Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training
Encyclopedia
Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training: A Longitudinal Study of Psychosocial Effects is a non-fiction
psychology
book on Large Group Awareness Training
, published in 1990 by Springer-Verlag. The book was co-authored by psychologist
s Jeffrey D. Fisher, Roxane Cohen Silver, Jack M. Chinsky, Barry Goff, and Yechiel Klar. The book was based on a psychological study of "The Forum", a course at the time run by Werner Erhard and Associates
, the company that commissioned the research. Werner Erhard and Associates financed the study, providing US$
88,000 in funding for research of its program. Results of the study were published in two articles in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
in 1989 and 1990. Fisher and co-authors gave initial context for the study, providing analysis and discussion of academic literature in psychology regarding Large Group Awareness Training.
The psychologists analyzed whether Large Group Awareness Training could be classified as psychotherapy
, and attempted to determine whether these techniques are harmful, beneficial, or produce no effects to an individual's mental health
. Participants included individuals that took part in a 1985 program of "The Forum" in the Northeastern United States. They were told they were participating in a "Quality of Life" study, and were instructed to fill out surveys about their experiences at time intervals prior to and after the program's completion. The sample size
included 83 participants in the program, as well as an additional 52 sample groups of individuals that did not participate in "The Forum". The psychologists concluded that the Large Group Awareness Training program did not have lasting positive or negative effects on self-perception.
The study reported in Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training was well received by the authors' peers; and garnered recognition from the American Psychological Association
with its 1989 "National Psychological Consultants to Management Award". Ethics in Psychology: Professional Standards and Cases characterized the study as, "One of the few careful attempts to study Erhard's techniques in a rigorous fashion". The Group in Society, published in 2009, characterized the authors' research as "the most rigorous independent study to date" of Large Group Awareness Training. The psychologists' research has been referenced in a 2005 study on Large Group Awareness Training published by the British Psychological Society
, and a 2010 article in Nova Religio
published by University of California Press
.
(born John Paul Rosenberg), a California-based former salesman, training manager and executive in the encyclopedia business, created the Erhard Seminars Training
(est) course in 1971. "est" was generally referred to in all lower case letters, upon request from the organization's followers and its founder. est was a form of Large Group Awareness Training
, and was part of the Human Potential Movement
. est was a four-day, 60-hour self-help program given to groups of 250 people at a time. The program was very intensive: each day would contain 15–20 hours of instruction. During the training, est personnel utilized jargon to convey key concepts, and participants had to agree to certain rules which remained in effect for the duration of the course. Participants were taught that they were responsible for their life outcomes, and were promised a dramatic change in their self-perception.
est was controversial: critics characterized the training methods as brainwashing, and suggested that the program had fascistic
and narcissistic
tendencies. Proponents asserted that it had a profoundly positive impact on people's lives. By 1977 over 100,000 people completed the est training, including public figures and mental health professionals. In 1985, Werner Erhard and Associates
repackaged the course as "The Forum", a seminar focused on "goal-oriented breakthroughs". By 1988, approximately one million people had taken some form of the trainings. In the early 1990s Erhard faced family problems, as well as tax problems that were eventually resolved in his favor. A group of his associates formed the company Landmark Education
in 1991, purchasing The Forum's course "technology" from Erhard.
, where he specialized in the study of social psychology
. He is a professor of psychology, at the University of Connecticut
. Fisher founded and serves as director of the Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention (CHIP) at the University of Connecticut. He is co-author of the book Environmental Psychology, with Paul A. Bell and Andrew Baum.
Roxane Cohen Silver received her Ph.D. degree from Northwestern University
. In 1989, Silver worked in research at the University of California, Los Angeles
. Silver maintained a focus in the field of social psychology. In 2006, she was a professor in the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior at the Department of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine
. Silver was recognized in 2007 with the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science.
Jack M. Chinsky has worked as a professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut. He specialized in the field of community psychology. Chinsky maintained a focus on community relationships. In 2005, Chinsky practiced clinical psychology
in Connecticut, and was a professor emeritus
at the University of Connecticut after teaching at the institution for 30 years.
Barry Alan Goff graduated with a doctorate in social psychology, and was an instructor at the University of Connecticut in its graduate program for adult educators. Goff obtained masters degrees in counseling psychology, and American literature
. He is the author of Social Support Among Best Friends. He has worked in the field of consulting, with a focus in workforce performance and customer satisfaction
. Goff consulted for the United States Department of Labor
in these areas, and advised in developing performance management systems for the Connecticut Department of Labor, the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky
.
