Oxford Capacity Analysis
Encyclopedia
The Oxford Capacity Analysis (OCA), also known as the American Personality Analysis, is a list of questions which is advertised as being a personality test
and that is administered for free by the Church of Scientology
. The OCA test is offered by the Church of Scientology online, at its local churches, and sometimes at local fairs, carnival
s, and in other public settings. It has no relation to the University of Oxford
, although the name may have been chosen to imply so.
The test is an important part of Scientology recruitment and is used worldwide by the Church of Scientology to attract new members. However, it has attracted criticism from psychologists, who point out that it is "not a genuine personality test" and allege that Scientologists use it in a "highly manipulative
" and "manifestly unethical" fashion.
The OCA test is often given at the same time as a "Novis Mental Ability Test," a short 30 minute test which is claimed to measure IQ. After the two tests have been completed, a computer program is used to plot the results on a personality profile graph. This gives the testee's IQ rating and score in personality characteristics such as "Stable," "Happy," "Composed," "Certainty," "Active," "Aggressive," "Responsible (Causative)," "Correct Estimation" (meaning the testee's ability to look at a situation and determine what is needed to deal with it), "Appreciative," and "Comm[unication] Level" (meaning the testee's ability to communicate with others).
The scale on the graph of each trait ranges from +100 to −100, with three main bands marked "Desirable State" (+100 to +30), "Normal" (+30 to 0) and "Unacceptable State" (0 to −100). In the middle are two shaded bands, "Acceptable under perfect conditions" (about +32 to about +6) and "Attention Desirable" (about +6 to about −18). A legend at the foot of the graph sheet warns that a point below the latter band indicates "Attention Urgent."
After the graph has been plotted, a Scientology staff member reviews the results with the testee.
made personality tests central to his religion. In his 1951 book Science of Survival
, he recommended the use of existing psychometric exams, including the California Test for Mental Maturity.
In the mid-1950s, the project to create Hubbard's own test got underway. He commissioned a longtime follower, Julia Salman Lewis, to produce one. Her first effort, the American Personality Analysis (APA), failed to satisfy Hubbard. So in 1959 he asked a friend and fellow churchman, Ray Kemp, to broaden the scope of the test. Wrote Kemp:
The church first announced its test in an article by Kemp, who hailed the OCA in the pages of Certainty, the magazine of the Hubbard Association of Scientologists in London. Later, the church gave credit to Hubbard for the test and trademarked the terms "OCA" and "Oxford Capacity Analysis." The copyright holder is "L. Ron Hubbard Library," a business alias of the Church of Spiritual Technology
.
At first the church just tested its members, not the public. Then in 1960, a recruitment drive in Johannesburg
, South Africa
was run. The South African campaign had kicked off with a newspaper ad:
Respondents were tested in the Johannesburg Scientology office, having been told:
Hubbard proclaimed it "the hottest, fastest procurement service set up we have ever had." He announced that the new "Personal Efficiency Test Program," utilising the OCA, would be rolled out across Scientology in the next few months. Since then, OCA tests have been one of the most visible means by which the Church of Scientology attempts to attract new members.
The other use more visible use to non-Scientologists is that of recruitment, using the OCA as a tool to attract new people for Scientology services. In a 1960 policy letter, Hubbard wrote:
The results of the test are invariably negative, as various reporters have found:
Former Scientologists have spoken of how "everything that's wrong with [people]" is purposefully emphasized in OCA test results. Individuals who have undertaken the OCA have described how they were given just such negative evaluations; as one young Sydney woman put it in an interview in 1980,
Hubbard advised that the hopelessness of the testee's predicament (or "ruin," as he put it) should be emphasized by the tester, who should continually state that Scientology services are what is necessary for the situation to be salvaged:
The evaluator generally follows a script (Pre-written answers based on the test takers score.) originally devised by South African Scientologist Peter Greene around 1960/61, which Hubbard instructs "must be studied and learned by heart" by evaluators. Although the analysis is represented as being "not our opinion of you, but ... a factual scientific analysis taken from your answers," it relies heavily on scripted responses set out in detail in the "OCA Automatic Evaluation Script".
The evaluator is instructed to recommend Scientology as the only viable remedy for such problems. Alternatives are to be mentioned — "psychology, psychoanalysis, Dale Carnegie, Confidence Courses, Mental Exercises" — but only for the purpose of dismissing them: "these things had a very limited application and you could get yourself terribly involved in mysteries, expenses and wasted time, before you found any solutions to your difficulties. All across the world today, people are coming to us, to find simpler, more straight forward answers."
