Chapter 3:
Behavioral Effects
by Michael Murphy and Steven Donovan

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[Since the 1930s Western psychology has been gripped with the frenzy that it is a behavioral science, meaning that what good scientific psychologists should study is only overtly measureable behavior.  Historically, this was due to the inordinately excessive influence that animal learning theory, particularly classical and operant conditioning, exerted over American academic laboratory psychology, roughly from the 1930s to the 1960s. Large scale studies of the white rat proliferated to such an extent that they took over all other forms of psychology—causing B. F. Skinner to declare that the term psychology, at that time believed to be outmoded, had finally been displaced by the more precise phrase 'behavior science.'  Following suit, federal and private grant funding agencies took up the phrase, renaming all their departments, causing the word psychology to fall out of scientific vogue for several decades. Everything termed psychological was then termed behavioral. While the hegemony of the behaviorists ended in the 1960s and was replaced by the cognitive revolution in psychology, cognitivists have retained a large portion of the principles of classical and operant behavior, which they apply to a study of internal mental events. Thus, the term behavioral is now often used synonymously with the word psychological, although the field of psychology contains many more humanistic pastures. Ed.]

Perceptual and Cognitive Abilities

Many traditional schools maintain that sensory, perceptual, and cognitive abilities are enhanced by meditation. Some Eastern schools, including Theravada and Zen Buddhism, Vedanta, and yoga, offer systematic ways to cultivate a clarity, flexibility, efficiency, and broadened range of mental functions similar to the meditation results reviewed in the six sub-sections below. The perceptual and cognitive abilities that seem to have been enhanced during modern experiments correspond with various capacities described in the Hindu-Buddhist traditions as siddhis (exceptional powers), vibhutis (perfections), and riddhis (psychically prosperous states). Smritritwa, for example, is a highly developed form of memory enhancement reported in contemporary studies.  Adwani siddhi, the ability to withstand misleading or destructive suggestions from other minds, resembles the good judgment and perception associated with field independence (below).  Vijnamaya vidya siddhi, a supernormal agility of mind, includes many of the mental improvements being reviewed here.  Other capacities such as these, according to the traditional teachings, could also be included in such comparisons.

Perceptual Ability

Brown et al. (1984a, 1984b) studied the relationship between meditation and visual sensitivity, and summarized their findings as follows:  

Practitioners of the mindfulness form of Buddhist meditation were tested for visual sensitivity before and immediately after a three-month retreat during which they practiced mindfulness meditation for sixteen hours each day.  A control group composed of the staff at the retreat center was similarly tested.  Visual sensitivity was defined in two ways: by a detection threshold based on the duration of simple light flashes and a discrimination threshold based on the interval between successive simple light flashes.  All light flashes were presented tachistoscopically and were of fixed luminanoe.  After the retreat, practitioners could detect shorter single-light flashes and required a shorter interval to differentiate between successive flashes correctly.  The control group did not change on either measure.  Phenomenological reports indicate that mindfulness practice enables practitioners to become aware of some of the usually preattentive processes involved in visual detection.  The results support the statements found in Buddhist texts on meditation concerning the changes in perception encountered during the practice of mindfulness.

McEvoy et al. (1980) measured brainstem auditory-evoked potentials in five advanced practitioners of TM to determine whether such responses would reflect reported increases in perceptual acuity to auditory stimuli following meditation.  No pre-, postmeditation differences for experimental subjects were observed at low stimulus intensities (0—35dB).  At moderate intensities (40—50dB) latency of the inferior collicular wave increased following meditation, but at higher stimulus intensities (55—70dB) latency of this wave was slightly decreased.  The authors concluded that a comparison of slopes and intercepts of stimulus intensity-latency functions indicates a possible effect of meditation on brainstem activity.  Earlier, Wandhofer and Plattig (1973) reported that cortical auditory-evoked potentials were of significantly shorter latency in TM practitioners compared with controls.  McEvoy et al. (1980) pointed out that these results were consistent with earlier reports of increased auditory acuity in meditators versus nonmeditators, as well as decreased sensory thresholds following a period of meditation [see Clements and Milstein (1977) and Pirot (1977).]  Such findings have been interpreted to indicate a beneficial central nervous system effect of TM on factors underlying sensory and perceptual processing [see Pelletier (1977b) and Pelletier and Garfield (1977).]  Keithler (1981) found that TM meditators had significantly lower auditory thresholds than controls using a method-of-limits test, and had no significant differences using a forced-choice absolute threshold test.

Meissner and Pirot (1983) tested twenty males (ten TM meditators and ten controls) with a strong right-hand preference, with 120 time trials to a 500 hz auditory stimulus presented to right, left, and both ears.  Before meditation, when the ears were compared to each other, a significant right-ear advantage occurred in all relaxation conditions for both groups.  After meditation, however, the TM group demonstrated no right-ear advantage.  The authors concluded that TM is an attentional strategy that disrupts the usual biases of the brain.

