I've come to the conclusion, and so have many around me, that the stereotypical "hippy" attitude is in many cases a deterministic result of taking psychedelics. Its impossible for me to point to a number and say, look it changed by x amount in that part of the brain. In my own experience, I could describe what is known as the "afterglow" of psychedelics as a calming anti anxious, anti "negative emotion" feeling. But the feeling is accompanied by an odd feeling that somewhere in your brain is just not firing like it used to.

What specific things do your friends say or do, that you consider a hippy attitude?

Belief that reading stories to water will confer health benefits to those who drink it is prevalent in Boulder.

Thanks for sharing. I felt amused and I think that is silly. I am still wanting to hear from the person I asked, because I want to understand what he or she specifically thinks a hippy attitude is. His or her idea might be different from yours or mine.

Such beliefs are obviously silly, but they may also be true (placebo effect, power of positive thinking, etc). We lack sufficient data to form a very strong conclusion one way or the other, but we certainly have some.

  placebo effect, power of positive thinking

Bit of a jump from 'reading stories to water.'

What matters is that one believes it.