Large Group Awareness Training
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2008-06-18T08:30:15Z
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The term '''''Large Group Awareness Training''''' ('''LGAT''') refers to training offered by some groups in what some call the [[human potential movement]]. By using LGAT techniques, these providers claim to (among other things) increase [[self-awareness]] and bring about preferred personal [[change]]s in [[individual]]s' [[personal life| lives]].<ref name="denniscoon">{{cite book
| last = Coon
| first = Dennis
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = Psychology: A Journey
| publisher = Thomson Wadsworth
|date=2004
| location =
| pages = 520, 528, 538
| url =
| doi =
| id = ISBN 0534632645}}</ref> Some commentators have compared LGAT programs with [[group therapy]] {{Fact|date=June 2007}} and/or with religious [[revival meeting]]s{{Fact|date=June 2007}}. [[Michael Langone| Michael Langone]] has referred to Large Group Awareness Training as ''[[new age]] trainings''
<ref name="langone" /> and Philip Cushman referred to them as ''mass marathon trainings''
<ref name="marathon">Mass Marathon Trainings, excerpted, ''The Politics of Transformation: Recruitment - Indoctrination Processes in a Mass Marathon Psychology Organization'', [[St. Martin's Press]] 1993, [[Philip Cushman]], Ph.D.</ref>
Large Group Awareness Training programs often involve more than two hundred people at a time.{{Fact|date=November 2007}} Though early definitions cited LGATs as featuring unusually long durations, more [[as of 2007| recent]] texts describe the trainings as lasting from a few hours to a few days. About a million Americans have attended LGAT seminars.<ref name="dumerton" />
== Definitions of LGAT ==
[[Image:Conference clapping.jpg|thumb|right|200px|An unrelated conference hall filled with clapping people. Large Group Awareness Training often takes place in [[Convention center|conference-halls]] or [[hotel]]s.]]
DuMerton described Large Group Awareness Training as "teaching simple, but often overlooked wisdom, which takes place over the period of a few days, in which individuals receive intense, emotionally-focused instruction."
<ref name="dumerton">
{{cite journal
| last = DuMerton, [[Master's degree|M.A.]]
| first = C.
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = Tragic Optimism and Choices: The Life Attitudes Scale with a First Nations Sample
| journal = (Master's Thesis)
| volume =
| issue = Master of Arts, Graduate Counseling Psychology Program
| pages =
| publisher = [[Trinity Western University]] (Hosted on University Web site)
|date=July 2004
| url = http://www.twu.ca/cpsy/Documents/Theses/Lynn%20Dumerton%20thesis.pdf
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate = 2007-04-14
| format = {{dead link|date=June 2008}} – <sup>[http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=author%3ADuMerton%2C+%5B%5BMaster%27s+degree%7CM.A.%5D%5D+intitle%3ATragic+Optimism+and+Choices%3A+The+Life+Attitudes+Scale+with+a+First+Nations+Sample&as_publication=%28Master%27s+Thesis%29&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&btnG=Search Scholar search]</sup>}}
</ref>
Rubinstein compared Large Group Awareness Training to certain principles of [[cognitive therapy]], such as the idea that people can change their [[personal life| lives]] by interpreting the way they view external circumstances.<ref>
{{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 = }}
</ref>
And in ''Consumer Research: Postcards from the edge'', when discussing behavioral and economic studies, the authors contrasted the "enclosed locations" used with Large Group Awareness Trainings with the "relatively open" environment of a "[[variety store]]".<ref>
{{cite book
| last = Brown
| first = Stephen I.
| authorlink =
| coauthors = Darach Turley
| title = Consumer Research: Postcards from the edge
| publisher = Routledge
|date=1997
| location =
| pages = 279
| url =
| doi =
| id = ISBN 041515684X}}
</ref>
The ''Handbook of Group Psychotherapy'' described Large Group Awareness Training as focusing on "philosophical, psychological and ethical issues", as related to a desire to increase personal effectiveness in people's [[personal life| lives]].<ref name="handbook">
{{cite book
| last = Burlingame
| first = Gary M.