Yechiel Klar obtained B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Tel Aviv University
. He became a faculty member of the Department of Psychology at Tel Aviv University in 1990, and later was selected for the position of Senior Lecturer at the university. Klar has taught in the capacity of visiting professor at the University of Connecticut, Lehigh University
, University of Kansas
, and Carleton University
. He is an editor of Self Change: Social Psychological and Clinical Perspectives.
, the company that commissioned the research. The results of the research study itself had been previously published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
in 1989, by Fisher, et al., and in 1990 in the same journal by Klar, et al.
The study was conducted under an agreement between Werner Erhard and Associates and the researchers, which gave the researchers independence in research methods. The agreement itself is attached as an appendix to the work, and states: "The Forum Sponsor agrees to arrange for all payments for costs related to expenses in the following manner. The only specific fixed cost delineated by this agreement was "..piloting experimental procedures and developing a full proposal for subsequent research..", which was USD$88,000.
Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training provides a historical analysis of the research published in academic journal
s and books prior to the publication of the study. Notable studies analyzed and put into a methodological context by Fisher et al. included those of Cinnamon, Rome, Brewer, Conway, Glass, Kirsch, Baer, Berger, Beit-Hallahmi, and Lieberman.
, and attempted to determine whether these techniques are harmful, beneficial, or produce no effects to an individual's mental health
. Participants were told that the psychologist
s were studying the "Quality of Life" in North America. These participants included men and women that had attended Werner Erhard and Associates
' "The Forum" seminar in 1985, in a large city in the northeastern United States. Participants in the study were split into Group 1 and Group 2. Group 1 was told to fill out a questionnaire both prior to and after completing their "Forum". Group 2 was told only to fill out the questionnaire after completing their Forum course.
The sample size
included 83 individuals who had taken part in "The Forum", as well as an additional 52 sample groups for comparison, composed of individuals who had similar baseline characteristics to the sample Forum participants, but had not taken part in the course. The belief systems and characteristics of the participants were studied by Fisher and his team of psychologists four to six weeks before they took part in the course, four to six weeks after completing the course, and then again at a period 18 months after finishing the course. Qualities examined by Fisher were based upon the purported benefits, and included character traits, physical and emotional health, social competence, self-esteem
, and life satisfaction.
The researchers found that subjects had some minor short-term positive effects perceived from the Large Group Awareness Training, but no noticeable longer term effects, stating: "In fact, with the exception of the short-term multivariate results for Perceived Control, there was no appreciable effect on any dimension which could reflect positive change." After the participants returned for the 18-month follow-up analysis, the results revealed that the small increase in perception of control by the individuals had disappeared.
's "National Psychological Consultants to Management Award", in 1989. Writing in their 1994 book, Handbook of Group Psychotherapy, authors Addie Fuhriman and Gary M. Burlingame cited the Fisher study, and compared it to a study of another Large Group Awareness Training organization called Lifespring
. The authors observed that "Fisher et al. reported no systematic changes in self-esteem compared to their control group." Handbook of Group Psychotherapy recommended the study, "For a more detailed review of the LGAT literature". The "bulk of evidence" presented in a section of the Handbook of Group Psychotherapy discussing est relied upon results from the Fisher study.
Authors Gerald P. Koocher and Patricia Keith-Spiegel cited the study in their 1998 book, Ethics in Psychology: Professional Standards and Cases. They characterized the study as, "One of the few careful attempts to study Erhard's techniques in a rigorous fashion". Koocher and Keith Spiegel noted that the Fisher study, "showed no long-term treatment effects and concluded that claims of far-reaching effects for programs of the Forum were found to be exaggerated."
In a discussion of Werner Erhard's programs in his 2003 book, Psychological Foundations of Success, author Stephen J. Kraus cited the Fisher study and contrasted conclusions from it with stated results from course participants. Kraus wrote, "People who attend est or the Landmark Forum generally report positive benefits from the experience, but a study that compared attendees with a control group of non-attendees suggests that the seminar produces only a short-term boost in locus of control, and no measurable long-term effects."