The testee is not permitted to dissent, with the evaluator forcefully insisting on the benefits of Scientology:
The vehemence with which OCA test evaluators attempt to "impinge" has attracted comment from non-Scientologists who have undergone the test. Writing in 1970, a British psychologist who underwent the test noted that
If an IQ test is added to the regular OCA examination, Scientology is likewise promoted as being essential no matter what the results — for everything from raising a low IQ to managing a high IQ. Hubbard provides four levels of grading for this test, for each of which there is a scripted response:
. It has been used for a variety of purposes, most commonly employee screening.
Some Scientologist doctors use the test to evaluate patients. Los Angeles celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Edward Terino rates his patients on a "Trouble Scale" after administering the test, which he markets to doctors via a company called Surgeon's Insight. Terino, a Scientologist, adopted the test after being threatened with injuries by a husband who hated Terino's nose-job work.
It has often been used without alteration, but has also been issued in modified versions; for instance, MasterTech markets the OCA with minor changes and calls it the Personnel Potential Analysis Test.
"The overall impression one gets [from the test manual]," said a psychologist testifying before a public inquiry into Scientology in Victoria, Australia in the mid-1960s, "is that it has been prepared by somebody with a smattering of psychometrics rather than by someone who is really competent in the field." A more detailed investigation was undertaken in 1970 by the British Psychological Society
(BPS) at the request of politician Sir John Foster. The group's conclusions:
Another detailed evaluation was carried out in 1981 by Gudmund Smith, Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Psychology of the University of Lund, Sweden
. This time the investigation was done for a prosecutor attacking a local branch of Narconon
, the church's drug rehab offshoot. Smith cited numerous methodological and empirical flaws in the OCA, describing it as a "terrible mess," and concluded (in translation from the original Swedish):
The OCA also came under scrutiny in Queensland
, Australia
in 1990, when it emerged that scores of people had lost their jobs after a Brisbane
-based personnel management company had given them poor OCA evaluations, "us[ing] such brutal terms they can read like character assassinations, leaving employers with little choice but to fire staff." The Australian Psychological Society
denounced the OCA as "downright dangerous," commenting that
The Church of Scientology has reportedly been unable to produce information to substantiate the validity of the Oxford Capacity Analysis. This has attracted criticism from the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements in Lincoln, Nebraska
, which produces the Mental Measurements Yearbook — the industry "bible" for psychological tests. According to the institute, "Any group should include information that substantiates the use of its test. If they can't, then it doesn't meet the standards for educational and psychological tests."
The OCA evaluators' criticism of their test subjects' personalities has also drawn sharp criticism. A London Evening Standard
reporter described the unease she felt after she had taken the OCA test:
Psychologists have echoed this critique. The methodological flaws of the OCA were such that, in the view of Professor Gudmund Smith, "Analysis for evaluation of an individual is, in my opinion, manifestly unethical." Testifying in a court case in Ireland
in 2003, Dr Declan Fitzgerald of University College Dublin
said he believed that the OCA "impinged on people's self-esteem and was highly manipulative." In its 1970 report, the British Psychological Society's working party was even harsher with its criticism, declaring that
Even the name of the Oxford Capacity Analysis has been criticized as misleading. The Times
comments that the test "has nothing to do with Oxford University" and says that "Scientologists use the word "Oxford" to give it credence."
Personality test
-Overview:There are many different types of personality tests. The most common type, the self-report inventory, involves the administration of many questions, or "items", to test-takers who respond by rating the degree to which each item reflects their behavior...
and that is administered for free by the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
. The OCA test is offered by the Church of Scientology online, at its local churches, and sometimes at local fairs, carnival
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
s, and in other public settings. It has no relation to the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, although the name may have been chosen to imply so.
The test is an important part of Scientology recruitment and is used worldwide by the Church of Scientology to attract new members. However, it has attracted criticism from psychologists, who point out that it is "not a genuine personality test" and allege that Scientologists use it in a "highly manipulative
Psychological manipulation
Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...
" and "manifestly unethical" fashion.
How the test works
Two hundred questions make up the Scientology personality test. Each can be answered yes, no, or maybe. Typical questions:- 3. Do you browse through railway timetables, directories or dictionaries just for pleasure?
- 6. Do you get occasional twitches of your muscles, when there is no logical reason for it?
- 27. Do you often sing or whistle just for the fun of it?
- 30. Do you enjoy telling people the latest scandal about your associates?
- 59. Do you consider the modern prisons without bars system "doomed to failure"?
- 69. Does emotional music have quite an effect on you?
- 105. Do you rarely suspect the actions of others?
- 124. Do you often make tactless blunders?
- 196. Do you sometimes feel that your age is against you (too young or too old)?