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = Handbook of Group Psychotherapy: An Empirical and Clinical Synthesis
| publisher = John Wiley and Sons
|date=1994
| location =
| pages = 528, 532, 535, 539, 549, 550, 555, 556, 581, 583.
| url =
| doi =
| id = ISBN 0471555924}}
</ref>
[[Psychologist]] Dennis Coon's textbook, ''Psychology: A Journey'', defined the term "LGAT" as referring to: "programs that claim to increase self-awareness and facilitate constructive personal change."<ref name="denniscoon" />
Coon further defines Large Group Awareness Training in his book ''Introduction to Psychology''.<ref name="coonintroduction">
{{cite book
| last = Coon
| first = Dennis
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior
| publisher = Thomson Wadsworth
|date=2003
| location =
| pages = Pp. 648, 649, 655.
| url =
| doi =
| id = ISBN 053461227X}}
</ref>
== The evolution of LGAT-providers ==
{{self-published|date=March 2008}}
Lou Kilzer, in ''[[The Rocky Mountain News]]'', identified [[Leadership Dynamics]] as the first of the genre of what psychologists termed "Large Group Awareness Training"<ref>
{{cite news
| last = Kilzer
| first = Lou
| coauthors =
| title = Desperate Measures Network of Behavior Modification Compounds Known as Teen Help Has Straightened Out Hundreds of Defiant Adolescents, But Its Methods Aren't For the Faint-hearted.
| work = [[Rocky Mountain News]]
| pages =
| language =
| publisher = [[E. W. Scripps Company]]
|date=July 18, 1999
| url =
| accessdate = }}<br>"The first of the genre psychologists call "large group awareness training" was the Leadership Dynamics Institute..."
</ref>.
In their self-published book, Navarro and Navarro identify Mind Dynamics as the major forerunner of large group awareness trainings.<ref name="navarro">
{{cite book
| last = Navarro,
| first = Espy M.
| authorlink =
| coauthors = Robert Navarro
| title = Self Realization: The Est and Forum Phenomena in American Society
| publisher = Xlibris Corporation
|date=2002
| location =
| pages = 54
| url =
| doi =
| id = ISBN 1401042201}}
| quote = "Mind Dynamics, founded by Alexander Everett, was the major forerunner of large group awareness trainings. Although Mind Dynamics was only in existence for a few years, it sparked an entire industry of similar trainings."
}}
</ref>
They write that, although Mind Dynamics itself existed only briefly, it sparked an [[industry]] of similar trainings.<ref name="navarro" />
Groups such as [[Lifespring]], [[Erhard Seminars Training]] and [[Werner Erhard and Associates|The Forum]] claimed to have worked to improve people's overall level of satisfaction and [[interpersonal relationship| interpersonal relations]] through group [[interaction]].<ref name="applied">
{{cite book
| last = Brewer
| first = Maryilyn B.
| authorlink =
| coauthors = Miles Hewstone
| title = Applied Social Psychology
| publisher = Blackwell Publishing
|date=2004
| location =
| pages = Pp. 81.
| url =
| doi =
| id = ISBN 1405110678 }}
</ref>
<ref name="tindale">{{cite book
| last = Tindale
| first = R. Scott
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = Group Processes: Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology
| publisher = Blackwell Publishing
|date=2001
| location =
| pages = 630
| url =
| doi =
| id = ISBN 1405106530}}<br>"EST, FORUM and LIFESPRING are all examples of LGATs, for members seek to improve their overall level of satisfaction and interpersonal relations by carrying out such experiential exercises as role-playing, group singing and chanting, and guided group interaction."
</ref><ref name="zeig">
{{cite book
| last = Zeig
| first = Jeffrey K.
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = The Evolution of Psychotherapy: The Third Conference
| publisher = Psychology Press
|date=1997
| location =
| pages = Pp. 352, 357.
| url =
| doi =
| id = ISBN 0876308132}}<br>"Training or T-groups, sensitivity training, and encounter groups spread and were followed by commercially sold large group awareness training programs, such as est, Lifespring and other programs."
