Research in Education
The Transcendental Meditation® Program and Awakening Wisdom:
A 10-Year Longitudinal Study of Self Development
Submitted to the Graduate School
of Maharishi International University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
To test the prediction that the Transcendental Meditation program promotes growth of wisdom, 10-year longitudinal data for Loevinger's ego or self development, intimacy motivation, and moral reasoning were analyzed for 34 Transcendental Meditation program practitioners, alumni of Maharishi International University (MIU). These variables provided a convergent measure of growth of wisdom, inclusive of holistic self development, affective functioning, and cognitive development in the moral domain. Comparable ego development data were collected for three control university groups, matched with MIU for gender and age. MIU alumni increased markedly on ego development in contrast to the other alumni groups (p=".0000002"). At post test, 38% of the MIU subjects scored at the highest Autonomous and Integrated levels, compared to 1% of controls. The MIU modal post test level (Autonomous) was three levels above the mode for controls. MIU alumni also increased to high post test levels of principled moral reasoning (p=".001") and intimacy (p=".01"). These findings suggest that educators should implement the Transcendental Meditation program as a practical means to develop wisdom.
Reference: Chandler, H.M. (1991). “Transcendental Meditation and awkening wisdom: A 10-year longitudinal study of self-development.” Dissertation Abstracts International 51:5048B.
Department of Education, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, IA 52557
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