Writing in the 2006 book, Help at Any Cost
, author Maia Szalavitz referenced the Fisher study in a discussion of the phenomenon of testimonials regarding perceived outcomes by participants from taking part in Large Group Awareness Training. Szalavitz noted, "The little research conducted on the outcomes of these seminars doesn't even find them effective at prompting positive change. Most participants find the experience profoundly moving — and many people believe that such an emotionally intense event must necessarily produce psychological improvement. Consequently, an overwhelming majority of participants, when surveyed afterward, say their lives were changed for the better. However, several studies (including one of Lifespring) have found that while participants say their LGAT experiences improve their lives, there was no positive effect, or a small, short-lived one, on their actual psychological problems and behavior."
In the 2009 book The Group in Society, author John Gastil discussed Large Group Awareness Training programs including Erhard Seminars Training (est), Lifespring
, and "The Forum", and wrote, "In the most rigorous independent study to date, a team of researchers led by psychologist Jeffrey Fisher obtained permission to study the impact of participation in a training process sponsored by Werner Erhard and Associates." Gastil noted, "In the short term, average Forum participants experienced a small but significant increase in their sense that the course of their life was under their own control — what psychologists call an 'internal locus of control.' In the eighteen month follow-up, however, even this slight boost had disappeared and no other changes emerged. This suggests that even when participants subjectively sense self-transformation through a group process such as the Forum, one may not actually have occurred."
The book was referenced in a college-level psychology course, "Developmental Effects of Participation in a Large Group Awareness Training", at the University of Minnesota
. A 2005 study published by the British Psychological Society
which analyzed the Landmark Forum
course cited Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training for background on the Large Group Awareness Training phenomenon, as did a 2010 study in Nova Religio
published by University of California Press
.
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
book on Large Group Awareness Training
Large Group Awareness Training
Large-group awareness training refers to activities usually offered by groups linked with the human potential movement which claim to increase self-awareness and bring about desirable transformations in individuals' personal lives...
, published in 1990 by Springer-Verlag. The book was co-authored by psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
s Jeffrey D. Fisher, Roxane Cohen Silver, Jack M. Chinsky, Barry Goff, and Yechiel Klar. The book was based on a psychological study of "The Forum", a course at the time run by Werner Erhard and Associates
Werner Erhard and Associates
Werner Erhard and Associates, also known as WE&A or as WEA, operated as a commercial entity from February 1981 until early 1991. It replaced Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. as the vehicle for marketing, selling and imparting the content of the est training, and offered what some people refer to as...
, the company that commissioned the research. Werner Erhard and Associates financed the study, providing US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
88,000 in funding for research of its program. Results of the study were published in two articles in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology is a bimonthly psychology journal of the American Psychological Association. Its focus is on treatment and prevention in all areas of clinical and clinical-health psychology and especially on topics that appeal to a broad clinical-scientist and...
in 1989 and 1990. Fisher and co-authors gave initial context for the study, providing analysis and discussion of academic literature in psychology regarding Large Group Awareness Training.
The psychologists analyzed whether Large Group Awareness Training could be classified as psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
, and attempted to determine whether these techniques are harmful, beneficial, or produce no effects to an individual's mental health
Mental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
. Participants included individuals that took part in a 1985 program of "The Forum" in the Northeastern United States. They were told they were participating in a "Quality of Life" study, and were instructed to fill out surveys about their experiences at time intervals prior to and after the program's completion. The sample size
Sample size
Sample size determination is the act of choosing the number of observations to include in a statistical sample. The sample size is an important feature of any empirical study in which the goal is to make inferences about a population from a sample...
included 83 participants in the program, as well as an additional 52 sample groups of individuals that did not participate in "The Forum". The psychologists concluded that the Large Group Awareness Training program did not have lasting positive or negative effects on self-perception.
The study reported in Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training was well received by the authors' peers; and garnered recognition from the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
with its 1989 "National Psychological Consultants to Management Award". Ethics in Psychology: Professional Standards and Cases characterized the study as, "One of the few careful attempts to study Erhard's techniques in a rigorous fashion". The Group in Society, published in 2009, characterized the authors' research as "the most rigorous independent study to date" of Large Group Awareness Training. The psychologists' research has been referenced in a 2005 study on Large Group Awareness Training published by the British Psychological Society
British Psychological Society
The British Psychological Society is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom. The BPS is also a Registered Charity and, along with advantages, this also imposes certain constraints on what the society can and cannot do...
, and a 2010 article in Nova Religio
Nova Religio
Nova Religio is a peer-reviewed religious studies journal that focuses on New Religious Movements. The journal is published by University of California Press, in Berkeley, California...
published by University of California Press
University of California Press
University of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
.