</ref>
== Academic analyses, studies ==
"Large Group Awareness Training", a 1982 [[peer review|peer-reviewed]] article published in ''Annual Review of Psychology'', sought to summarize literature on the subject of LGATs and to examine their efficacy and their relationship with more standard [[psychology]]. This article became one of the first{{Fact|date=October 2007}} [[academic]] works to analyze and describe large group awareness training from a [[psychological]] perspective. Influenced by the work of [[humanistic psychology|humanistic psychologists]] such as [[Carl Rogers]], [[Abraham Maslow]] and [[Rollo May]] and often considered part of the [[human potential movement]], LGAT's are{{Fact|date=October 2007}} commercial trainings that took many techniques from [[encounter group]]s.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} Existing alongside but "outside the domains of academic psychology or psychiatry. Their measure of performance was consumer satisfaction and formal research was seldom pursued."{{Fact|date=October 2007}}
The article describes an ''[[Erhard Seminars Training|est]]'' training, and discusses the literature on the [[testimony]] of ''est'' graduates. It notes minor changes on psychological tests after the training and mentions anecdotal reports of psychiatric casualties among est trainees. The article considers how est compares to more standard psychotherapy techniques such as [[behavior therapy]], [[group psychotherapy|group]] and [[existential psychotherapy]] before concluding with a call for "objective and rigorous research" and stating that unknown variables might have accounted for some of the positive accounts. Psychologists advised [[Borderline personality disorder| borderline]] or [[psychosis| psychotic]] patients not to participate.<ref name="finkelstein" />
Psychological factors cited by academics <!-- in what context? -->include emotional "[[Flooding (psychology)|flooding]]", [[catharsis]], [[universality]] (identification with others), the instillation of hope, identification and what [[Jean-Paul Sartre|Sartre]] called "uncontested authorship."<ref name="finkelstein">
{{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 = }}
</ref>
In 1989 researchers from the [[University of Connecticut]] received the "National Consultants to Management Award" from the [[American Psychological Association]], for their study: ''[[Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training]]''.<ref name="evaluating">{{cite 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 }}<br>'''Page. vii.''' -- "The research reported in this volume was awarded the American Psychological Association, Division 13, National Consultants to Management Award, August 13, 1989."</ref>
The study concluded that participation in the LGAT studied had very little impact on participants.
Psychologist Chris Mathe has written in the interests of [[consumer protection| consumer-protection]], encouraging potential attendees of LGATs to discuss such trainings with any current therapist or counselor, to examine the principles underlying the program, and to determine pre-screening methods, the training of facilitators, the full cost of the training and of any suggested follow-up care.<ref>
[http://perso.orange.fr/eldon.braun/awareness/choosingx.htm Choosing a Personal Growth Program: Ten questions to help you make an informed decision], Chris Mathe, Ph. D., [[1999]]
</ref>
== LGAT techniques==
Finkelstein's 1982 article provides a detailed description of the structure and techniques of an [[Erhard Seminars Training]] event, noting an authoritarian demeanor of the trainer, physical strains of a long schedule on the participants and the similarity of many techniques to those used in some [[group therapy]] and [[encounter group]]s.<ref name="finkelstein" /> The [[academic]] textbook, ''Handbook of Group Psychotherapy'' regards Large Group Awareness Training organizations as "less open to leader differences"<!-- less open than what or who? -->, because they follow a "detailed written plan" that does not vary from one training to the next.<ref name="handbook" />
Specific techniques used in Large Group Awareness Trainings may include:
* [[meditation]]<ref name="techniques" />
* [[biofeedback]]<ref name="techniques" />
* [[self-hypnosis]]<ref name="techniques" />
* [[relaxation technique]]s<ref name="techniques" />
* [[visualization]]<ref name="techniques" />
* [[neuro-linguistic programming]]<ref>{{cite book
| last = Partridge
| first = C.
