Maharishi University of Management

Degree programs in the arts, sciences, business, and humanities

Maharishi Effect

Dissertations

Citation Experimental Design Findings
Goodman, R.S. (1997). The Maharishi Effect and Government: Effects of a national demonstration project and a permanent group of Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program practitioners on success, public approval, and coherence in the Clinton, Reagan, and Bush Presidencies. Dissertation Abstracts International 58(6), 2385A. 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.
  • Study 1: Variables showed a significantly changed trend in the predicted direction toward greater positivity after NDP began, p values are one-tailed:
  • Clinton's approval rating showed a net change increase (p=5.29 x 10-8).
  • Media positivity toward Clinton showed a net change increase (p=.01).
  • Emergency psychiatric calls decreased (p=.009).
  • Hospital trauma cases decreased (p=.02).
  • Complaints against the police decreased (p=.01).
  • Accidental deaths decreased (p=.05).
  • Quality of life index improved (p=3.22 x 10-5).
  • Study 2: All p values are one-tailed.
  • Bi-weekly data showed statistically significant increase of approval rating and media positivity for Clinton (from p=.03 to p=.0005). Bush and Reagan (Reagan media positivity not available) monthly data showed similar results (p=.035 to p=4.09 x 10-18).
  • Analysis of U.S. interactions with other countries (net cooperation, WEIS data set) during Reagan administration showed significant influence of the TM-Sidhi group (p=4.82 x 10-12).
  • Increases in TM-Sidhi group associated with increases in net cooperation of the U.S. with other countries (p<.01 for significant lags of independent variables).
Reeks, D. (1990). Improved Quality of Life in Iowa through the Maharishi Effect. Dissertation Abstracts International, 51(12), 6155B. Time series transfer function analysis related the size of the MIU Maharishi Effect group to monthly rates of unemployment, traffic accidents, crime and a quality of life index composed of these three over the years 1979–86 as the group varied in size.
  • Unemployment fell as group size increased (p<.004).
  • Crime fell as group size increased (p<.0001).
  • Traffic fatalities fell as group size increased (p<.0001).
  • Quality of life improved (p<.006).
Assimakis, P. D. (1989). Change in the quality of life in Canada: Intervention studies of the effect of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program. Dissertation Abstracts International, 50(5), 2203B. The impact of the MIU TM-Sidhi group on violent death, accident fatalities, cigarette consumption, and work-days lost in strikes over the years 1972–1986 was assessed using time series impact analysis.
  • Violent deaths (traffic fatalities, homicides, & suicides) fell 4.1% (p<.01).
  • Fatalities due to accidents fell 5.1% (p<.005).
  • Cigarette consumption fell 10.1% (p<.001).
  • Work-days lost in strikes fell 18.8% (p<.001)
Davies, J. L. (1988). Alleviating political violence through enhancing coherence in collective consciousness: Impact assessment analysis of the Lebanon war. Dissertation Abstracts International, 49(8), 2381A. A database of articles related to events in Lebanon from many media sources compiled by the Lebanese Information and Research Center in Washington, D.C. was used to assess the impact of seven large TM assemblies held at varying distances from Lebanon on events in Lebanon over the years 1983–1985. Box-Jenkins impact analysis on a comprehensive War/Peace Index assigned a significance of p<.0001 to the TM intervention overall, and p<.01 for each individual assembly.
  • Cooperation among antagonists rose by 66% (p<4 x 10-7).
  • War intensity fell 48%
    (p<3 x 10-9).
  • War fatalities fell 71%
    (p<1 x 10-10).
  • War injuries fell 68%
    (p<5 x 10-7).
back to top

The University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission • www.ncahlc.org
Maharishi University of Management • Fairfield, Iowa 52557 • (641) 472-7000
Office of Admissions: (800) 369-6480 or (641) 472-1110
Copyright and Service Mark NoticeConsumer InformationContact the webmaster