236
A white supremacist took MDMA for a study, and it snapped him out of his beliefs: 'Why am I doing this?' (www.insider.com)
submitted 1 year ago by Gaywallet@beehaw.org to c/science@beehaw.org
32 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] withersailor@aussie.zone 24 points 1 year ago

Nuwer pointed out that Brendan's "seemingly spontaneous change" appears to be an exception to the norm. MDMA releases the chemical oxytocin, which our bodies naturally produce. The chemical causes animals to fiercely love their own, but also protect them from others — which can mean a disdain for outsiders may actually increase.

[-] Cube6392@beehaw.org 21 points 1 year ago

Maybe he felt a surge to protect humans in general, and that intense feeling changed his outlook. Yeah, definitely, we should treat this as an exception not the rule, but I find myself wondering if he was already open to change, even if he didn't realize

[-] withersailor@aussie.zone 17 points 1 year ago

I was wondering if he was already wanting to change and that's why he signed up to the study.

[-] Halvdan@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 year ago

I think that's likely as well. It may have been the thing that gave him a push to change, but I don't think anything would have happened if he hadn't had doubts beforehand.

load more comments (2 replies)
this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
236 points (100.0% liked)

Science

12940 readers
81 users here now

Studies, research findings, and interesting tidbits from the ever-expanding scientific world.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

Be sure to also check out these other Fediverse science communities:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
alyaza@beehaw.org
Gaywallet@beehaw.org
remington@beehaw.org