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Large Group Awareness Training
... Because normative Christian processes plausibly elicit guilt, inadequacy, and fear (relating to sin), followed by love/acceptance/affirmation (relating to salvation), it would, therefore, be valuable to find an existing process which incorporates these elements and elicits SEEKING arousal in most people. Large group awareness training (LGAT) is the generic term for a type of "personal development" seminar popularized in San Francisco in the 1970s (Finkelstein et al., 1982;J. D. Fisher et al., 1989;Klar et al., 1990;Landmark, 2021e;Lieberman, 1987;Singer, 2003). ...
... Unlike certain religious rituals, which result in elevated affective states (Fischer et al., 2014;Xygalatas et al., 2019), these seminars do not involve religious beliefs, physical pain, or the use of psychoactive substances. The results of LGAT participation do, however, align with the effects of psychoactive substancesparticipants are promised, and report, a powerful change in their subjective experience of themselves and the world around them (Brewer, 1975;Finkelstein et al., 1982;Hanley, 2018;Howard, 2001;Klar et al., 1990;Landmark, 2013;Rhinehart, 1976Rhinehart, /2010, often described as a "transformation" (Faltermayer, 2001;Pressman, 1993;Thornburgh, 2011). This subjective experience occurs in most participants, its effects look similar, if not identical, to the described indicators of SEEKING arousal, and in the right contextit is contendedit may be interpreted as a religious experience (See Table 2). ...
... Although they no longer operate, S1 and S2 are described as the most popular LGATs of the 1970s and 1980s and are considered similar offerings (Finkelstein et al., 1982;J. D. Fisher et al., 1989;Haaken & Adams, 1983;Klar et al., 1990;Lieberman, 1987). ...
There is evidence that dopaminergic excitation contributes to certain religious experiences however, a natural mechanism by which hyperdopaminergia may be elicited in normative Christian contexts remains elusive. Panksepp’s dopamine-mediated “SEEKING system” offers a plausible endogenous defense against psychological stress, and is activated by rewarding stimuli, so it was hypothesized that significant psychological stress followed by social reward would prompt SEEKING arousal in most healthy individuals. Through a review of 121 data sources describing a prevalent “personal development” seminar – using deductive thematic analysis – it was found that participants endure significant psychological stress for days before it is replaced with love/acceptance/affirmation and that most participants experience a powerful affective state, with effects consistent with SEEKING arousal. Because contemplating one’s sinfulness may elicit acute psychological stress, and Christian salvation may provide a sense of love/acceptance/affirmation, a natural mechanism for stimulating SEEKING arousal, and inducing a religious experience, in a Christian context is conceived.
... Yet because of the large number of people participating in these activities , this may be an important task for clinical and community psychology (cf. Finkelstein et al., 1982). An initial step in studying participation in LGATs involves understanding the demographic background of LGAT participants. ...
... The proportion of single, divorced, or separated persons is also higher than in the general population (Tipton, 1982). i Although psychologists have often classified LGATs as a generic group (see Finkelstein et al., 1982), and although this classification does have considerable heuristic value, it must be kept in mind that each of these interventions is unique. 100 KLAR, MENDOLA, FISHER, SILVER, CHINSKY, GOFF Less is known about the motivations behind participation in LGATs. ...
... These findings provide support for the hypothesis that an initial congruence in philosophical orientation may be associated with an attraction to LGATs. When we bear in mind that the Forum endorses a philosophy consistent with a highly internal locus of control and self-exploration (Finkelstein et al., 1982; Shaw, 1977; Tipton, 1982; Yalom, 1980), it appears that even prior to their participation , prospective LGAT participants hold consistent beliefs (i.e., an orientation toward an internal locus of control and beliefs favoring self-exploration). ...
A study was conducted to assess the psychosocial characteristics of individuals who become involved in large group awareness training (LGAT) programs. Prospective participants in The Forum, which has been classified as an LGAT, were compared with nonparticipating peers and with available normative samples on measures of well-being, negative life events, social support, and philosophical orientation. Results revealed that prospective participants were significantly more distressed than peer and normative samples of community residents and had a higher level of impact of recent negative life events compared with peer (but not normative) samples. Prospective participants also held preparticipation values more similar to those espoused by the LGAT than peer or normative samples, and the three groups failed to be distinguished by their levels of social support. The implications of the findings are considered for understanding participation in LGATs and other self-change promoting activities.
