Margaret Singer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Margaret Singer
Dr. Margaret Thaler Singer
Born	1921 Denver, Colorado, United States
Died	November 23, 2003 Berkeley, California, United States
Occupation	Clinical psychologist Psychology Professor Author, Cults in Our Midst Author, Crazy Therapies President, American Psychomatic Society Director, American Family Foundation Head, DIMPAC Task Force, APA Director, Family Process

Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph.D. (1921 - 2003) was a clinical psychologist and emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.

Contents 1 Education 2 Career as psychologist 2.1 Clinical research 2.2 Expert witness 2.3 Professional associations 3 DIMPAC controversy (1980) 3.1 APA task force 3.2 Amicus curiae 3.3 Need for more research on topic 4 Landmark Education legal dispute (1996) 5 Harassment and death threats 6 Death 7 Awards 8 Publications 8.1 Books 8.2 Academic journal articles 9 References 10 External Links 11 See also

[edit] Education

Margaret Singer was born in Denver and received her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Denver. Her Ph.D. was in clinical psychology, which she obtained in 1943. In the 1950s she was a leading researcher in the field of psychosomatic medicine.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Career as psychologist

[edit] Clinical research

After obtaining her Ph.D., Singer worked at the University of Colorado’s School of Medicine, in their department of psychiatry for eight years^[1].

Margaret Singer began to study brainwashing in the 1950s at Walter Reed Army Medical Center Institute of Research in Washington, D.C., where she interviewed U.S. soldiers who had been taken prisoner during the Korean War. Singer's research at Walter Reed has been described as "ground-breaking" within her field^[2][3]. She moved to Berkeley in 1958.

Singer's research also focused heavily on the areas of family therapy and schizophrenia. She was twice nominated for the nobel prize for her work with schizophrenia, and conducted research with the National Institute of Mental Health, the United States Air Force and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology^[4].

Dr. Singer began studying cults in the late 1960s. She published prolifically in the field of cults, mind control ("psychological coercion") and similar areas, and received a number of honors for her work.

She developed theories about how cults recruit and retain members (such as her Theory of Systematic Manipulation of Social and Psychological Influence) and was on the board of the American Family Foundation, the major anti-cult group in the United States. She headed the Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control (DIMPAC) in 1987 for the APA.

Dr. Singer was a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley from 1964 to 1991^[5]. In addition to UC Berkeley, Singer also taught at the University of Rochester, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine^[6].

[edit] Expert witness

She testified, with variable success, as an expert witness on mind control in numerous trials in the 1980s. She gave evidence at the 1976 trial of Patty Hearst, who had previously been kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. Singer interviewed more than 3,000 cult members, and assisted in over 200 court cases. She testified at the 1977 hearing for five young members of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church when their parents requested external help for them^[7].

In 1990, District Court Judge Lowell Jensen excluded her testimony in United States v. Fishman, because the Court was not convinced that the application of coercive persuasion theory to religious cults was widely accepted in the medical community and did not accept the coercive persuasion theory in the context of cults. ^[8]

[edit] Professional associations

Margaret Singer was President of the American Psychosomatic Society 1972-1973, and a board member of the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute Review Board and the American Family Foundation^[9].

She was also very active in the fields of communication and family therapy and for eight years; a member of the Board of Directors of Family Process.

She was also co-creator of FACTNet^[10] and served on their advisory board^[11].

[edit] DIMPAC controversy (1980)

For more details, see The APA, DIMPAC, and the brainwashing theories

[edit] APA task force

In the early 1980s, some U.S. mental health professionals became controversial figures due to their involvement as expert witnesses in court cases against new religious movements. In their testimony, they stated that anti-cult theories of brainwashing, mind control, or coercive persuasion were generally accepted concepts within the scientific community.

The American Psychological Association (APA) in 1983 asked Margaret Singer, who was one of the leading proponents of coercive persuasion theories, to chair a taskforce called DIMPAC to investigate whether brainwashing or "coercive persuasion" did indeed play a role in recruitment by such movements.

The task force was titled: APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control. The final report of the Task Force was completed in November of 1986. The task force members consisted of Dr. Margaret Singer, Harold Goldstein of the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Michael Langone from the American Family Foundation, Dr. Jesse S. Miller, Dr. Maurice K. Temerlin of Clinical Psychology Consultants, Inc. and Dr. Louis Jolyon West of the University of California Los Angeles^[12].