Background
Werner ErhardWerner Erhard
Werner Hans Erhard is an author of transformational models and applications for individuals, groups, and organizations...
(born John Paul Rosenberg), a California-based former salesman, training manager and executive in the encyclopedia business, created the Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
(est) course in 1971. "est" was generally referred to in all lower case letters, upon request from the organization's followers and its founder. est was a form of Large Group Awareness Training
Large Group Awareness Training
Large-group awareness training refers to activities usually offered by groups linked with the human potential movement which claim to increase self-awareness and bring about desirable transformations in individuals' personal lives...
, and was part of the Human Potential Movement
Human Potential Movement
The Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
. est was a four-day, 60-hour self-help program given to groups of 250 people at a time. The program was very intensive: each day would contain 15–20 hours of instruction. During the training, est personnel utilized jargon to convey key concepts, and participants had to agree to certain rules which remained in effect for the duration of the course. Participants were taught that they were responsible for their life outcomes, and were promised a dramatic change in their self-perception.
est was controversial: critics characterized the training methods as brainwashing, and suggested that the program had fascistic
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and narcissistic
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
tendencies. Proponents asserted that it had a profoundly positive impact on people's lives. By 1977 over 100,000 people completed the est training, including public figures and mental health professionals. In 1985, Werner Erhard and Associates
Werner Erhard and Associates
Werner Erhard and Associates, also known as WE&A or as WEA, operated as a commercial entity from February 1981 until early 1991. It replaced Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. as the vehicle for marketing, selling and imparting the content of the est training, and offered what some people refer to as...
repackaged the course as "The Forum", a seminar focused on "goal-oriented breakthroughs". By 1988, approximately one million people had taken some form of the trainings. In the early 1990s Erhard faced family problems, as well as tax problems that were eventually resolved in his favor. A group of his associates formed the company Landmark Education
Landmark Education
Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....
in 1991, purchasing The Forum's course "technology" from Erhard.
Authors
Jeffrey D. Fisher obtained his Ph.D. from Purdue UniversityPurdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, where he specialized in the study of social psychology
Social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...
. He is a professor of psychology, at the University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
. Fisher founded and serves as director of the Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention (CHIP) at the University of Connecticut. He is co-author of the book Environmental Psychology, with Paul A. Bell and Andrew Baum.
Roxane Cohen Silver received her Ph.D. degree from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. In 1989, Silver worked in research at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
. Silver maintained a focus in the field of social psychology. In 2006, she was a professor in the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior at the Department of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
. Silver was recognized in 2007 with the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science.
Jack M. Chinsky has worked as a professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut. He specialized in the field of community psychology. Chinsky maintained a focus on community relationships. In 2005, Chinsky practiced clinical psychology
Clinical psychology
Clinical psychology is an integration of science, theory and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development...
in Connecticut, and was a professor emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
at the University of Connecticut after teaching at the institution for 30 years.
Barry Alan Goff graduated with a doctorate in social psychology, and was an instructor at the University of Connecticut in its graduate program for adult educators. Goff obtained masters degrees in counseling psychology, and American literature
American literature
American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...
. He is the author of Social Support Among Best Friends. He has worked in the field of consulting, with a focus in workforce performance and customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction, a term frequently used in marketing, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation...
. Goff consulted for the United States Department of Labor
United States Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The...
in these areas, and advised in developing performance management systems for the Connecticut Department of Labor, the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
.
Yechiel Klar obtained B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
. He became a faculty member of the Department of Psychology at Tel Aviv University in 1990, and later was selected for the position of Senior Lecturer at the university. Klar has taught in the capacity of visiting professor at the University of Connecticut, Lehigh University
Lehigh University
Lehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, but has grown to include studies in a wide variety of disciplines...
, University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
, and Carleton University
Carleton University
Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Founded as a small college in 1942, Carleton now offers over 65 programs in a diverse range of disciplines. Carleton has...
. He is an editor of Self Change: Social Psychological and Clinical Perspectives.
Study arrangements
The book was based on a psychological study of "The Forum", a course at the time run by Werner Erhard and AssociatesWerner Erhard and Associates
Werner Erhard and Associates, also known as WE&A or as WEA, operated as a commercial entity from February 1981 until early 1991. It replaced Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. as the vehicle for marketing, selling and imparting the content of the est training, and offered what some people refer to as...