... Exploiting a recruit's desire for self-awareness, the group uses an escalating commitment process to draw new members into the organization (Bainbridge & Stark, 1980). Both est and Lifespring are based on sales motivation courses and use similar approaches involving escalating commitment, strong normative pressure to comply, and processes to reduce critical thinking and overwhelm normal psychological defense mechanisms (Baer & Stolz, 1978;Finkelstein, Wenegrat, & Yalom, 1982). Once in the group, members form new sets of "friends" to whom they are committed. ...
... Very few people will admit to that." The actual evidence for psychological change in est graduates.is.alniost nonexistent ( Finkelstein et al., 1982). While the intent of these groups is to generate commitment based on the internalization of values (O'Reilly & Chatman, 1986), the evidence suggests that, rather than generating "enlightenment," the mechanism for generating commitment is social control based on informational and normative influence. ...
... The term Large Group Awareness Training (LGAT) has been applied to a number of different "enhancement-based" interventions (e.g., est. Lifespring) (Finkelstein, Wenegrat, & Yalom, 1982). These interventions were introduced in the early 1970s and have attracted more than a million participants since then. ...
... Overall, these limitations preclude any reliable empirical conclusions about the effect of LGAT. Finkelstein et al. (1982) have argued for conducting additional, methodologically stronger, LGAT outcome research. ...
The present study of Forum outcome was conducted within a large scale investigation of the Quality of Life in North America. A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group design was used to assess the short- and long-term effects of participation in the Forum. The experimental subjects consisted of men and women who attended Forum seminars during 1985, in a large city in the northeastern United States.
The present study is the first performed to evaluate the outcome of the Forum, an LGAT [Large Group Awareness Training] which has been in operation since January 1985 and which has attracted over 120,000 participants. It is also one of the first studies in the realm of LGAT evaluation to employ an appropriate control group, to correct for other difficulties associated with past LGAT research such as response set bias, and to employ a comprehensive outcome assessment battery. Overall, this study permits a more definitive conclusion than previous research regarding the effect of LGAT participation.
The present study is the first to assess potential negative changes in mental health from LGATs using an accepted index of clinical symptomatology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... Although there is no agreed maximum to large groups (in 2014 I attended a group for 500 participants), I believe that groups below 100 people have different dynamics, mainly because they do not require microphones and hence allow more direct and equal participation. At the moment, around the world I have identified several therapeutic schools (approaches) which facilitate large groups and write about them, of which the most important are: psychoanalysis (Kreeger, 1975; de Maré, Piper and Thompson, 1991; Schneider and Weinberg, 2003); large-group awareness training (Finkelstein et al., 1982); process oriented (Mindell, 1995) and business coaching (Emery and Trist, 1960; Katz and Kahn, 1966; Alban, 1997, 2012). Analytic theorists are usually associated with either the Group Analytic Society or the Tavistock Institute. ...
This is a single case study on attending large groups in psychotherapy training using autoethnographic theory. Originating in a description of the personal experiences of the author attending large groups, this article presents an introduction to a wide range of large groups across different therapeutic modalities and examines an application of Gestalt therapy theory to understanding large group processes. A proposition is made to consider collective gestalts in working with large groups and to understand them as an ongoing dialogue among often opposing social forces. It is suggested that openness towards one's own prejudices, and a rejection of finality create supportive conditions for attending to collective gestalts when participating and facilitating large groups. The article concludes with describing outcomes of large groups in three areas: diversity, learning therapeutic skills, and community building.
... It is hoped that new data on the mechanisms of GST will accumulate over the next decade so as to provide a more complete understanding of this efficacious interven- tion. Such information will be especially useful as the GST model expands into larger group formats (Finkelstein, Wenegrat, & Yalom, 1982;Klar et al., 1990). Until these data accrue, however, it can only be concluded that GST is an effective treatment that is comparable in efficacy to other psycholog- ical, educational, and behavioral interventions and that it appears particularly useful for modifying certain behaviors. ...
