Professor Barry Markovsky , Director of the Center for the Study of Group Processes , the University of Iowa Sociology Department, talks about the issues facing researchers into consciousness phenomena. When TM champion, Robert Keith Wallace, wrote his doctoral thesis in 1970 on the physiological effects of transcendental meditation, and proposed a fourth major state of consciousness, the TM movement had a prototype for the future. One year later Wallace became the founding president of Maharishi International University . In the two decades that followed, Wallace and associates produced more than 500 studies on the physiological, psychological and sociological effects of the TM practice. Their research portfolio gradually evolved into a collection that is highly supportive of the claims made by TM promoters.
Studies Have Shown' . . .
This new phrase soon became a slogan that permeated movement rhetoric. Today, every form of TM promotion, whether video, electronic, print or oral depends on that slogan to sell the program and hold on to followers who may have doubts. It works well for them, unless the person who hears it knows about independent TM research. 1 Critics allege that movement studies are performed without using legitimate double-blind controls in their experimental protocols. It is in the movement's self-interest to create and then refer to ever more positive research results as evidence in support of many claims put forth about the practice.