Heil (1983) concluded that the practice of meditation enhances visual imagery ability.  Shapiro (1980a) and Shapiro and Giber (1978) reported enhanced percepual sensitivity.  Walsh (1978) reported that meditation reduced perceptual noise.  Blasdell (1977), Orme-Johnson et al. (1977a), and Orme-Johnson (1973) found that TM increased perceptual motor performance.  Linden (1973) found that regular practice of meditation is associated with a significant enhancement of attentive ability, as assessed by the Embedded Figures Test and the Rod and Frame Tests.  Williams and Herbert (1976), however, conducted a study that found no differences in perceptual motor ability within subjects practicing meditation.  Domitor (1978) found no support for the hypothesis that meditation favorably affects perceptual change as measured by the Holtzman Inkblot Test and the Embedded Figures Test.

Dillbeck (1977b) investigated the effects of the regular practice of TM on habitual patterns of visual perception and verbal problem solving.  He hypothesized that two weeks of TM practice would tend to free the subjects from inhibitory effects of those patterns, while allowing an improvement in their efficient use when appropriate.  The subjects in this study were sixty-nine university students who either practiced TM, relaxed, or added nothing to their daily schedule for two-week periods.  The general hypothesis was supported for tasks involving a tachistoscopic identification of card-and-letter sequence stimuli, but not for a verbal problem-solving task involving anagram solutions.

Pagano and Frumkin (1977) reported that TM meditators demonstrated enhanced ability to remember and discriminate musical tones.  Shaw and Kolb (1977), Davidson et al. (1976a, 1976b), and Udupa (1973) also reported that meditators seemed to have better auditory receptivity and perceptual discrimination than controls.  Martinetti (1976) concluded that practitioners of TM may have learned to focus their attention to a level at which thresholds for pertinent perceptual cues such as binocular disparity may be lowered.  He stated that the concomitant increase in response sensitivity would account for the superiority of meditators at signal detection in the Ames Trapezoid Illusion, where meditators were twice as sensitive as controls.  Nolly (1975) found that meditating subjects perceived a greater number of objects on a stimulus slide than did nonmeditating controls.

Reaction Time and Perceptual Motor Skill

Jedrczak et al. (1986) found that the number of months of practice of the TM-Sidha program significantly predicted higher performance on two measures of perceptual motor speed.  Robertson (1983) assessed fractionated reaction time for fourteen subjects to determine the short- and long-term effects of TM on neuromuscular integration.  Results indicated no significant immediate pre- to posttreatment effect, but a significant cumulative effect over days.  Faster total reaction time was noted due to a decrease in premotor time, although an increase in motor time was also observed.  Warshall (1980) found a significant reduction in reflex latency and reflex motor time in TM practitioners, indicating increased peripheral neurological efficiency.  Holt et al. (1978) reported that TM increased the speed of visual-choice reaction time.  Sinha et al. (1978) found a consistent decline in reaction time following vipashyana meditation for three groups of police officers.  Shaw and Kolb (1977), Blackwell et al. (1976), Appelle and Oswald (1974), and Wandhofer and Plattig (1973) concluded that the increased alertness developed through meditation resulted in improvement of reaction time.

On the other hand, Wood (1983 and 1986) tested sixteen TM meditators with three or more years of experience against a group of controls and found that there was no significant difference between groups on the pursuit rotor task.  Williams and Herbert (1976) had similar findings when they compared thirty TM meditators and thirty nonmeditators on the pursuit rotor task, reporting that meditators did not perform better, did not exhibit less intra-individual variability, and were not more resistant to the accumulation of reactive inhibition.  In fact, it appeared that the meditators were a little more susceptible to the cumulative effects of reactive inhibition.  Williams and Vickerman (1976) gave forty-six college female volunteers sixty-six ten-second trials on the pursuit rotor task in three practice sessions (eighteen, thirty, and eighteen trials per session).  After the first eighteen trials, the twenty-three subjects who were practiced Transcendental Meditators meditated for a twenty-minute period followed by a five-minute waking phase prior to performing a further thirty trials on the rotor.  A four-minute rest was taken before resuming practice for the final eighteen trials.  The other twenty-three subjects, who were not meditators, followed the same procedures, except instead of meditating they sat quietly with closed eyes.  In terms of performance, learning, reminiscence, and intra-individual variability, the two groups were similar.  These results were not in accordance with the expectations that these parameters would reflect the facilitative effects of Transcendental Meditation on alertness, awareness, consistency, and resistance to stress.  While Williams and Vickerman concluded that the practice of Transcendental Meditation does not appear to benefit acquisition of fine perceptual motor skill, they suggested that more investigation might produce a better understanding of meditation's effects on perceptual motor behavior.

