Maharishi Effect
Published Articles
| Citation | Experimental Design | Findings |
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| Hagelin, J. S., Orme-Johnson, D. W., Rainforth, M., Cavanaugh, K., & Alexander, C. N. (1999). Results of the National Demonstration Project to Reduce Violent Crime and Improve Governmental Effectiveness in Washington, D.C. Social Indicators Research, 47, 153-201. | A Maharishi Effect intervention was created and studied in the US capital. Predictions were lodged in advance with government leaders and newspapers. The research protocol approved by an independent Project Review Board set the experimental period from June 7 to July 30, 1993. Time series analysis was employed in the study. |
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| Goodman, R.S., Orme-Johnson, D.W., Rainforth, M.V., Goodman, D.H. (1997). Transforming political institutions through individual and collective consciousness: The Maharishi Effect and government. American Political Science Association | Study 1: A Maharishi Effect intervention group called the National Demonstration Project (NDP) was created in the US capital. Predictions were lodged in advance with government leaders and newspapers. The research protocol was approved by an independent Project Review Board comprised of criminologists, sociologists, and political scientists from six independent universities as well as civic leaders and representatives from the police department. The first study used time series structural break analysis. Study 2: ARIMA times series transfer function analyses was used to measure the effects of large groups practicing the TM and TM-Sidhi programs (the independent variable) on the Clinton, Reagan, and Bush administrations. |
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| Hatchard, G. D., Deans, A. J., Cavanaugh, K. L., & Orme-Johnson, D. W. (1996). The Maharishi Effect: A model for social improvement. Time series analysis of a phase transition to reduced crime in Merseyside metropolitan area. Psychology, Crime and Law, 2(3), 165–174. | Time series analysis of monthly crime data and coherence group size from 1978 to 1991 shows a phase transition occurred during March 1988 when the group size first exceeded threshold (p<.00006) |
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| Assimakis, P. D. & Dillbeck, M. C. (1995). Times series analysis of improved quality of life in Canada: Social change, collective consciousness, and the TM-Sidhi program. Psychological Reports, 76, 1171–1193. | The impact of the MIU TM-Sidhi group on Canadian quality of life was assessed from 1983 to 1985 using time series analysis of weekly data (n=156 weeks). For 78 weeks of the 156 the MIU group exceeded threshold. |
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| Dillbeck, M. C. (1990). Test of a field theory of consciousness and social change: Time series analysis of participation in the TM-Sidhi program and reduction of violent death in the U.S. Social Indicators Research, 22, 399–418. | Box-Jenkins autoregressive integrated moving averages analysis and transfer function analysis were used to assess the impact of the MIU TM-Sidhi group on US weekly violent fatalities due to traffic accident, homicide and suicide across the period 1979–1985. |
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| Orme-Johnson, D. W., Alexander, C. N., & Davies, J. L. (1990). The effects of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field: Reply to a methodological critique. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 34, 756-768. | This study was a reanalysis, using alternative statistical methods, of the data published in 1988 on an index of war intensity and war deaths in neighboring Lebanon during the period in which an Israel Maharishi Effect group was created in the summer of 1983 (see previous study). The Akaike Information Criterion was used to objectively choose among 14 alternative time series transfer function models, including the one used in the original study. |
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| Gelderloos, P., Frid, M. J., & Xue, X. (1989). Improved U.S.-Soviet relations as a function of the number of participants in the collective practice of the TM-Sidhi program, Abstract insert in Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science, 96(1), A33. | All 478 public statements by the US president about the USSR over the years 1984–1987 were rated on a war-peace scale. Time series analysis of quartile distributions of the number in the MIU TM-Sidhi groups had a significant relationship with the positivity of the president's utterances. These two results together were highly significant at lags 0 and 3 with p<.0007. |
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| Dillbeck, M. C., Banus, C. B., Polanzi, C., & Landrith III, G. S. (1988). Test of a field model of consciousness and social change: The Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program and decreased urban crime. The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 9(4), 457–485. | Study 1: 160 randomly chosen US cities, in 4 different size categories, comprising 26% of US metropolitan population were studied for the impact of level of TM participation during years 1967–1978 on FBI crime statistics using cross-lagged panel analysis to assess causality. By 1976 TM participation in these cities had reached .45%. Study 2: 80 randomly chosen standard metropolitan areas, comprising 47% of US metropolitan population were studied using multiple regression analysis. By 1976 TM participation in these metropolitan areas had reached .33%. Study 3: Time series analysis is used to assess the impact of a TM-Sidhi group on D.C. weekly violent crime totals over the period October 1981 to October 1983. |
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| Gelderloos, P., Frid, M. J., Goddard, P. H., Xue, X., & Löliger, S. A. (1988). Creating world peace through the collective practice of the Maharishi technology of the Unified Field: Improved U.S.-Soviet Relations. Social Science Perspectives Journal, 2(4), 80–94. | Time-series assessment of the impact of the MIU TM-Sidhi group on the 347 public comments by President Reagan related to the Soviet Union over the period April 1985 to September 1987. Neutral raters blind to the hypothesis rated content of each item. The joint significant of all impacts together was p<.007. |
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| Orme-Johnson, D. W., Alexander, C. N., Davies, J. L., Chandler, H. M., & Larimore, W. E. (1988). International peace project in the Middle East: The effects of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field. The effects of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 32(4), 776–812. | An Israel Maharishi Effect group was established summer 1983. The number of participants varied on a daily basis from a low of 65 to a high of 241. Time series analysis and transfer function analysis are simultaneously used, and results compared, on six variables, and three composite quality of life indicators. |