This investigation was a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of group sensitivity training. Analysis of 63 studies revealed a moderate size, heterogeneous effect (weighted mean
d = 0.62) on all outcome measures. Categorical model testing indicated that group sensitivity training had significantly larger effects on behavioral measures than on self-report measures (mean
ds = 1.03 and 0.44, respectively). Moreover, effect sizes for behavioral measures were moderated by the size of treatment groups, the number of sessions, and the precision of measurement recording. That is, interventions involving larger groups and meeting for more sessions had larger effect sizes, as did studies involving more discrete outcome measures. As recommended elsewhere, future studies need to explore group processes and mechanisms of change in group sensitivity training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Originalität, Flexibilität und Intensität zählen zu den entscheidenden Eigenschaften der zeitgenössischen Mittelschicht. Simon Roloff erfährt dies am eigenen Leib und erkundet Schauplätze der Einübung eines Habitus: Er wird zu seinem Traumjob gecoacht, improvisiert mit Managern und geht für die Ausschöpfung seiner inneren Ressourcen barfuß über glühende Kohlen. Durch einen innovativen Mix aus teilnehmenden Beobachtungen, autoethnografischen Analysen und lyrischen Montagen führt er seine Erlebnisse aus dem Fundus der Selbstverbesserung zu einem kritischen Paradigma der Gegenwart zusammen - und erzählt dabei eine Mikrogeschichte der Implementierung von klassenbasierten Normen am Subjekt.
In the last decade, business and life coaching programmes have rapidly proliferated in the People’s Republic of China. Such programmes promise radical self-transformations aiming at individual success and social responsibility. The methods of most coaching programmes popular in China today are characterised by strict discipline and emotional expressivity, which are enacted in personal bonds between participants and coaches. This article describes and analyses these processes of self-transformation for the case of the rapidly growing ‘Leadership Programmes’ (LP). We outline the social background and emergence of LP programmes, present the typical features of LP training and discuss the consequences of self-transformation as seen by participants and outsiders. Altogether, these leadership programmes constitute an important new platform where ethical subjectivities are created and negotiated among new middle-class Chinese; subjectivities that are supposed to be enterprising, responsible, and expressive.
Interpretive consumer research usually proceeds with a minimum of structure and preconceptions. This book presents a more structured approach than is usual, showing how a simple framework that embodies the rewards and costs associated with consumer choice can be used to interpret a wide range of consumer behaviours from everyday purchasing and saving, innovative choice, imitation, 'green' consumer behavior, to compulsive behaviors such as addictions (to shopping, to gambling, to alcohol and other drugs, etc). Foxall takes a qualitative approach to interpreting behavior, focusing on the epistemological problems that arise in such research and emphasizing the emotional as well as cognitive aspects of consumption. The author argues that consumer behaviour can be understood with the aid of a very simple model that proposes how the consequences of consumption impact consumers' subsequent choices. The objective is to show that a basic model can be used to interpret consumer behaviour in general, not in isolation from the marketing influences that shape it, but as a course of human choice that is dynamically linked with managerial concerns.
Coaching can be an effective and integral component of leadership development programs. Popular among human resource professionals and clients, coaching facilitates leaders’ professional growth and helps to build a powerful team—from executives to first-line managers and team leaders. Coaching has a proven track record of success, and many studies have shown how coaching enhances decision-making skills, improves interpersonal effectiveness and increases confidence. The maturing workforce necessitates thoughtful succession planning, and coaching is often a strategic element of this effort. Integrating coaching into an organization’s culture will ensure the longevity and sustained value of the program. http://www.shrm.org/Research/Documents/SHRM-SIOP%20Coaching%20for%20Professional%20Development.pdf
Studies examining factors in religious conversion have focused on religious movements that are stigmatized or regarded as deviant and that stress communal lifestyles and exclusive commitment. The relevance of these factors is examined in the processes of recruitment and retention of clients in Landmark, a human potential organization that is world-accepting and non-communal. Affective bonds in social networks were found to be of crucial importance both in the recruitment of clients to Landmark and the maintenance of those clients beyond their participation in The Forum, the organization's focal workshop. Human potential organizations such as Landmark are designated by sociologists as new religious movements, but the secular designation by the organization and its clients is relevant to its recruitment, especially in Israel where it attracts Israeli Jews who define themselves as secular.