The OCA test is often given at the same time as a "Novis Mental Ability Test," a short 30 minute test which is claimed to measure IQ. After the two tests have been completed, a computer program is used to plot the results on a personality profile graph. This gives the testee's IQ rating and score in personality characteristics such as "Stable," "Happy," "Composed," "Certainty," "Active," "Aggressive," "Responsible (Causative)," "Correct Estimation" (meaning the testee's ability to look at a situation and determine what is needed to deal with it), "Appreciative," and "Comm[unication] Level" (meaning the testee's ability to communicate with others).
The scale on the graph of each trait ranges from +100 to −100, with three main bands marked "Desirable State" (+100 to +30), "Normal" (+30 to 0) and "Unacceptable State" (0 to −100). In the middle are two shaded bands, "Acceptable under perfect conditions" (about +32 to about +6) and "Attention Desirable" (about +6 to about −18). A legend at the foot of the graph sheet warns that a point below the latter band indicates "Attention Urgent."
After the graph has been plotted, a Scientology staff member reviews the results with the testee.
Development
Even before the Church of Scientology had fashioned its own test, founder L. Ron HubbardL. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
made personality tests central to his religion. In his 1951 book Science of Survival
Science of Survival
Science of Survival is a book published in 1951 by L. Ron Hubbard, extending his earlier writings on Dianetics. Its original subtitle was "simplified, faster dianetic techniques", although more recent editions have the subtitle "Prediction of human behavior"...
, he recommended the use of existing psychometric exams, including the California Test for Mental Maturity.
In the mid-1950s, the project to create Hubbard's own test got underway. He commissioned a longtime follower, Julia Salman Lewis, to produce one. Her first effort, the American Personality Analysis (APA), failed to satisfy Hubbard. So in 1959 he asked a friend and fellow churchman, Ray Kemp, to broaden the scope of the test. Wrote Kemp:
The church first announced its test in an article by Kemp, who hailed the OCA in the pages of Certainty, the magazine of the Hubbard Association of Scientologists in London. Later, the church gave credit to Hubbard for the test and trademarked the terms "OCA" and "Oxford Capacity Analysis." The copyright holder is "L. Ron Hubbard Library," a business alias of the Church of Spiritual Technology
Church of Spiritual Technology
The Church of Spiritual Technology, also known as CST, is a Californian 501 non-profit corporation, incorporated in 1982, which owns all the copyrights of the estate of L. Ron Hubbard. The CST is doing business as L. Ron Hubbard Library...
.
At first the church just tested its members, not the public. Then in 1960, a recruitment drive in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
was run. The South African campaign had kicked off with a newspaper ad:
Respondents were tested in the Johannesburg Scientology office, having been told:
Hubbard proclaimed it "the hottest, fastest procurement service set up we have ever had." He announced that the new "Personal Efficiency Test Program," utilising the OCA, would be rolled out across Scientology in the next few months. Since then, OCA tests have been one of the most visible means by which the Church of Scientology attempts to attract new members.
Use within Scientology
The OCA is today used for two principal purposes. Within the Church of Scientology, it is used to test for improvement in the personality of a "preclear" (a novice Scientologist) and the effectiveness of the chosen Scientology "process". OCA evaluations are conducted regularly and recorded, following Hubbard's instructions:The other use more visible use to non-Scientologists is that of recruitment, using the OCA as a tool to attract new people for Scientology services. In a 1960 policy letter, Hubbard wrote:
The results of the test are invariably negative, as various reporters have found:
Former Scientologists have spoken of how "everything that's wrong with [people]" is purposefully emphasized in OCA test results. Individuals who have undertaken the OCA have described how they were given just such negative evaluations; as one young Sydney woman put it in an interview in 1980,
Hubbard advised that the hopelessness of the testee's predicament (or "ruin," as he put it) should be emphasized by the tester, who should continually state that Scientology services are what is necessary for the situation to be salvaged:
The evaluator generally follows a script (Pre-written answers based on the test takers score.) originally devised by South African Scientologist Peter Greene around 1960/61, which Hubbard instructs "must be studied and learned by heart" by evaluators. Although the analysis is represented as being "not our opinion of you, but ... a factual scientific analysis taken from your answers," it relies heavily on scripted responses set out in detail in the "OCA Automatic Evaluation Script".
The evaluator is instructed to recommend Scientology as the only viable remedy for such problems. Alternatives are to be mentioned — "psychology, psychoanalysis, Dale Carnegie, Confidence Courses, Mental Exercises" — but only for the purpose of dismissing them: "these things had a very limited application and you could get yourself terribly involved in mysteries, expenses and wasted time, before you found any solutions to your difficulties. All across the world today, people are coming to us, to find simpler, more straight forward answers."
