Abstract:
Examines the nature and dynamics of changes in personality brought about by the Transcendental Meditation program. Experiment I used a "non-equivalent before-after" quasi-experimental design to compare 21 short-term meditators with 28 non-meditating controls on the Cattell Anxiety Scale, Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory, the Purpose in Life Test, Rotter's Internal/External Locus of Control Scale, the Mysticism Scale, and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Significant reductions in anxiety and significant improvements in self-actualisation and purpose in life were found in short-term meditators over the experimental period, whereas no change occurred in controls. These results are discussed in terms of the psychological health implications of the TM program. It is important to note that short-term meditators demonstrated a significant increase in tendencies to respond to test items in a socially desirable manner, suggesting that the findings of the study must be treated cautiously. Experiment II used a single group to test the differential effectiveness of the first week, the subsequent nine weeks, and a full 10 weeks of TM practice as measured by scores on the same psychological tests. Results showed a highly significant improvement in self-actualisation scores during the first week of TM practice which suggests that congenial non-specific factors, which may exert their strongest influence during the early stages of the TM program, were in part responsible for the results.