In a ten-day trial, Dhume and Dhume (1991) compared the performance of balance on a balance board in three groups:  controls, subjects given dextroamphetamine, and yogic meditators.  The group given dextroamphetamines scored significantly worse than the control group, and the yogic meditation group scored significantly better than the control group.

Deautomatization

Deikman (1966a) hypothesized that mystical phenomena were a consequence of deautomatization, i.e., an increased flexibility of perceptual and emotional responses to the environment.  He suggested that meditation is a manipulation of attention that produces deautomatization.  He also suggested that deautomatization was a regression to the perceptual and cognitive state of the child or infant, and that it explained the five principal features of the mystic experience: intense realness, unusual sensations, unity, ineffability, and trans-sensate experiences.

Field Independence

Bono (1984) studied sixteen beginning TM meditators and found that the meditators made a significant shift toward field independence after six months of TM practice.  However, a group of twenty control subjects tested simultaneously also made a significant shift toward field independence after merely sitting quietly with eyes closed for twenty minutes.  The author concluded that relaxation and calmness are crucial factors involved in the fluctuation of this perceptual style, perhaps along with a practice effect.  And while meditation is a sufficient cause of these quieting responses, it is not a necessary one.  Bono also measured autokinetic effect, which Pelletier (1974) considered a measure of field independence, and found that control subjects demonstrated greater autokinetic effect than meditators when observed before and after the six-month control period.  Although meditators showed a slight shift toward greater perceived autokinesis after the two control periods, while control subjects moved slightly in the opposite direction, no significant differences were found.  Five-year meditators were not found to be appreciably different from control subjects in reported autokinetic effect.  However, the difference between long- and short-term meditators approached significance, with long-term meditators perceiving more autokinesis.

The following researchers have found that measures of field dependence/independence, such as the Embedded Figures Test and the Rod and Frame Test, have shown that meditators become more field independent following periods of meditation: Ferguson (1993), Ferguson (1992), Jedrczak and Clements (1984), Shapiro and Giber (1978), Orme-Johnson and Granieri (1977), Abrams (1977b), Goleman and Schwartz (1976), Smith (1975b), Pelletier (1974, 1977b), and Linden (1973).  But Goldman et al. (1979) found no change in field independence among Zen meditators.

Macrae (1983) studied forty-five experienced meditators and forty-five controls using the Time Metaphor Test and the Human Field Motion Test.  There was a significant difference in scores between meditators reporting deeper meditative experiences and controls, indicating that meditators experienced greater human field motion.

Hjelle (1974) investigated the effects of TM on locus of control and found that meditators demonstrated increased internal locus of control on the Rotter I-E scale.

Concentration and Attention

Sabel (1980) assigned sixty practitioners of TM to two treatment groups.  One group meditated for twenty minutes while the other read a text quietly.  Both groups were tested before and after treatment to measure their concentration ability.  Meditation had no measurable short-term effect on concentration and the subjects' experience of meditation was not correlated with their concentration score.

Spanos et al. (1980a) pretested eighty-one male students on absorption and three measures of hypnotic responsiveness, then randomly assigned them to three treatment groups, one that meditated for eight sessions, a second that listened analytically to lectures about hypnosis for eight sessions, and a third that was not treated.  All students were then posttested on absorption and hypnotic responsivity measures.  Meditating subjects were much more likely than those who listened to lectures to report intrusions into their attending.  Neither the meditation nor the listening treatments enhanced hypnotic responsivity or absorption.

Earlier, Spanos et al. (1979) studied four groups of trained meditators differing in amount of meditation practice, and a group of nonmeditators, all of whom were assigned to attend nonanalytically to a mantra in two meditation sessions.  Meditators signaled fewer intrusions and reported "deeper" levels of meditating than nonmeditators.  However, meditators and nonmeditators did not differ on hypnotic susceptibility, absorption, or indices of psychopathology.  Previously, Spanos et al. (1978) found a significant negative correlation between the number of irrelevant thoughts that subjects reported as intruding into their meditating and hypnotic susceptibility.

Other researchers have reported that meditation trains the capacity to attend, that meditators report more instances of total intentional involvement, or that meditators have fewer intrusions of irrelevant thoughts [see Moretti-Altuna (1987), Tomassetti (1985), Williams (1985), Sinha et al. (1978), Kelton (1978), Goleman (1976), Davidson et al. (1976a, 1976b), Walrath and Hamilton (1975), Orme-Johnson and Granieri (1977), Pelletier (197), Van Nuys (1973), Deikman (1971), Tart (1971), and Maupin (1965).]