The testee is not permitted to dissent, with the evaluator forcefully insisting on the benefits of Scientology:
The vehemence with which OCA test evaluators attempt to "impinge" has attracted comment from non-Scientologists who have undergone the test. Writing in 1970, a British psychologist who underwent the test noted that
If an IQ test is added to the regular OCA examination, Scientology is likewise promoted as being essential no matter what the results — for everything from raising a low IQ to managing a high IQ. Hubbard provides four levels of grading for this test, for each of which there is a scripted response:
Use outside Scientology
The OCA is licensed to Scientologist-owned companies through the World Institute of Scientology EnterprisesWorld Institute of Scientology Enterprises
World Institute of Scientology Enterprises is an organization affiliated with the Church of Scientology that educates and assists businesses in the use of management methods and techniques developed by Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard, such methods and techniques being, like all of Hubbard's...
. It has been used for a variety of purposes, most commonly employee screening.
Some Scientologist doctors use the test to evaluate patients. Los Angeles celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Edward Terino rates his patients on a "Trouble Scale" after administering the test, which he markets to doctors via a company called Surgeon's Insight. Terino, a Scientologist, adopted the test after being threatened with injuries by a husband who hated Terino's nose-job work.
It has often been used without alteration, but has also been issued in modified versions; for instance, MasterTech markets the OCA with minor changes and calls it the Personnel Potential Analysis Test.
Criticism and controversy
Psychologists have assailed the test's lack of scientific basis. Other critics call it intentionally manipulative and humiliating."The overall impression one gets [from the test manual]," said a psychologist testifying before a public inquiry into Scientology in Victoria, Australia in the mid-1960s, "is that it has been prepared by somebody with a smattering of psychometrics rather than by someone who is really competent in the field." A more detailed investigation was undertaken in 1970 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...
(BPS) at the request of politician Sir John Foster. The group's conclusions:
Another detailed evaluation was carried out in 1981 by Gudmund Smith, Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Psychology of the University of Lund, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. This time the investigation was done for a prosecutor attacking a local branch of Narconon
Narconon
Narconon is a residential program aimed at substance abusers, headquartered in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It operates through several dozen treatment centers worldwide, chiefly in the United States and Western Europe. Each Narconon center is independently owned and operated under a license...
, the church's drug rehab offshoot. Smith cited numerous methodological and empirical flaws in the OCA, describing it as a "terrible mess," and concluded (in translation from the original Swedish):
The OCA also came under scrutiny in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1990, when it emerged that scores of people had lost their jobs after a Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
-based personnel management company had given them poor OCA evaluations, "us[ing] such brutal terms they can read like character assassinations, leaving employers with little choice but to fire staff." The Australian Psychological Society
Australian Psychological Society
The Australian Psychological Society is a professional association established to represent psychologists in Australia. The APS has more than 18,500 members, making it the largest professional body representing psychologists in Australia...
denounced the OCA as "downright dangerous," commenting that
The Church of Scientology has reportedly been unable to produce information to substantiate the validity of the Oxford Capacity Analysis. This has attracted criticism from the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements in Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska
The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
, which produces the Mental Measurements Yearbook — the industry "bible" for psychological tests. According to the institute, "Any group should include information that substantiates the use of its test. If they can't, then it doesn't meet the standards for educational and psychological tests."
The OCA evaluators' criticism of their test subjects' personalities has also drawn sharp criticism. A London Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
reporter described the unease she felt after she had taken the OCA test:
Psychologists have echoed this critique. The methodological flaws of the OCA were such that, in the view of Professor Gudmund Smith, "Analysis for evaluation of an individual is, in my opinion, manifestly unethical." Testifying in a court case in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in 2003, Dr Declan Fitzgerald of University College Dublin
University College Dublin
University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
said he believed that the OCA "impinged on people's self-esteem and was highly manipulative." In its 1970 report, the British Psychological Society's working party was even harsher with its criticism, declaring that
Even the name of the Oxford Capacity Analysis has been criticized as misleading. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
comments that the test "has nothing to do with Oxford University" and says that "Scientologists use the word "Oxford" to give it credence."
External links
- John Foster's 1971 report on OCA
- Operation Clambake presents Oxford Capacity Analysis
- The Personality Test by Chris Owen
- Scientology's Rigged OCA/Personality Test, Robert Vaughn YoungRobert Vaughn YoungRobert Vaughn Young commonly known by his initials RVY, was a whistleblower against the Church of Scientology after working high inside their organization for over twenty years.-In Scientology:...
- Online version of the OCA — Scientology.org
- Personnel Potential Analysis Test
- Article discusses a number of topics including origins of the OCA