Maharishi Effect
Improved Quality of Life in Rhode Island
A composite quality-of-life index significantly improved in Rhode Island during the Ideal Society Campaign in 1978, when a small proportion of the state's population practiced Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program. Group practice of the program was begun during the campaign and maintained by a smaller number in subsequent years, resulting in the long-term effect of the campaign.
Reference: Dillbeck, Cavanaugh, Glenn, Orme-Johnson, & Mittlefehldt, 1987.
Population influenced: Rhode Island, U.S.A.
Coherence group: 300 participants in the TM and TM-Sidhi program throughout Rhode Island, June 12 to September 12, 1978, during an Ideal Society Campaign.
Dependent variables: Composite quality-of-life index including: total crime rate, mortality rate (except traffic fatalities), traffic fatality rate, auto accident rate, pollution, unemployment rate, beer consumption rate, and cigarette consumption rate. Monthly data from January 1974 to December 1980.
Experimental design: Box-Jenkins time series impact assessment analysis; Rhode Island was contrasted with the state of Delaware, which has similar size, population, and demographics.
Results: Significant improvement during the experimental period, the Ideal Society Campaign (p<.01). The quality of life was also significantly improved in the two-year period following the Campaign (p<.005), with the continuation of a smaller coherence-creating group.
Conclusions: This study represents the first social experiment demonstrating a causal relationship between the Maharishi Effect and the quality of life in an entire state.
Reference: Dillbeck, M.C., Cavanaugh, K.L., Glenn, T., Orme-Johnson, D.W., & Mittlefehldt, V. (1987). Consciousness as a field: The Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program and changes in social indicators. The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 8, 67-104. (Reprinted in Scientific Research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program: Collected Papers, Vol. 5, pp. 3151-3171.)
Dillbeck, M.C., Foss, A.P.O., & Zimmermann, W.J. (1983). Maharishi's Global Ideal Society Campaign: Improved quality of life in Rhode Island through the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program. In R.A. Chalmers, G. Clements, H. Schenkluhn, & M. Weinless (Eds.), Scientific Research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program: Collected Papers (Vol. 4, pp. 2521-2531), in press. Vlodrop, The Netherlands: Maharishi Vedic University Press.
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