Memory and Intelligence

Jedrczak et al. (1986) found that the number of months of practice of the TM-Sidha program predicted higher performance on two tests of nonverbal intelligence.

Verma et al. (1982) gave twenty-three TM practitioners and fifteen controls ten cognitive psychological tests.  Statistically significant improvements were noted in the coding, time factor, and Raven standard progressive matrices tests, with improvement in the arithmetic test falling just short of significance.  On the other tests, which measured less complicated mental functions, such as number 9 cancellation and digit span, the influence of TM on performance was negligible.

Fiebert and Mead (1981) randomly assigned twenty students in an introductory psychology class to an experimental group that was taught "actualism" meditation and asked to practice before studying and before exams, and a control group that was taught the technique but asked to practice at other times.  There were no differences between the groups in mean weekly study time, but the experimental group performed significantly better on examinations than the control group.

Yuille and Sereda (1980) studied sixty-six females and seventy males who responded to ads in a university newspaper.  All subjects were given pretests and posttests of short- and long-term memory, attention, reading skills, and intelligence.  After the pretest, each subject was given individual training in TM, Shavasana yoga, or pseudomeditation, and was asked to practice meditation twice a day, monitoring his or her practice with individual diaries.  The practice of meditation had no systematic effect on the variables assessed.

Kindler (1979) studied 230 subjects in forty-six five-person teams in group problem-solving effectiveness, and found that meditation teams improved more from pretest to posttest than control teams and that meditators felt less tense and had a greater sense of effective teamwork than control teams.

Nidich (1976) measured ninety-six TM meditators of various lengths of experience using Lawrence Kohlberg's Moral Judgement Review, and found a positive relationship between the practice of TM and moral development.

The TM literature generally reports improvement in intelligence, school grades, learning ability, and short- and long-term recall [see Cranson et al. (1991), Dillbeck et al. (1986), Jedrczak et al. (1985), Lewis (1978a), Orme-Johnson and Granieri (1977), Abrams (1977a, 1977b), Heaton and Orme-Johnson (1977a, 1977b), Collier (1977), Levin (1977), Glueck and Stroebel (1975), and Tjoa (1975).]

Rorschach Shifts

Brown and Engler (1984) studied five groups of meditation practitioners who practiced Buddhist Vipassana or mindfulness meditation. Teacher ratings were used as the primary criteria to delineate a subject's experience level.

A "beginner's group" consisted of fifteen subjects whose Rorschachs were collected immediately after three months of intensive meditation. These subjects received a mean rating of six or more by their teachers on the scale of Emotional Problems. Their Rorschachs were not especially different from Rorschachs they took just before the meditation retreat. The only differences were a slight decrease in productivity across subjects and a noticeable increase in drive-dominated responses for some subjects.

A second group consisted of thirteen subjects who met the dual criteria of receiving a mean rating of six or more by their teachers on the scale of Emotional Problems and who reported "sometimes" on the POME (Profile of Meditation Experience) questions concerning concentration and samadhi.  The most outstanding characteristic of their Rorschachs was their unproductivity and paucity of associative elaboration.  In addition, many of their images were fluidly perceived and they made many comments on the pure perceptual features of the inkblot.

A third group consisted of three subjects who met the dual criteria of receiving a mean rating of six or more by their teachers on the scale of Emotional Problems and who reported "sometimes" on the POME questions concerning concentration and samadhi.  Their teachers also believed that they had progressed to the more advanced "insight" stages as classically defined.  The Rorschachs of this group point in a direction nearly opposite to that of the second group, in that they are primarily characterized by increased productivity and richness of associative elaborations.

A fourth group consisted of four advanced Western meditators judged by their teachers to have reached at least the first of the four stages of enlightenment recognized by their school of meditation practice.  Their Rorschachs were collected after a period of intensive meditation and they appear to be more like the Rorschachs of the beginners' group.  The most unusual feature of their responses was the degree to which they perceived the inkblots as an interaction of form and energy or form and space.

A fifth classification consisted of a single South Asian individual recognized as an ariyas or "one worthy of praise," who is alleged to have attained all but one of the four levels of enlightenment and to have undergone a cognitive-emotional restructuring that has completely or almost completely eliminated suffering from his experience.  Analysis of this Rorschach opens up all the complicated issues of cross-cultural Rorschach interpretation, though it revealed two notable facts.  First, the subject demonstrated a shift in perspective, seeing the inkblot as a projection of mind, whereas most subjects accept the physical reality of an inkblot and then project their imagings onto it.  Second, the subject integrated all ten Rorschach cards in a single associated theme representing a Buddhist discourse on the alleviation of suffering.

The authors concluded that these Rorschach protocols supported the belief that the classical subjective reports of meditation stages are more than religious belief systems.  Such reports, the authors maintain, are valid accounts of the perceptual changes that occur with intensive meditation that seeks understanding and relief from suffering.