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| Orme-Johnson, D. W., Gelderloos, P., & Dillbeck, M. C. (1988). The effects of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field on the U.S. quality of life (1960–1984). Social Science Perspectives Journal, 2(4), 127–146. | US quality of life was studied over the years 1960–1984 using an index composed of 11 annual measures of crime, health, economics, creativity, marital stability, and safety. With the Maharishi Effect as the independent variable and quality of life as dependent regression analysis gives an impact with p<.0001. Checking for the impact of the TM-Sidhi group, regression analysis for years following 1976 was significant at p<.002. Cross correlation analysis was used to assess causality with result p<.05 indicating TM meditator rate could successfully predict quality of life changes, but not vice-versa. The years 1982–1984 studied separately as the Maharishi Effect index exceeded one due to growth of the MIU TM-Sidhi group. The Maharishi Effect group could account for 83.2% of the variance in the quality of life indicator with p<.0002. Testing for the effect of the group alone over the years 1982–84 gave a significance of p<.0001 |
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| 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. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 8(1), 67–104. | Time series analysis is used to assess the impact on crime trends of five separate Maharishi Effect interventions around the world. In New Delhi, crime rates dropped. In Puerto Rico, the impact of a group numbering 185 was significant. In the Philippines crime decreased and quality of life rose. In Rhode Island quality of life rose during the study, and continued to improve when many residents began the practice of TM. |
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| Dillbeck, M. C., Landrith III, G. S., & Orme-Johnson, D. W. (1981). The Transcendental Meditation program and crime rate change in a sample of forty-eight cities. Journal of Crime and Justice, 4, 25–45. | The authors compared all 24 US cities with 1% TM in 1972 to 24 control cities matched for population, college population, and geographical region. Crime rates for 1967 to 1971 served as control period, and 1972 to 1977 as experimental period. 10 demographic factors were included in a bivariate analysis of covariance of crime rate slope and immediate 1973 crime rate decrease. |
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| Dillbeck, M.C., & Rainforth, M.V. (1996). Impact assessment analysis of behavioral quality of life indices: Effects of group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program. Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Social Statistics Section, (pp. 38–43). | Study 1: A behavioral index was computed based on monthly data from 1970 to 1986 on U.S. motor vehicle fatalities, suicides, homicides, accidental death, notifiable diseases, alcohol consumption and cigarettes taxed and analyzed as a dependent variable, with TM-Sidhi program participation (avg. daily number of participants) as the independent variable using Liu and Hanssens linear transfer function. Study 2: Data collection and analyses in Study 1 were replicated for Canada. |
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| Gelderloos, P., Cavanaugh, K. L., & Davies, J. L. (1990). The dynamics of U.S.-Soviet relations, 1979–1986: Effects of reducing social stress through the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program. An abridged version of this paper, entitled "A simultaneous transfer function analysis of U.S.-Soviet relations: A test of the Maharishi Effect" published in the Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Social Statistics Section, 1990, pp. 297–302. | Simultaneous transfer function modeling was used to study US-Soviet relations over the years 1979–1986. Content analysis of articles from the Zurich project was analyzed using Azar's coding rules. Analysis yielded p<.00001 for the positive effect of the TM and TM-Sidhi programs on US-Soviet relations. Both monthly and weekly data were assessed, with comparable result. |
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| Cavanaugh, K. L., King, K. D., & Ertuna, C. (1989). A multiple-input transfer function model of Okun's misery index: An empirical test of the Maharishi Effect. Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Business and Economics Statistics Section, (pp. 565–570). | Okun's "misery index" was studied in the US from 1980 to 1988 controlling for monetary growth, rate of change of crude material prices, and rate of change of industrial production using a multiple-input transfer function method. |
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| Cavanaugh, K. L., King, K. D., & Titus, B. D. (1989). Consciousness and the quality of economic life: Empirical research on the macroeconomic effects of the collective practice of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program. Proceedings of the Midwest Management Society (Chicago, IL: Midwest Management Society), 183–190. | The impact of the MIU group TM-Sidhi program on the twin "miseries" of inflation and unemployment was studied using multiple input time series analysis on US economic data over the period 1979 to 1988. Strong statistical evidence for a causal role is presented. |
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| Dillbeck, M.C., & Rainforth, M.V. (1996). Impact assessment analysis of behavioral quality of life indices: Effects of group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program. Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Social Statistics Section, (pp. 38–43). | Study 1: A behavioral index was computed based on monthly data from 1970 to 1986 on U.S. motor vehicle fatalities, suicides, homicides, accidental death, notifiable diseases, alcohol consumption and cigarettes taxed and analyzed as a dependent variable, with TM-Sidhi program participation (avg. daily number of participants) as the independent variable using Liu and Hanssens linear transfer function. Study 2: Data collection and analyses in Study 1 were replicated for Canada. |
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| Cavanaugh, K. L., & King, K. D. (1988). Simultaneous transfer function analysis of Okun's misery index: Improvements in the economic quality of life through Maharishi's Vedic Science and technology of consciousness. Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Business and Economics Statistics Section (pp. 491–496). | US. misery index, monetary growth and crude materials prices were studied using a linear transfer function method. The three taken together were significant at p<1.6 x 10-12 indicating a significant impact of the group on the US national economy. |
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| Cavanaugh, K. L. (1987). Time series analysis of U.S. and Canadian inflation and unemployment: A test of a field-theoretic hypothesis. Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Business and Economics Statistics Section (pp. 799–904). | Monthly figures for Okun's "misery index" (sum of inflation and unemployment rates) for the US. and Canada were assessed for years 1979 to 1988 using Liu's linear transfer function method. The null hypothesis, the Maharishi Effect produced no influence, was strongly rejected. |
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