Biglan, A. (2009). Increasing psychological flexibility to influence cultural evolution. Behavior and Social Issues, 18, 15-24.
Increasing the prevalence of caring in society could contribute to the evolution of a society that ensures the wellbeing of every member. Recent research on psychological flexibility suggests that helping people to accept, but not believe, their unpleasant thoughts and feelings contributes to people becoming more caring. This paper reviews evidence of the value of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for increasing psychological flexibility and focuses, in particular, on its impact on prejudice and caring. It then discusses how this empirically based strategy for increasing psychological flexibility could contribute to the evolution of a more caring society with less conflict and prejudice and that is less punitive and more sustainable.