Earlier, Maupin (1965) conducted a Rorschach study of twenty-eight inexperienced meditators who were instructed in a Zen Buddhist-related concentration exercise, concluding that these subjects experienced an increase in primary process thinking along with a greater capacity to tolerate it.  Kasamatsu and Hirai (1963) found relatively higher scores of whole responses, relatively higher scores of Human Movement Reaction, and relatively lower total color responses and differentiated texture reactions among Zen practitioners.

Empathy

Every enduring school of spiritual practice, no matter how world denying, has emphasized concern for the condition of others.  Nearly all their disciplines seek to promote an empathy with created things that leads toward oneness with them. Tat tvam asi, thou art that, perhaps the most famous Indian spiritual assertion, refers to our fundamental identity with the Ground of Being, which we can realize through the practice of Vedantic yoga.  The cessation of the mind's subtle turbulence, the citta-vritti-nirodh described in Patanjali's sutras, reveals the essential unity we have with the universe.  Given the pervasiveness of this teaching in so many traditions, it is not surprising that several contemporary studies show that meditation increases empathy for others.

Lesh (1970a, 1970c), for example, studied Zen meditation and the development of empathy in counselors.  He used Carl Rogers' characterization of empathy as a twofold process involving both the capacity of the counselor to sense what the client is feeling and the ability to communicate this sensitivity at a level attuned to the client's emotional state.  Three groups were studied.  The first consisted of sixteen students who were taught zazen.  The second consisted of twelve students who volunteered to learn zazen but were not actually taught.  The third consisted of eleven students who were opposed to learning meditation.  All subjects were pretested and posttested four weeks later using the Affective Sensitivity Scale, the Experience Inquiry, and the Personal Orientation Inventory, with the following findings:

• The group that practiced zazen improved significantly in empathic ability.  The two control groups did not.
• The level of concentration reached in zazen is not related to the degree of empathy achieved.
• Zazen is most effective in improving empathic ability in people who start out low in this ability.
• Openness to experience is related to empathic ability.  The more open to experience, the more empathic a person seems to be.
• Empathic ability is related to the degree of self-actualization a person has achieved.  The more self-actualizing, the more empathic a person seems to be.
• People less open to experience seem to be unwilling to practice zazen, and they are less empathic than those who are open to experience.

Sweet and Johnson (1990) have developed a meditation-based program for developing empathy called MEET (Meditation Enhanced Empathy Training) for use in training of mental health professionals and in treatment protocols.  Anecdotal reports of effectiveness have been positive and confirmatory research is planned.

Other researchers have concluded that meditation increases empathy and sensitivity [see Reiman (1985), Shapiro (1980b), Kornfield (1979), Walsh (1978), Kohr (1977a, 1977b), Shapiro and Giber (1978), Pelletier (1976a, 1978), Davidson et al. (1976a, 1976b), Griggs (1976), Kubose (1976), Van den Berg and Mulder (1976), Leung (1973), Udupa (1973), Osis et al. (1973), Banquet (1973), Van Nuys (1973), Nidich et al. (1973), Deikman (1966a), and Maupin (1965).]

Regression in the Service of the Ego

The legend that Gautama Buddha witnessed his past lives before he attained enlightenment can be interpreted as a parable of meditation's cathartic power, which facilitates liberation from unconscious effects of early experience on present consciousness and behavior.  The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali suggest a similar process (see Book III, verse 18).  Modern studies also suggest that meditation stimulates a regression to early fixation points so that they may be understood and mastered.

Shafii (1973b), for example, stated that in meditation controlled regression returns an individual to early fixation points, and to the reexperience of minute and silent traumas of the separation and individuation phase on a silent and nonverbal level.  This revisit and reexperience frees psychic energy, he suggested, providing more freedom from earlier patterns of behavior and more openness to all forms of learning.  Maupin (1965) reported that Rorschach test results indicated that meditation brings about a sequence of regressive states.  Others who have reported that meditation increases adaptive regression include Kornfield (1979), Pelletier (1976a, 1978), Moles (1977), Lesh (1970), and Alexander (1931).

Creativity and Self-Actualization

Studies that have tried to measure these two aspects of personal functioning have produced mixed results, making comparison with traditional ideas about them extremely difficult.  Both creativity and self-actualization, moreover, as they are defined for psychological study, are complex entities consisting of various traits and capacities, such as perceptual skill, ideational fluency, openness to experience, emotional flexibility, empathy, and adaptive regression.  In some studies, one or more of these traits have improved while others have not, clouding the picture of meditation's result on the category as a whole.  Furthermore, the psychologies on which traditional contemplative disciplines were based did not use the same personality categories.  In the two sections that follow, therefore, we have not tried to compare the results of contemporary studies with traditional accounts of contemplation's effect on personality development as a whole.

