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Psychedelic drugs can induce altered states of consciousness characterised by changes in visual perception, tactile sensation, cognition, and emotion. Although there is a history of misinformation surrounding these drugs, recent investigation has reinvigorated interest. However, little research has assessed the attitudes of psychedelic consumers regarding these substances. The current study aims to explore the attitudes and perceptions of people with experience with psychedelic drugs, specifically surrounding psychedelic drugs themselves and their use within Aotearoa New Zealand.

Nineteen individuals with experience of psychedelic use were recruited to participate across eight groups in semi-structured, exploratory interviews, where a range of topics associated with psychedelics were discussed. Reflexive thematic analysis of the data focussed on participants’ current perceptions and attitudes.

Four themes were produced: (1) a negative historical influence on current perceptions of psychedelics; (2) knowledge is key but not everyone has it; (3) prohibition is not working, policy needs to change; (4) psychedelics have therapeutic potential. These themes emphasise key features of people with experience of psychedelic drugs’ current views and highlight potential areas for future investigation and intervention.

Findings indicate a need for greater public knowledge and awareness of psychedelics in Aotearoa society. Findings also inform information, education and policy, which in turn will reduce the stigma and associated harm that those who have used or use psychedelic drugs may experience.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, qualitative research aiming to understand attitudes and perspectives surrounding psychedelic drugs and their use from a drug users’ perspective have not yet been assessed.

Status characteristics and status cues theories posit that those with highly valued status attributes are expected to be more competent and influential than their lower status/skilled task partners. With a focus on beauty and a task cue we term “working smart,” our aim was to specify the combined attributes that led certain women to attain higher status than their female, dyadic task partners.

Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), we reanalyzed data from a published study about the impact of women's beauty on a paraverbal measure of status. The approach determines how combined conditions, such as being attractive and task efficient, explain an outcome, such as a status difference, between partners. QCA was paired with qualitative coding of interactants' speech to further interrogate the data.

More task-efficient women always attained higher status than their partners, yet a status difference was stronger if the more efficient partner was beautiful. Although gendered deviance was found to lower women's relative status, it does not constitute a status violation.

Social and Research Implications: Variants of expectation states theory are supported based on our unique QCA approach. Applying QCA as a triangulation tool to evaluate the validity of past findings is a novel usage. Social psychology benefits from QCA's ability to treat micro-level data.

“Working smart” was always associated with higher relative social status but not always beauty or task ability. After 50 years, the “what is beautiful is good” thesis continues to be supported and expanded to “what is beautiful works smarter.”