The report has been cited recently by a July 2006 conference^[13] in Melbourne, Australia, and is used as a reference text in psychology for Doctoral and post-doctoral students, at Brigham Young University's David O. McKay School of Education^[14].

[edit] Amicus curiae

Before the taskforce had submitted its final report, the APA submitted on February 10, 1987 an amicus curiæ brief in an ongoing case. The brief stated that Signer's hypotheses were uninformed speculations based on skewed data. ^[15]. The brief characterized the theory of brainwashing as not scientifically proven and suggests the hypothesis that cult recruitment techniques might prove coercive for certain sub-groups, while not affecting others coercively.

On March 24, 1987, APA filed a motion to withdraw its signature from this brief, as it considered the conclusion premature, in view of the ongoing work of the DIMPAC taskforce. The amicus as such was kept, as only APA withdraw the signature, but not the co-signed scholars among them alleged cult apologists: Jeffrey Hadden, Eileen Barker, David Bromley and J. Gordon Melton.

On May 11, 1987, the Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP) rejected the DIMPAC report because "the brainwashing theory espoused lacks the scientific rigor and evenhanded critical approach necessary for APA imprimatur", and concluded "Finally, after much consideration, BSERP does not believe that we have sufficient information available to guide us in taking a position on this issue."

APA Division 36 (then Psychologists Interested in Religious Issues, today Psychology of Religion) in its 1990 annual convention approved a resolution in which it was stated that there was no research that scientifically supports the assertion that non-physical persuasion such as "coercive persuasion", "mind control", or "brainwashing" is practiced by religious groups. ^[16]

When her findings were later also rejected by BSERP for "[lacking] the scientific rigor and evenhanded critical approach necessary" Singer sued the APA in 1992 and lost in 1994. ^[17]

[edit] Need for more research on topic

Amitrani and Marzio (2001) write "If a single Division of APA does not represent the whole Association, then can't we also say that four experts (the number of people reviewing the DIMPAC report), only two of whom were APA members, do not represent the views of the whole Association?"

Zablocki (1997) and Amitrani (2001) cite APA boards and scholars on the subject and conclude that there is no unanimous decision of the APA regarding this issue. They also write that Margaret Singer despite the rejection of the DIMPAC report continued her work and was respected in the psychological community, which they corroborate by mentioning that in the 1987 edition of the peer-reviewed Merck's Manual, Margaret Singer was the author of the article "Group Psychodynamics and Cults" (Singer, 1987).

Amitrani and Marzio (2001) quote Benjamin Zablocki, professor of sociology and one of the reviewers of the rejected DIMPAC report, as writing in 1997 that people were "misled about the true position of the APA and the ASA with regard to brainwashing." They urged scholars to do more research on the matter. ^[18]

APA Division 36 in its 1990 annual convention approved the following resolution:

"The Executive Committee of the Division of Psychologists Interested in Religious Issues supports the conclusion that, at this time, there is no consensus that sufficient psychological research exists to scientifically equate undue non-physical persuasion (otherwise known as "coercive persuasion", "mind control", or "brainwashing") with techniques of influence as typically practiced by one or more religious groups. Further, the Executive Committee invites those with research on this topic to submit proposals to present their work at Divisional programs." (PIRI Executive Committee Adopts Position on Non-Physical Persuasion Winter, 1991, in Amitrano and Di Marzio, 2001)

In 2002 Philip Zimbardo, who was then president of the APA, wrote in Psychology Monitor:

"A body of social science evidence shows that when systematically practiced by state-sanctioned police, military or destructive cults, mind control can induce false confessions, create converts who willingly torture or kill "invented enemies," engage indoctrinated members to work tirelessly, give up their money--and even their lives--for "the cause." (Zimbardo, 2002)

[edit] Landmark Education legal dispute (1996)

In 1996, Landmark Education sued Singer, for defamation. Singer mentioned Landmark Education in Cults in our Midst; it was unclear whether she labelled Landmark Education as a cult or not. Singer issued a statement pursuant to a settlement agreement stating that she did not intend to call Landmark a cult, nor did she consider it a cult. ^[19] Singer removed the references to Landmark Education from subsequent editions of the book. She also stated at deposition that she had "no personal, firsthand knowledge of Landmark or its programs."