Creativity

O'Haire and Marcia (1980) used three groups to study personality characteristics associated with Ananda Marga Meditation: thirty- two subjects with interest but no experience in meditation, seventy-eight subjects with six months to three years of meditation experience, and thirty-six subjects with more than three years of meditation experience.  Autobiographical information was collected from the subjects and the following measures were taken: Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, Barron's Ego Strength Scale, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Eysenck Personality Inventory, and frequency of lateral eye movement.  No relationship between creativity and experience in meditation was found.  This conclusion supported the research of Domino (1977), Otis (1974), Schwartz (1974), and Cowger (1974a).

Cowger and Torrance (1982), however, studied twenty-four college undergraduates who experienced Zen meditation and ten who experienced similar training in relaxation.  Both groups were administered pre- and posttests of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.  The meditators attained statistically significant gains in heightened consciousness of problems, perceived change, invention, sensory experience, expression of emotion/feeling, synthesis, unusual visualization, internal visualization, humor, and fantasy.  Those experiencing relaxation training manifested statistically significant drops in verbal fluency, verbal originality, figural fluency, and figural originality; and statistically significant gains in sensory experience, synthesis, and unusual visualization.  When the Linear Models Procedure was used to compare the changes registered by the meditation and relaxation groups, it was found that the change of the meditation group exceeded those of the relaxation group on perceived change resulting from new conditions, expression of emotion, internal visualization, and imagery.

Earlier, Kubose and Umemoto (1980) pointed to various similarities between creative problem solving and Zen koan study.  They found that both involved the elimination of prior interfering approaches, satiation effects resulting from prolonged concentration, a unification of contradictory events, and more right- than left-brain hemispheric functioning.  They also noted that both involved common psychological processes, including stages of preparation, incubation, illumination, and evaluation.

Several TM researchers have claimed that meditation and creativity are linked.  Ball (1980) stated that students participating in the TM-Sidhi program showed significant increases in creativity.  Ball (1980) also compared a group of TM practitioners with a group of students taking a developmental psychology class and found that TM improved verbal originality and originality on the sounds and images test.  Orme-Johnson and Granieri (1977) reported significant increases in originality and fluency of visuo-spatial creativity using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking.  They concluded that their subjects improved significantly on the fluency and creativity subscales of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, and that these improvements were significantly correlated with the number of experiences of siddhis.  They stated that at least one type of competence—superior performance on the Torrance Tests of Creativity—has been found to correlate significantly with subjective reports of transcendental consciousness.  Shecter (1977) reported increased creativity in the classroom [see also Margid (1986), Stamatelos (1986), Garfield (1985a, 1985b), and Jedrczak et al. (1985)].

Self-Actualization

According to Sallis (1982), Abraham Maslow and meditation philosophy share a view that humans are endowed with potentials for growth that are obstructed by social conditioning and fears.  Although meditation teachers teach that self-actualization is an intermediate step on the meditator's path, and that man's true potential far exceeds the imagination of most Westerners, psychotherapists might profitably explore the practice of meditation as a means of enhancing the growth process, and a consideration of meditation theory may add new dimensions to the conceptions of growth and human potential [see also Compton (1984), who stated that Sallis failed to differentiate between the various levels of meditation practice].

Comptom and Becker (1983) tested the hypothesis that the inconsistencies found in research on the relationship between Zen meditation and self-actualization were due in part to the existence of a learning period for Zen meditation.  Using the Personal Orientation Inventory, they tested thirty-six students of Soto Zen and thirty-four undergraduate students who had never meditated.  They found that the learning period was approximately twelve months, during which time there was no increase in group self-actualization.  After that time, a significant increase in group self-actualization was noted.

The following section summarizes reports on the effect of various types of meditation (primarily TM) on measures of self-actualization:

Alexander et al. (1991) The authors performed a statistical meta-analysis of all existing studies (42 treatment outcomes) on the effects of TM and other forms of meditation and relaxation on self-actualization.  The effect size of TM on overall self-actualization was approximately three times as large as that of other forms of meditation and relaxation.  Factor analysis of the Personal Orientation Inventory revealed three independent factors:  effective maturity, integrative perspective on the self and world, and resilient sense of self.

Gelderloos et al. (1990b) The authors investigated the nature of the relationship between experiences of transcendental consciousness and psychological health, and found that experience with TM and the TM-Sidhi program was positively related to a general measure of psychological health.

Zika (1987) His study compared hypnosis with two forms of meditation and a placebo treatment for their effects on the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI).  Hypnosis and TM were significantly more effective in facilitating  self-actualization with hypnosis showing a slightly stronger effect.  Findings support research suggesting that hypnosis and meditation are similar in promoting psychological health.