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = New Religions: A Guide; New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities
| publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
|date=2004
| location =
| pages = 407
| url = http://skepdic.com/lgsap.html
| id = ISBN 0-19-522042-0 }}</ref>
* [[mind control| mind-control]]<ref name="techniques"> [http://caic.org.au/psyther/lgat/singer.htm "Intruding into the Workplace"], Dr. [[Margaret Singer]], excerpted from
{{cite book
| last = Singer
| first = Margaret
| authorlink = Margaret Singer
| coauthors = Janja Lalich
| title = [[Cults in our Midst (book)| Cults in our Midst]]
| origyear =
| origmonth =
| url = http://caic.org.au/psyther/lgat/singer.htm
| accessdate = 2007-11-19
| year = 1995
| month =
| publisher = Jossey-Bass Publishers
| location = San Francisco
| isbn = 0787900516
| quote = Aside from complaining that they were being put through programs tantamount to a forced religious conversion, employees also objected to specific techniques being used: meditation, neurolinguistic programming, biofeedback, self-hypnosis, bizarre relaxation techniques, mind control, body touching, yoga, trance inductions, visualization, and in some cases, intense confrontational sessions akin to the "attack" therapy methods that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s.
}}</ref>
* [[yoga]]<ref name="techniques" />
LGATs utilize such techniques during long sessions, sometimes called a ''[[marathon]] session'' when lasting for eight hours or more.<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Paglia
| first = Carmen
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = Cults and Cosmic Consciousness: Religious Vision in the American 1960s
| journal = Arion
| volume = 10
| issue = 3
| pages =
| publisher = [[Boston University]]
| date = Winter 2003
| url = http://www.bu.edu/arion/paglia_cults.pdf
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate = }}
</ref>
In his book [[Life 102 (book)|''Life 102'']], LGAT participant and former trainer [[Peter McWilliams]] describes the basic technique of marathon trainings as ''pressure/release'' and asserts that [[advertising]] uses pressure/release "all the time", as do "[[good cop/bad cop]]" police-interrogations and [[revival meeting]]s. By spending approximately half the time making a person feel bad and then suddenly reversing the feeling through effusive praise, the programs cause participants to experience a [[stress (medicine)| stress]]-reaction and an "[[endorphin]] high." McWilliams gives examples of various LGAT activities called ''processes'' with names such as "love bomb," "lifeboat", "cocktail party" and "cradling" which take place over many hours and days, physically exhausting the participants to make them more susceptible to the trainer's message, whether in the participants' best interests or not.<ref name="life102">
Peter McWilliams, ''Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You'' (Prelude Press: Los Angeles, 1994). ISBN 0-931580-34-X., pp 6-7.
</ref>
Although extremely critical of some LGATs, McWilliams found positive value in others, asserting that they varied not in technique but in the application of technique.<ref name="life102" />
== Evaluations of LGATs ==
Finkelstein noted the many difficulties in evaluating LGATs, from proponents' explicit rejection of certain study models to difficulty in establishing a rigorous [[control group]].<ref name="finkelstein" /> In some cases, organizations under study have partially funded research into themselves.<ref name="lieberman" />
Not all professional researchers view LGATs favorably. Researchers such as psychologist Philip Cushman,<ref>
Cushman, "Iron Fists/Velvet Gloves: A Study of A Mass Marathon Psychology Training", ''Psychotherapy'' vol 26, Spring 1989.
</ref>
for example, found that the program he studied "consists of a pre-meditated attack on the self". A 1983 study on [[Lifespring]]<ref>Haaken, J. and Adams, R., "Pathology as 'Personal Growth': A Participant-Observation Study of Lifespring Training", ''Psychiatry'', vol 46, August 1983.
</ref>
found that "although participants often experience a heightened sense of well-being as a consequence of the training, the phenomenon is essentially pathological", meaning that, in the program they studied, "the training systematically undermines [[ego]] functioning and promotes regression to the extent that [[reality]] testing is significantly impaired". Lieberman's 1987 study,<ref name="lieberman">
Lieberman, "Effects of Large Group Awareness Training on Participants' Psychiatric Status", ''American Journal of Psychiatry'' v 144 p 460-464, April 1987.
</ref>
funded partially by [[Lifespring]], noted that 5 out of a sample of 289 participants experienced "[[Stress (medicine)|stress]] reactions" including one "transitory [[psychosis|psychotic]] episode". He commented: "Whether [these five] would have experienced such stress under other conditions cannot be answered. The clinical evidence, however, is that the reactions were directly attributable to the large group awareness training."
