"amongst people" ? which ones ? I guess "people in the same room who had taken psychedelics".

Extreme empathy (confining to "telepathy-like" effect) seems anecdotally a quite common effect of entheogens (I've read about it a lot of times, and also experienced it myself).

Rational hypothesis would hint to the mirror-neurons system of the brain, but for now I've found very few scientific studies on the "psychedelics+mirror neurons" topic.

Edit:

maybe this one: The Mechanisms of Psychedelic Visionary Experiences: Hypotheses from Evolutionary Psychology

It only claim hypotheses, but the studies referenced (in "the mirror neuron system" and below) may be worth digging. I'm usually very cautious/wary with the "Evolutionnary Psychology" field, but here at first glance it seems interesting (be ready to take that with a gain of salt).

(hope my reply is not too out of topic given the forum section)