Bono (1984) This study measured the self-concept (the relationship between one's real and ideal self) of sixteen subjects practicing Transcendental Meditation and twenty control subjects, and found that the meditators showed a dramatic increase in self-regard.  There was no meaningful difference between long- and short-term meditators, however.  Since the meditators had a significantly lower score on self-concept than controls before TM instruction, the author speculated that those choosing to practice TM have greater dissatisfaction with self and are more ready for a change; in this they resemble individuals seeking psychotherapy or other forms of help, so other disciplines of self-improvement may work as well as TM in improving their self-esteem.

Turnbull and Norris (1982) The authors studied seven subjects who learned and practiced TM and seven controls.  They were given a role construct repertory grid and an Eysenck Personality Questionnaire once before and twice after starting to practice TM.  Initially the two groups differed only in that meditation subjects tended to judge other people to be more unlike their ideal selves than did comparison subjects.  This difference was maintained.  With meditation subjects the grid results showed a systematic pattern of significant changes over the three tests.  Meditators came to perceive their actual selves as being increasingly similar to their ideal and social selves, and they developed a more strongly defined concept of their actual selves.  The authors concluded that TM has therapeutic value.

Kline et al. (1982) The MMPI and Tennessee Self-Concept Scale were administered to volunteers in an experimental group consisting of recovering alcoholics and individuals with general emotional problems participating in a three-month program of TM, and to a control group from the same population.  Experimental and control groups were not significantly different on any of the pretest measures, and at posttest no significant differences were found.

Turnbull and Norris (1982) In this study a role construct repertory grid and an Eysenck Personality Questionnaire were completed by TM subjects, once before and twice after starting the regular practice of TM.  Controls did not learn TM and were assessed in the same way at the same times.  With meditation subjects the grid results showed a systematic pattern of significant changes over the three tests.  These changes indicate that meditators came to perceive their actual selves as being increasingly similar to their ideal (as they ideally want to be) and their social selves (as they are envisaged by others), and that they developed a more strongly defined concept of their actual selves that involved increased self-acceptance. Controls did not show consistent or signficant changes between tests on any measure.

Hart and Means (1982) Ten undergraduate students in social work were administered the Shostrom Personal Orientation Inventory and were taught Benson's relaxation response meditation technique or instructed to read relevant material for thirty minutes per day. After three weeks, the two groups switched practices. A positive effect of meditation on self-actualization was reported.

Throll (1982) The Eysenck Personality Inventory, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory, and two questionnaires on health and drug usage were administered to thirty-nine subjects before they learned TM or progressive relaxation.  All subjects were tested immediately after they had learned either technique and then retested five, ten, and fifteen weeks later.  There were no significant differences between groups for any of the psychological variables at pretest.  However, at posttest the TM group displayed more significant declines in neuroticism and drug use than the progressive relaxation group.  Both groups demonstrated significant decreases in state and trait anxiety.  The more pronounced results for meditators were explained by the greater amount of time they spent meditating.

Delmonte (1981a) Ninety-four prospective meditators were administered two fourteen-item questionnaires to ascertain their present self-perceptions and their expectations of TM, on three occasions: just before two introductory talks on meditation, just after these talks, and seven months later on follow-up.  Thirty-six subjects decided against taking up meditation.  Analysis of variance showed that those who took up meditation were older, with more negative self-perceptions and higher expectations of the positive effects of meditation.  Frequent practice was related to improved self-perception and increased expectation scores on follow-up.  Younger subjects appeared to be more suggestible; they meditated more frequently, perceived themselves more positively, and were more likely to report an improved perception of self compared with their initial pretalk scores than older subjects.

Davidson and Goleman (1977) Individuals who practiced meditation scored higher on various indices of psychological well-being and on hypnotic susceptibility.  The authors concluded, however, that similar previous results may reflect selective volunteering for or selective attrition from meditation.

Fehr et al. (1977) Forty-nine subjects practicing the TM technique were given the Freiburger Personality Inventory and were found to be less nervous, less aggressive, less depressed, less irritable, more sociable, more self-confident, less domineering, less inhibited, more emotionally stable, and more self-reliant than a comparison group constructed from available age and sex norms.  They were normally extroverted.

Fehr (1977) The Freiburger Personality Inventory was administered to a group of thirty-seven subjects three times: before they learned the TM technique, approximately seven weeks later, and approximately fifty-five weeks later.  At the time of the last testing, twelve subjects had discontinued meditation and were treated as a control group.  At the third testing, the twenty-five meditating subjects showed significantly better scores than the control group on the following five scales:  nervousness, depression, irritability, inhibition, and neuroticism.