In Coon's psychology textbook, ''Introduction to Psychology'', the author references many other studies, which postulate that many of the "claimed benefits" of Large Group Awareness Training actually take the form of "a kind of therapy placebo effect"<ref name="coonintroduction" />. DuMerton writes that "... there is a lack of scientific evidence to quantify the longer-term positive outcomes and changes objectively ..."<ref name="dumerton" /> Jarvis described Large Group Awareness Training as "educationally dubious" in the 2002 book ''The Theory & Practice of Teaching''.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Jarvis
| first = Peter
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = The Theory & Practice of Teaching
| publisher = Routledge
|date=2002
| location =
| pages = 97
| url =
| doi =
| id = ISBN 0749434090}}</ref>
Controversial tactics sometimes used by LGAT groups have included physical violence, isolation, entrapment, [[brainwashing]], and sexual experiences.<ref>Weir, D., ''An Odyssey of Sexual/Gender Evolution: An Autoethnographical Study of the United States from the 1950s to the Present'', April 2002, [http://www.esextherapy.com/dissertations/Weir%20dissertation%202002%5B1%5D.pdf (available online)]</ref> Tapper mentions that "some {{interp|unspecified}} large group-awareness training and psychotherapy groups" exemplify non-religious "cults".<ref name="Tapper">
{{cite journal
| last = Tapper
| first = A
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = The Impact of Cults on Health
| journal = Nursing Spectrum
| volume =
| issue =
| pages =
| publisher =
|date=September 2002
| url = http://www.reveal.org/library/psych/The%20Impact%20of%20Cults%20on%20Health.pdf
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate = }}
</ref> Benjamin criticizes LGAT groups for their high prices and [[spirituality| spiritual]] subtleties.<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Benjamin, [[Ph.D.]]
| first = Elliot
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = Spirituality and Cults
| journal = Integral Science
| volume =
| issue =
| pages =
| publisher =
|date=June 2005
| url = http://www.integralscience.org/spiritualitycults.pdf
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate = }}
</ref>
In an academic research-paper on "Choices", a type of LGAT, researchers credited LGAT programs with having had perhaps a million American attendees, many of whom gave positive testimonials of "healing effects" and "positive outcomes in their lives".<ref name="dumerton" />
== LGATs in comparison with cults ==
===Dawson===
Lorne Dawson stated in his book on [[cult]]s and [[new religious movement]]s that both cults and Large Group Awareness Training use similar [[thought reform| thought-reform]] techniques.<ref name="Dawson">
{{cite book
| last = Dawson
| first = Lorne L.
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = [[Cults and New Religious Movements: A Reader]]
| publisher = Blackwell Publishing
|date=2003
| location =
| pages = 149
| url =
| doi =
| id = ISBN 1405101814}}
</ref>
===Singer===
The [[American Psychological Association]] bureaucracy commissioned and subsequently decided not to endorse<ref name="apamemo">[http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/cultsect/mdtaskforce/bserp_loomis.htm University of Virginia Library<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and strongly criticized <ref name="apamemo2" /> a report by the [[APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control]], in which the so-called "[[Anti-cult movement|anti-cult]]" psychologist [[Margaret Singer]] included large group awareness trainings as one example of what she called "[[coercive persuasion]]". The APA characterized Singer's hypotheses as "uninformed speculations based on skewed data"<ref name="apamemo2">[http://www.cesnur.org/testi/APA.htm CESNUR - APA Memo of 1987 with Enclosures<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
and stated that the report "lacked scientific rigor and an evenhanded critical approach to carry the imprimatur of the APA." The APA also claimed that "the specific methods by which Drs. Singer and Benson have arrived at their conclusions have also been rejected by all serious scholars in the field."<ref name="apabrief">[http://www.cesnur.org/testi/molko_brief.htm CESNUR - APA Brief in the Molko Case<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
Singer sued the APA, and lost on [[June 17]], 1994<ref name="singersuit">[http://www.cesnur.org/testi/singer.htm Decision Against Margaret Singer (CESNUR)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
After the APA spurned the report, Singer remained in good standing in the psychological research community.<ref>
Blim, Andrew: 'Cult Experts Sue Lawyers, Others" in ''[[National Law Journal]]'', [[August 31]], 1992, Vol 33, Issue 19: "Berkeley professors Margaret Singer and Richard Ofshe ... are viewed by even the lawyer-defendants as reputable scholars".
