Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training

Infobox Book
name = Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Book cover, 1990 ed.
author = Roxane Cohen Silver
Jack M. Chinsky
Barry Goff
Yechiel Klar
Jeffrey D. Fisher
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = USA
language = English
series =
subject = Large Group Awareness Training,
Psychology
genre = non-fiction
publisher = Springer-Verlag
release_date = October 1990
english_release_date =
media_type = Hardcover
pages = 142
isbn = ISBN 0387973206
ISBN 978-0387973203
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training: A Longitudinal Study of Psychosocial Effects" is a non-fiction psychology book on Large Group Awareness Training, published in 1990 by Springer-Verlag.

The book was co-authored by psychologists Roxane Cohen Silver, Jack M. Chinsky, Barry Goff, Yechiel Klar, and Jeffrey D. Fisher. At the time of the book's publication, all of the researchers were associated with the Department of Psychology at the University of Connecticut, save Silver, a Ph.D. in the University's Program in Social Ecology.

Background

The book was based on a psychological study of "The Forum", a course at the time run by Werner Erhard and Associates, the company that commissioned the study. The results of the research study itself had been previously published in the "Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology" in 1989, by Fisher, et al. [cite journal
last = Fisher
first = Jeffrey D.
authorlink = Jeffrey D. Fisher
coauthors = Silver, Chinsky, Goff, Klar, Zagieboylo
title = Psychological effects of participation in a large group awareness training
journal = Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
volume = 57
issue =
pages = 747–755
publisher =
date = 1989
url =
doi =
id = ISSN|0022-006X
accessdate = ] , and in 1990 in the same journal by Klar, et al. [cite journal
last = Klar
first = Yechiel
authorlink = Yechiel Klar
coauthors = et al.
title = Characteristics of Participants in a Large Group Awareness Training
journal = Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
volume = 58
issue = 1
pages = 99–108
publisher =
date = February 1990
url =
doi =
id = ISSN|0022-006X
accessdate = ]

The study was conducted under an agreement between Werner Erhard and Associates and the researchers, which gave the researchers independence in research methods. The agreement itself is attached as an appendix to the work, and states: "The Forum Sponsor agrees to arrange for all payments for costs related to expenses in the following manner. The only specific fixed cost delineated by this agreement was "..piloting experimental procedures and developing a full proposal for subsequent research..", which was USD$88,000.

"Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training" provides a historical analysis of the research published in academic journals and books prior to the publication of the study. Notable studies analyzed and put into a methodological context by Fisher et al. included those of Cinnamon [cite book
last = Cinnamon
first = K.
authorlink =
coauthors = D. Farson
title = Cults and cons: The exploitation of the emotional growth consumer
publisher = Nelson Hall
date = 1979
location = Chicago
pages =
url =
doi =
id = ] , Rome [cite journal
last = Rome
first = H.P.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Limits of the human mind
journal = Psychiatric Annals
volume = 7
issue = 11
pages = 11–32
publisher =
date =
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = ] , Brewer [cite journal
last = Brewer
first = M.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = We're going to tear you down and put you back together.
journal = Psychology Today
volume =
issue =
pages = 35–40, 82, 88–89.
publisher =
date =
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = ] , Conway [cite book
last = Conway
first = Flo
authorlink = Flo Conway
coauthors = Jim Siegelman
title = Snapping
publisher = Lippincott
date = 1979
location = Philadelphia
pages =
url =
doi =
id = ] , Glass [cite journal
last = Glass
first = L.L.
authorlink =
coauthors = M.A. Kirsch, F.N. Parris
title = Psychiatric disturbances associated with Erhard Seminars Training: I. A report of cases.
journal = American Journal of Psychiatry
volume = 134
issue =
pages = 245–247
publisher =
date =
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = ] , Kirsch [cite journal
last = Kirsch
first = M.A.
authorlink =
coauthors = L.L. Glass.
title = Psychiatric disturbances associated with Erhard Seminars Training: 2. Additional cases and theoretical considerations.
journal = American Journal of Psychiatry.
volume = 134
issue =
pages = 1254–1258
publisher =
date =
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = ] , Baer [cite journal
last = Baer
first = D.M.
authorlink =
coauthors = S.B. Stolz
title = A description of the Erhard Seminars Training ("est") in the terms of behavioral analysis.
journal = Behaviorism
volume = 6
issue =
pages = 45–70
publisher =
date =
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = ] , Berger [cite journal
last = Berger
first = F.M.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Awareness groups and psychiatry.
journal = Bioscience Communication
volume = 3
issue =
pages = 89–98
publisher =
date =
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = ] , Beit-Hallahmi [cite journal
last = Beit-Hallahmi
first = Benjamin
authorlink = Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi
coauthors =
title = The psychotherapy subculture: Practice and ideology.
journal = Social Science Information
volume = 26
issue =
pages = 475–492
publisher =
date =
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = ] , and LiebermanLieberman, "Effects of Large Group Awareness Training on Participants' Psychiatric Status", "American Journal of Psychiatry" v 144 p 460-464, April 1987.] [cite journal
last = Finkelstein
first = P.
authorlink =
coauthors = Wenegrat, B.; Yalom, I.
title = Large Group Awareness Training
journal = Annual Review of Psychology
volume = 33
issue =
pages = 515–539
publisher = Calvin Perry Stone
date = 1982
url =
doi =
id = ISSN|0066-4308
accessdate = ] .