Amanda Scioscia reported in the Phoenix New Times that Singer never called Landmark a cult, but that she described it as a "a controversial New Age training course". In the resoulion of the suit Singer gave sworn testimony that Landmark is not a cult or sect. She also stated that she would not recommend the group to anyone, and would not comment on whether Landmark uses coercive persuasion for fear of legal recrimination from Landmark^[20]

[edit] Harassment and death threats

Due to her unwavering stance on the issues of cults and brainwashing, Singer often became the target of harassment and death threats. She occasionally found dead animals on her doorstep ^[21]. In addition, cult "operatives" went through Singer's trash and mail, picketed her lectures, hacked into her computer and released live rats in her house.^[22] One "cultist" worked her way into Singer's office, stole students' term papers and sent notes to Singer's students. Groups also harassed Singer's family as well, according to statements made by her family to the San Francisco Chronicle^[23]. Singer became so concerned regarding the harassment and death threats that she began to take an assumed name while traveling^[24].

[edit] Death

Margaret Singer died of pneumonia on November 23, 2003 in Berkeley, California, at the Alta Bates Medical Center. She was 82.

[edit] Awards

• Twice Nominated for Nobel Prize for work with schizophrenia
• Leo J. Ryan Memorial Award
• Research Scientist Award
• Hofheimer Prize, American College of Psychiatrists, 1966
• Stanley R. Dean Award from the American College of Psychiatrists, Research in Schizophrenia, 1976
• Achievement Awards - Mental Health Association of the United States^[25][26]

[edit] Publications

[edit] Books

• Cults in our Midst, 1995, ISBN 0-7879-0051-6
• Crazy Therapies: What Are They? Do They Work?, 1996, ISBN 0-7879-0278-0
• Recovery from Cults, Contributor, 1995, ISBN 0-393-31321-2

[edit] Academic journal articles

• Report of the Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control (DIMPAC Report), Margaret Thaler Singer, et. al.
• The "Not Me" Myth: Orwell and the Mind, January 19, 1996, Vol.2, no.2, Idea Journal
• Undue Influence and Written Documents: Psychological Aspects, Cultic Studies Journal Volume 10, Number 1 1993
• Post-Cult After Effects,
• How the United States Marine Corps Differs from Cults
• Psychotherapy Cults
• Coming Out of the Cults, Psychology Today, January, 1979
• Cults, Coercion, and Contumely, Cultic Studies Journal, Psychological Manipulation and Society, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1992
• Thought Reform Exists: Organized, Programmatic Influence, 1994
• Mistakes Families Make, Cults, Psychological Manipulation: Arlington, Virginia, 1992

[edit] References

[edit] External Links

• Documents on Brainwashing Controversies and the APA
• bio, Idea Journal, Margaret Thaler Singer Ph.D.
• FACTnet past board of directors, brief biographical profile

Obituaries

• Margaret Singer, Mother of Anti-Cult Brainwashing Theory, Dies in Berkeley, Center for Studies on New Religions, 2003
• "Professor Margaret Singer dies at 82: Former UC educator was psychologist, champion of free thought and an expert on cults", Alameda Times-Star, November 27, 2003, Katherine Pfrommer, cited in Rick Ross' website
• Margaret Singer -- expert on brainwashing, San Francisco Chronicle, November 25, 2003
• A Loss for the Family Field: The Death of Margaret T. Singer, Family Process, March 1, 2004, Lyman C. Wynne

[edit] See also

• Cults
• Landmark Education
• List of cult researchers
• Patricia Hearst

Part of a series on Cults

Cult Cults and governments Cult of personality Cult suicide Destructive cult In literature, popular culture Political cult Cult apologist

Individuals Cult and NRM researchers

Organizations CESNUR Cult Awareness Network Cult-watching group Fight Against Coercive Tactics FREECOG Int'l Cultic Studies Assoc. MIVILUDES Reachout Trust

Opposition Anti-Cult Movement Christian countercult movement Opposition to cults and NRMs

Theories / Methodologies Brainwashing Cult checklists Deprogramming Exit counseling Mind control Post-cult trauma

Related Apostasy Bigotry Charismatic authority Groupthink Occult Religious intolerance True-believer syndrome Witch hunt Freedom of religion Universal Declaration Human Rights Freedom of Expression Religious freedom by country This box: view • talk • edit