, the company that commissioned the research. The results of the research study itself had been previously published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology is a bimonthly psychology journal of the American Psychological Association. Its focus is on treatment and prevention in all areas of clinical and clinical-health psychology and especially on topics that appeal to a broad clinical-scientist and...
in 1989, by Fisher, et al., and in 1990 in the same journal by Klar, et al.
The study was conducted under an agreement between Werner Erhard and Associates and the researchers, which gave the researchers independence in research methods. The agreement itself is attached as an appendix to the work, and states: "The Forum Sponsor agrees to arrange for all payments for costs related to expenses in the following manner. The only specific fixed cost delineated by this agreement was "..piloting experimental procedures and developing a full proposal for subsequent research..", which was USD$88,000.
Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training provides a historical analysis of the research published in academic journal
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
s and books prior to the publication of the study. Notable studies analyzed and put into a methodological context by Fisher et al. included those of Cinnamon, Rome, Brewer, Conway, Glass, Kirsch, Baer, Berger, Beit-Hallahmi, and Lieberman.
Methods
The book analyzed whether Large Group Awareness Training could be classified as psychotherapyPsychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
, and attempted to determine whether these techniques are harmful, beneficial, or produce no effects to an individual's mental health
Mental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
. Participants were told that the psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
s were studying the "Quality of Life" in North America. These participants included men and women that had attended Werner Erhard and Associates
Werner Erhard and Associates
Werner Erhard and Associates, also known as WE&A or as WEA, operated as a commercial entity from February 1981 until early 1991. It replaced Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. as the vehicle for marketing, selling and imparting the content of the est training, and offered what some people refer to as...
' "The Forum" seminar in 1985, in a large city in the northeastern United States. Participants in the study were split into Group 1 and Group 2. Group 1 was told to fill out a questionnaire both prior to and after completing their "Forum". Group 2 was told only to fill out the questionnaire after completing their Forum course.
The sample size
Sample size
Sample size determination is the act of choosing the number of observations to include in a statistical sample. The sample size is an important feature of any empirical study in which the goal is to make inferences about a population from a sample...
included 83 individuals who had taken part in "The Forum", as well as an additional 52 sample groups for comparison, composed of individuals who had similar baseline characteristics to the sample Forum participants, but had not taken part in the course. The belief systems and characteristics of the participants were studied by Fisher and his team of psychologists four to six weeks before they took part in the course, four to six weeks after completing the course, and then again at a period 18 months after finishing the course. Qualities examined by Fisher were based upon the purported benefits, and included character traits, physical and emotional health, social competence, self-esteem
Self-esteem
Self-esteem is a term in psychology to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame: some would distinguish how 'the self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, the...
, and life satisfaction.
Conclusions
Fisher and co-authors concluded that attending The Forum had minimal lasting effects, positive or negative, on participants' self-perception. They briefly discussed potential negative and positive effects of attending The Forum. The psychologists did not find any negative effects on the test subjects that participated in their study. In an analysis of the possible positive outcomes, they found that subjects "became more internally oriented". A significant small increase in short term perception by individuals that they maintained control over their lives was observed – this is referred to in psychology as internal locus of control.The researchers found that subjects had some minor short-term positive effects perceived from the Large Group Awareness Training, but no noticeable longer term effects, stating: "In fact, with the exception of the short-term multivariate results for Perceived Control, there was no appreciable effect on any dimension which could reflect positive change." After the participants returned for the 18-month follow-up analysis, the results revealed that the small increase in perception of control by the individuals had disappeared.
Reception
The research reported in Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training garnered the American Psychological AssociationAmerican Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
's "National Psychological Consultants to Management Award", in 1989. Writing in their 1994 book, Handbook of Group Psychotherapy, authors Addie Fuhriman and Gary M. Burlingame cited the Fisher study, and compared it to a study of another Large Group Awareness Training organization called Lifespring
Lifespring
Lifespring was a for-profit private company, founded in 1974. The company promoted itself through books and word of mouth advertising. By 1989, officials stated that over 300,000 people had enrolled in the company's seminars...
. The authors observed that "Fisher et al. reported no systematic changes in self-esteem compared to their control group." Handbook of Group Psychotherapy recommended the study, "For a more detailed review of the LGAT literature". The "bulk of evidence" presented in a section of the Handbook of Group Psychotherapy discussing est relied upon results from the Fisher study.