Methods

The book analyzed whether Large Group Awareness Training could be classified as psychotherapy, and also attempted to determine if these techniques are harmful, beneficial, or produce no effects to an individual's mental health. Participants were told that the psychologists were studying the "Quality of Life" in North America. These participants included men and women that had attended Werner Erhard and Associates' "The Forum" seminar in 1985, in a large city in the northeastern United States. Participants in the study were split into Group 1 and Group 2. Group 1 was told to fill out a questionnaire both prior to and after completing their "Forum". Group 2 was told only to fill out the questionnaire after completing their Forum course.

Conclusions

The researchers concluded that attending The Forum had minimal lasting effects, positive or negative, on participants' self-perception. However, the researchers did briefly go over potential negative and positive effects of attending The Forum. The researchers did not find any negative effects on the test subjects that participated in their study. In an analysis of the possible positive outcomes, the researchers found that subjects "became more internally oriented."

The researchers found that subjects had some minor short-term positive effects perceived from the Large Group Awareness Training, but no noticeable longer term effects, stating: "In fact, with the exception of the short-term multivariate results for Perceived Control, there was no appreciable effect on any dimension which could reflect positive change."

Award

The research reported in "Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training" garnered the American Psychological Association's "National Psychological Consultants to Management Award", in 1989cite book
last = Fisher
first = Jeffrey D.
authorlink = Jeffrey D. Fisher
coauthors = Silver, Chinsky, Goff, Klar
title = Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training
publisher = Springer-Verlag
date = 1990
location =
pages = 142
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0387973206 , ISBN 978-0387973203
Page. vii. -- "The research reported in this volume was awarded the American Psychological Association, Division 13, National Consultants to Management Award, August 13, 1989."] .

Referenced by other psychologists

The book was referenced in a college-level psychology course, "Developmental Effects of Participation in a Large Group Awareness Training", at the University of Minnesota. [Hughes, Steven J., "Developmental Effects of Participation in a Large Group Awareness Training", University of Minnesota, presented at "Educational, Instructional and School Psychology", [http://www.ucm.es/info/Psyap/23ICAP/abstract/educational2.html Symposia: SY EDC (18) 4] , Universidad Complutense de Madrid.] A 2005 study published by the British Psychological Society which analyzed the Landmark Forum course cited "Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training" for background on the Large Group Awareness Training phenomenon. [cite journal
last = Rubinstein
first = Gidi
authorlink = Gidi Rubinstein
coauthors =
title = Characteristics of participants in the Forum, psychotherapy clients, and control participants: A comparative study
journal = Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice
volume = 78
issue = 4
pages = 481–492
publisher = British Psychological Society
date = 2005
url =
doi = 10.1348/147608305X42721
id = ISSN|1476-0835
accessdate = ]

External links

* [http://www.springer.com/west/home/new+%26+forthcoming+titles+%28default%29?SGWID=4-40356-22-31231719-0 Springer] , Full citation of work, at official publisher's Web site.

References

ee also