistical analysis found no significant changes in authoritarian attitudes at either the second or fourth week compared to participants’ baseline scores. The initial attitudes recorded before the psychedelic experience remained largely unchanged afterward.
The second study included a controlled, single-blind design in 28 healthy adult volunteers. These participants had an average age of 41 years and had no prior experience using psychedelics. The term single-blind means that participants did not know the exact dose being administered during each session, which helps control personal expectations.
These participants received two oral doses of psilocybin, four weeks apart, in combination with psychological support. The first dose was a very small 1 milligram. This is considered a subthreshold dose and does not produce significant psychedelic effects, so it essentially acts as a placebo. The second dose was given four weeks later and was a fully effective dose of 25 milligrams.
The researchers measured participants’ authoritarian attitudes two and four weeks after receiving a placebo and two and four weeks after receiving a high dose of the active drug. Similar to the first study, the data showed no significant changes in authoritarian views at either low or high doses. Participants’ political views remained generally stable throughout the testing period.
The third study was a double-blind, randomized controlled trial of 59 adults diagnosed with moderate to severe major depressive disorder. In double-blind studies, neither participants nor researchers know who is receiving which specific treatment until the study is finished. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two different treatment conditions.
One group of 29 people with an average age of 39 years received the standard treatment approach. They took escitalopram capsules daily for six weeks, starting with 10 milligrams and increasing the dose to 20 milligrams for the last three weeks. Escitalopram is a common conventional antidepressant. To maintain the study’s blinded design, they were also given two small doses of 1 milligram of psilocybin during a supervised session.
Another group of 30 people with an average age of 43 years received an experimental treatment approach. They took an inactive placebo pill every day for six weeks. During supervised sessions, they were given two large doses of 25 milligrams of psilocybin. Both groups received psychological support alongside their assigned treatment.
The scientists measured authoritarian attitudes at the beginning of the study and again six weeks later. Again, there were no significant changes in authoritarian attitudes in either the standard antidepressant group or the high-dose psilocybin group. Additionally, no significant differences emerged when the two groups were compared with each other.
Across all three different studies that incorporated naturalistic use, healthy volunteers, and depressed patients, study results consistently failed to show reliable changes in authoritarian attitudes following psychedelic use. This broad approach provides evidence that the pharmacological effects of psychedelics alone do not naturally move individuals away from authoritarian political views.
“Although this study was not originally designed primarily to test this question, the honest conclusion at this point is that there is no convincing evidence that psychedelic drugs consistently alter authoritarian attitudes,” Simonson said.
Despite these consistent findings, the researchers noted several limitations and potential misinterpretations of the data. One of the main factors to consider is that the baseline authoritarianism scores in all three studies were already quite low to begin with.
This creates what scientists call a floor effect. A floor effect occurs when a test or measure is very difficult, or when the starting score is so low that it is almost impossible to lower it any further. Because the participants were already very low in authoritarian tendencies, the chances that the researchers would be able to observe further declines were limited.
Another limitation is the lack of specific data on participants’ broader social and political environments. The authors point out that psychedelics can act as non-specific amplifiers of an individual’s surroundings. This means that the drug may simply increase the volume of the social or political context that the person is already experiencing before, during, and after drug use.
If a person is exposed to certain political content or influenced by the political beliefs of a therapist providing psychological support, those factors could theoretically lead to attitude change. Because the researchers did not collect data on media consumption or the political environment, this possibility remains an open question for future analysis.
The authors suggest that psychedelics may still be influencing other aspects of political psychology rather than strict authoritarianism. For example, these substances can influence attitudes toward the environment, feelings of connection to nature, or empathy toward political outgroups.
Future studies should aim to recruit larger and more politically diverse samples to avoid the statistical floor effects seen in these studies. Scientists also recommend collecting more detailed data on the context of psychedelic experiences and investigating different political outcomes to more fully understand how these drugs interact with human belief systems.
“If there is a broader lesson, it is about the value of replication in science. Testing whether previous findings hold up across larger samples and different designs is exactly how the field moves forward,” Simonson said.
The study, “Revisiting the Effects of Psychedelic Use on Authoritarian Attitudes,” was authored by Otto Simonson, Taylor Lyons, Joseph Marks, Hannes Kettner, Leor Roseman, Elaine Heijen, Mendel Köhlen, and Robin Carhart-Harris.