Authors Gerald P. Koocher and Patricia Keith-Spiegel cited the study in their 1998 book, Ethics in Psychology: Professional Standards and Cases. They characterized the study as, "One of the few careful attempts to study Erhard's techniques in a rigorous fashion". Koocher and Keith Spiegel noted that the Fisher study, "showed no long-term treatment effects and concluded that claims of far-reaching effects for programs of the Forum were found to be exaggerated."
In a discussion of Werner Erhard's programs in his 2003 book, Psychological Foundations of Success, author Stephen J. Kraus cited the Fisher study and contrasted conclusions from it with stated results from course participants. Kraus wrote, "People who attend est or the Landmark Forum generally report positive benefits from the experience, but a study that compared attendees with a control group of non-attendees suggests that the seminar produces only a short-term boost in locus of control, and no measurable long-term effects."
Writing in the 2006 book, Help at Any Cost
Help at Any Cost
Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids is a non-fiction book by Maia Szalavitz analyzing the controversy surrounding the tough love behavior modification industry. The book was published February 16, 2006, by Riverhead Books. Szalavitz focuses on four programs:...
, author Maia Szalavitz referenced the Fisher study in a discussion of the phenomenon of testimonials regarding perceived outcomes by participants from taking part in Large Group Awareness Training. Szalavitz noted, "The little research conducted on the outcomes of these seminars doesn't even find them effective at prompting positive change. Most participants find the experience profoundly moving — and many people believe that such an emotionally intense event must necessarily produce psychological improvement. Consequently, an overwhelming majority of participants, when surveyed afterward, say their lives were changed for the better. However, several studies (including one of Lifespring) have found that while participants say their LGAT experiences improve their lives, there was no positive effect, or a small, short-lived one, on their actual psychological problems and behavior."
In the 2009 book The Group in Society, author John Gastil discussed Large Group Awareness Training programs including Erhard Seminars Training (est), Lifespring
Lifespring
Lifespring was a for-profit private company, founded in 1974. The company promoted itself through books and word of mouth advertising. By 1989, officials stated that over 300,000 people had enrolled in the company's seminars...
, and "The Forum", and wrote, "In the most rigorous independent study to date, a team of researchers led by psychologist Jeffrey Fisher obtained permission to study the impact of participation in a training process sponsored by Werner Erhard and Associates." Gastil noted, "In the short term, average Forum participants experienced a small but significant increase in their sense that the course of their life was under their own control — what psychologists call an 'internal locus of control.' In the eighteen month follow-up, however, even this slight boost had disappeared and no other changes emerged. This suggests that even when participants subjectively sense self-transformation through a group process such as the Forum, one may not actually have occurred."
The book was referenced in a college-level psychology course, "Developmental Effects of Participation in a Large Group Awareness Training", at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. A 2005 study published by the British Psychological Society
British Psychological Society
The British Psychological Society is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom. The BPS is also a Registered Charity and, along with advantages, this also imposes certain constraints on what the society can and cannot do...
which analyzed the Landmark Forum
Landmark Education
Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....
course cited Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training for background on the Large Group Awareness Training phenomenon, as did a 2010 study in Nova Religio
Nova Religio
Nova Religio is a peer-reviewed religious studies journal that focuses on New Religious Movements. The journal is published by University of California Press, in Berkeley, California...
published by University of California Press
University of California Press
University of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
.
See also
- Getting It: The Psychology of estGetting It: The psychology of estGetting It: The Psychology of est is a non-fiction book by American psychologist Sheridan Fenwick, first published in 1976, analyzing Werner Erhard's Erhard Seminars Training or est. It is based on Fenwick's own experience of attending a four-day session of the est training, an intensive 60-hour...
- Large Group Awareness TrainingLarge Group Awareness TrainingLarge-group awareness training refers to activities usually offered by groups linked with the human potential movement which claim to increase self-awareness and bring about desirable transformations in individuals' personal lives...
- List of Large Group Awareness Training organizations
- Outrageous BetrayalOutrageous BetrayalOutrageous Betrayal: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from est to Exile was written by freelance journalist Steven Pressman and first published in 1993 by St. Martin's Press...
- Werner ErhardWerner ErhardWerner Hans Erhard is an author of transformational models and applications for individuals, groups, and organizations...
- Werner Erhard and AssociatesWerner Erhard and AssociatesWerner Erhard and Associates, also known as WE&A or as WEA, operated as a commercial entity from February 1981 until early 1991. It replaced Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. as the vehicle for marketing, selling and imparting the content of the est training, and offered what some people refer to as...
External links
- Springer, Full citation of work, at official publisher's Web site.