Methodological pluralism in consumer research is usually confined to post-positivist interpretive approaches. Argues, however, that a positivistic stance, radical behaviourism, can enrich epistemological debate among researchers with the recognition of radical behaviourism′s ultimate reliance on interpretation as well as science. Although radical behaviourist explanation was initially founded on Machian positivism, its account of complex social behaviours such as purchase and consumption is necessarily interpretive, inviting comparison with the hermeneutical approaches currently emerging in consumer research. Radical behaviourist interpretation attributes meaning to behaviour by identifying its environmental determinants, especially the learning history of the individual in relation to the consequences similar prior behaviour has effected. The nature of such interpretation is demonstrated for purchase and consumption responses by means of a critique of radical behaviourism as applied to complex human activity. In the process, develops and applies a framework for radical behaviourist interpretation of purchase and consumption to four operant equifinality classes of consumer behaviour: accomplishment, pleasure, accumulation and maintenance. Some epistemological implications of this framework, the behavioural perspective model (BPM) of purchase and consumption, are discussed in the context of the relativity and incommensurability of research paradigms. Finally, evaluates the interpretive approach, particularly in terms of its relevance to the nature and understanding of managerial marketing.
A review of published work over the past decade and a half supports the effectiveness of the large group in clinical settings. Greater sophistication among practitioners has led to combining administrative, psychotherapeutic, and sociotherapeutic large groups and to the use of effective treatment teams and clearly defined contracts in inpatient hospital work. Some research findings suggest that large treatment groups are as effective as small therapy groups with some patient populations. There appears to be a movement toward convergence in the techniques employed by individual, small group, and large group therapists in practice, while not in theory. This positive trend in the mental health field may lead to more flexible practitioners.
Experiential acceptance, which involves “having,” or “allowing” private experiences, has recently gained much attention in the cognitive-behavioral literature. Acceptance, however, may be considered a common factor among psychotherapeutic traditions. The purposes of this paper are to examine the historical roots of acceptance and to discuss the forms of and theoretical rationales for which the concept of acceptance has been recently introduced into the cognitive-behavioral literature, with an emphasis on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999). It is hoped that clarification of the theoretical basis underlying acceptance-based approaches, as well as a comparison of various forms of psychotherapy with regard to their emphasis on acceptance, will promote heightened understanding and stimulate more rigorous exploration of treatment efficacy.
Detraditionalization in late modernity in Western society has affected the domains of both traditional religion and clinical psychotherapy. Sweden, which is said to be one of the most secularized societies in the world, instead, has allowed the public domain to be colonized by new, spiritualized practices. Sold as therapy, the services of new spiritual leaders offer anti-stress techniques to prevent burnout, or leaders are trained to develop their leadership in coaching activities. New varieties of spiritualized therapy are rapidly increasing in contemporary Sweden, typical of which is to have added healing rhetoric to their agenda, such as "find your inner self" or "develop your inner potential." Four common denominators seem to guide these practices: self-appointed leaders, individual-centered rites, realization of one's Self, and intense emotions. We might also add a fifth aspect: profit. Rites have become a commodity and are sold as liberating practices for burnt-out souls or for people in pursuit of self-realization.
'New age' activities, personality variables, symptomatology, and subjective well-being (SWB) among the Forum (F) participants, psychotherapy (P) clients, individuals who are both Forum and psychotherapy (FP) clients, and control (C) participants, who were never involved in either F or P were compared. A group of 64 Israeli men and 76 women (mean age = 38.55 years) completed a demographic questionnaire; the Internal-external, Sensation-seeking, Happiness, Affects balance, Satisfaction with life, and Anxiety and depression scales of the SCL-90. The FP and F participants used occult counsellors significantly more than the C participants, although gender differences were also found. All in all, the FP and P clients were more depressive and anxious, and less happy, less satisfied with their life, and affectively balanced than the F and the C participants. The rationality, personal responsibility, and mental health of the F participants are discussed in light of the results with considerations of short-versus long-term interventions.
Arranged a weekend encounter experience for 3 groups (n = 11 each) which used methods varying from highly structured, exercise-oriented techniques to nonstructured basic discussion. In comparison with an at-home control group (n = 11), the 3 encounter groups showed significant improvement on self-report measures but did not differ among themselves to any great extent. Nor did the encounter groups differ substantially from an on-site control group (n = 11) whose participants were led to believe they were also in an encounter group but were given only recreational activities. Behavioral and sociometric measures, with 1 minor exception, showed that the 3 encounter groups and the on-site control group were virtually indistinguishable. It is concluded that the favorable outcomes of encounter groups reported in the literature may be accounted for by nonspecific therapeutic factors such as expectancy of favorable outcome, group enthusiasm, and the reactive nature of outcome measures. (17 ref)