</ref>
She reworked much of the report material into the book ''[[Cults in our Midst (book)|Cults in our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives]]'' (1995, second edition: 2003), which she co-authored with [[Janja Lalich]].
Singer and Lalich claimed "large group awareness trainings" tend to last at least four days and usually five. The book mentions [[Erhard Seminars Training]] and its derivatives such as the Forum, "[[Lifespring]], Actualizations, [[Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness|MSIA]]/Insight and [[PSI Seminars]].<ref name="ourmidst">
[http://caic.org.au/psyther/lgat/singer.htm Intruding into the Workplace], Dr. [[Margaret Singer]], excerpted from [[Cults in our Midst (book)]], 1995
</ref>
In her book, Singer differentiated between the usage of the terms ''cult'' and ''Large Group Awareness Training''.<ref name="ourmidst" /> Singer also writes that employees taking part in a company-wide Large Group Awareness Training program not only complained about attempted [[religious conversion]], but also objected to the specific techniques used.<ref name="techniques" />
===Langone===
An article in ''[[Cultic Studies Review|Cult Observer]]'' by [[Michael Langone]] [[Ph.D.]] analysed Large Group Awareness Training.<ref name="langone">
{{cite journal
| last = Langone
| first = Michael
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = Large Group Awareness Trainings
| journal = [[Cultic Studies Review|Cult Observer]]
| volume = 15
| issue = 1
| pages =
| publisher =
|date=1998
| url = http://www.csj.org/rg/rgessays/rgessay_lgate.htm
| doi =
| id = {{ISSN|1539-0152}}
| accessdate = }}
</ref>
Langone noted comparisons between Large Group Awareness Training and "[[brainwashing]]" and "[[cult]]s", and posited that many LGAT groups have an implied or even explicit religious nature.<ref name="langone" />
Langone concluded by stating that he knew of no specific academic research which showed that Large Group Awareness Trainings have positive behavioral effects.<ref name="langone" /> Langone cited a study which showed no difference between the Large Group Awareness Training test-subjects and the control group.
<ref name="langone" /><ref>
Hosford, Ray, E., Moss, C. Scott, Cavior, Helene, & Kerish, Burton. ''Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology'', 1982, Manuscript #2419, [[American Psychological Association]]
</ref>
===ICSA===
The [[International Cultic Studies Association]] has grouped some Large Group Awareness Training organizations together with research about them.<ref name="csj">
{{cite web
|url=http://www.csj.org/infoserv_groups/grp_lgat/grp_lgat_index.htm
|title=Large Group Awareness Trainings (LGAT)
|publisher=[[Cultic Studies Review|Cultic Studies Journal]], [[International Cultic Studies Association]]
|accessdate=2006-01-18
|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060128003714/http://csj.org/infoserv_groups/grp_lgat/grp_lgat_index.htm
|archivedate=2006-01-28}}
</ref>
==References ==
{{Reflist}}
=== Further reading ===
;Books
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|title=[[Cults in our Midst]]|last=Singer|first=Margaret, Ph. D.|authorlink=Margaret Singer|isbn=0-7879-0266-7|year=1996|publisher=[[Jossey-Bass]]|chapter=Intruding into the Workplace|chapterurl=http://caic.org.au/psyther/lgat/singer.htm}}
* {{cite book|title=Life 102: What To Do When Your Guru Sues You|last=McWilliams|first=Peter|authorlink=Peter McWilliams|year=1994|isbn=0931580345|publisher=Mary Book / Prelude Pr}}
* {{cite book|title=[[Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training]]: A Longitudinal Study of Psychosocial Effects|author=Fisher et al|publisher=[[Springer-Verlag]]|year=[[1990]]|isbn=0387973203}}
* {{cite book|last=Carroll|first=Robert Todd|authorlink=Robert Todd Carroll|year=2003|title=[[Skeptic's Dictionary|The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions]]|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|isbn=ISBN 0471272427}}
{{refend}}
;Articles
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal | last = Finkelstein | first = Peter | coauthors = Brant Wenegrat; Irvin Yalom | year = 1982 | month = January | title = Large Group Awareness Training" | journal = Annual Review of Psychology | volume = 33 | pages = 515–539 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.ps.33.020182.002503 | accessdate = 2007-05-26}}