Davies (1977) Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory were completed by three groups of undergraduates a few days before they began a program of TM or a parallel program of progressive relaxation, or before acting as controls.  Seven weeks later both inventories were readministered to all groups.  Only the subjects who practiced TM showed a significant reduction in trait anxiety scores, while subjects who practiced TM or progressive relaxation showed a significant improvement in self-actualization.

Shapiro, J. (1977) Two hundred eleven subjects were tested with the Northridge Development Scale and the Spielberger Trait Anxiety scale before learning TM.  A significant increase in self-actualization was observed among the 180 of these subjects who completed a posttest seventeen weeks later.

Orme-Johnson and Duck (1977) The Personal Orientation Inventory profile of Maharishi International University students who practiced TM was compared with profiles presented in the POI manual for a group of college students and for a group of relatively self-actualized people.  MIU students scored significantly higher than nonmeditating college students on eight of the twelve POI scales, indicating that the MIU students were generally more self- actualized than other college students.  MIU students also scored significantly higher than a group of people judged to be relatively self-actualized on two of the POI scales (Self-Regard and Nature of Man Constructive) and scored as high as the self-actualized people on five of the POI scales (Time Competent, Self-Actualizing Value, Feeling Reactivity, Spontaneity, and Synergy).  On the remaining five POI scales, MIU students scored significantly lower than those judged to be self-actualized.

Nystul and Garde (1977) The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale was administered to fifteen Austrialian subjects who had been practicing Transcendental Meditation for a mean of three years and to fifteen Australian subjects who had never practiced.  A "t" test showed that meditators had significantly more positive self-concepts on seven of the twenty-nine test scores: Total Positive, Identity, Self-Satisfaction, Personal Self, Personality Disorder, Distribution Subscore 2, and Moral Ethical Self.

Van den Berg and Mulder (1976) Two studies were undertaken to examine changes in personality brought about by the practice of TM.  First, short-term meditators were compared with nonmeditating controls on the Netherlands Personality Inventory.  Significant reductions in physical and social inadequacy, neuroticism, depression, and rigidity were found in short-term meditators, whereas no change occurred in controls.  The second study compared long-term meditators with nonmeditating students on the Netherlands Personality Inventory, Quality Inventory, Self-Esteem Inventory, Self-Actualization Inventory, and Ego Strength Scale.  Long-term meditators showed remarkably higher levels of self-esteem, satisfaction, ego strength, self-actualization, and trust in others, as well as improved self-image as measured by the Self-Ideal Self Scale of the Quality Inventory.

Ferguson and Gowan (1976) This study found that the practice of TM twice a day for about twenty minutes facilitated self-actualization for an experimental group of thirty-three short-term meditators and sixteen long-term meditators, versus a group of nineteen nonmeditators, as indicated by their improved scores on the Northridge Development Scale, the Cattell Anxiety Scale, and the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.

Hjelle (1974) Fifteen experienced TM meditators and twenty-one novice meditators were administered Bendig's Anxiety Scale, Rotter's Locus of Control Scale, and Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory of self-actualization.  Experienced meditators were significantly less anxious and more internally controlled than beginning meditators, and they were more self-actualized on seven of Shostrom's twelve subscales.

Nidich et al. (1973) Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory was administered two days before the beginning of a TM program and readministered ten weeks later to an experimental group of nine and a nonmeditating control group of nine.  The control group took the tests during the same period of time, with no significant difference on any POI variables.  For ten of the twelve variables, significant differences between experimental and control subjects appeared in the direction of self-actualization.

Stek and Bass (1973) Using the Internal/External Control of Reinforcement Scale and the Personal Orientation Inventory, the authors found that individuals interested in TM were neither more self-actualized nor more externally controlled than average.

Seeman et al. (1972) Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory was administered to an experimental group of fifteen people two days before the beginning of a TM program.  The control group consisted of twenty nonmeditators.  Experimental and control subjects did not differ significantly on any of the POI scales on the first administration.  Two months later, following regular meditation sessions by the experimental subjects, the POI was again administered to both groups.  For six of the POI variables there were differences between experimental and control subjects in the direction of self-actualization.

For other studies examining the relationship between meditation and self-actualization, see: Greene and Hiebert (1988), Thomas (1987), Coffelt (1986), Warner (1986), deSantis (1986), Hungerman (1985), Rhyner (1985), Delmonte (1984d), Ray (1984), Burrows (1984), Oldfield (1982), Trausch (1981), Dice (1979), Joseph (1979), Bartels (1976), Joscelyn (1979), Maher (1979), Pelletier (1976a, 1978), Lewis (1978), Kongtawng (1977), Scott (1977), Bartels (1976), Weiner (1977), Denmark (1976), J. Shapiro (1975), Valois (1976), Walder (1976), and Willis (1975).