* {{cite journal | last = Lieberman | first = MA | year = 1987 | title = Effects of large group awareness training on participants' psychiatric status | journal = American Journal of Psychiatry | issue = 144 | pages = 460–464 | url = http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/144/4/460 | accessdate = 2007-05-26 | pmid = 3565614}}
* {{cite journal|url=http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ408249|title=Psychological Effects of Participation in a Large Group Awareness Training|last=Fisher|first=Jeffrey|journal=Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology|volume=57|issue=6|pages=747–755|month=December|year=1989 | accessdate = 2007-05-26|doi=10.1037/0022-006X.57.6.747}}
* {{cite journal|last=Klar|first=Yechiel|url=http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ412831
|title=Characteristics of Participants in a Large Group Awareness Training|journal=Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology|volume=58|issue=1|pages=99–108|month=February|year=1990 | accessdate = 2007-05-26
|doi=10.1037/0022-006X.58.1.99}}
* {{cite journal|title=Perceptions of changes in the self, the impact of life events and large group awareness training|last=Lieberman|first=MA|journal=Self change|year=1992}}
* {{cite paper|title=Self system factors as an index of change in large group awareness training|author=Joyce, N|date=[[1992]]|publisher=[[San Francisco State University]]}}
* {{cite paper|title=Mass Marathon Trainings, excerpted, The Politics of Transformation: Recruitment - Indoctrination Processes in a Mass Marathon Psychology Organization|publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]|date=[[1993]]|author=[[Philip Cushman]], Ph. D.}}
* {{cite paper|title=The Children of est: A study of the Experience and Perceived Effects of a Large Group Awareness Training (The Forum)"|author=Denison, Charles Wayne, Ph. D.|publisher=[[University of Denver]]|date=[[1994]]}}
* {{cite journal|url=http://www.csj.org/rg/rgessays/rgessay_lgate.htm|title=Large Group Awareness Trainings|last=Langone|first=Michael, Ph. D.|authorlink=Michael Langone|journal=[[Cultic Studies Review|Cult Observer]]|volume=15|issue=1|year=1998|accessdate=2007-05-26}}
* {{cite journal|title=Developmental effects of participation in a large group awareness training|last=Hughes|first=S|journal=Dissertation Abstracts International|year=1999}}
* {{cite paper|title=Large Group Awareness Training in the 1990s: The Participants' Perspective|author=Odell, Susan|publisher=[[University of Leeds]] (School of Medicine)|date=[[2001]]}}
* {{cite journal|last=Rubinstein|first=Gidi|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|month=December|year=2005|pages=481–492
|url=http://www.rickross.com/reference/landmark/landmark239.pdf|accessdate=2007-05-26|format=PDF|doi=10.1348/147608305X42721}}
* {{cite journal|title=Description of the Behavioral Structure of the Training|first=Philip, Ph. D.|last=Cushman|journal=The Politics of Transformation}}
* {{cite journal|title=Negotiating the Self in Society: A Large Group Awareness Training Program as a Cultural Scene|first=K|last=Neiman}}
* Polaski, Mary. "The Mary Polaski "L" Series"
;Media/Press
* {{cite web|url=http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/col/tenn/2005/08/02/therapist_lgat/index.html|title= My therapist is hawking awareness training|publisher=[[Salon.com|Salon]]|last=Tennis|first=Cary|date=[[August 2]], [[2005]]|accessdate=2007-05-26}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943274,00.html|title=Human Potential: The Revolution in Feeling|date=[[November 9]], [[1970]]|publisher=[[Time Magazine]]|accessdate=2007-05-26}}
{{refend}}
== See also==
* [[List of Large Group Awareness Training organizations]]
[[Category:1970s fads]]
[[Category:Direct marketing]]
[[Category:Group processes]]
[[Category:Human Potential Movement]]
[[Category:Large Group Awareness Training|*]]
[[Category:New Age]]
[[Category:Personal development]]
[[Category:Promotion and marketing communications]]
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[[ja:自己啓発セミナー]]