Factor Analysis of Social Indicators in the Middle East: Effects of Cultural, Military, Political, and Climatic Events and Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program

A group practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program in Israel had a stronger positive effect on a composite quality-of-life index (crime, auto accidents, fires, national mood, stock market, and war intensity in Lebanon) than did cultural, military, political, or climatic events. Vacations improved the index, while summer heat and the resignation of Prime Minister Begin decreased it. Factor analysis revealed two underlying dimensions: a collective-actor factor (war, national mood, stock prices) and an individual-actor factor (crime, fires, auto accidents). The meditation group positively influenced both factors, with a stronger effect on the collective-actor dimension, suggesting the practice affects society as a whole more than individual behaviors.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has proposed a fundamentally new theory of society, which posits a field of collective consciousness as the causal level of social organization underlying all patterns of relationships between and among individuals and social groups. The purpose of the present study was to use factor analysis to examine the inter-correlation patterns among the dependent variables used in our previous research set in Israel. We wanted to reduce them to two composite factors for the purpose of seeing what these factors might tell us about collective consciousness and how it reacts to cultural, military, political, and climatic events in the country, as well as to a group practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program there. First, we studied the effects of the various salient events in the country on the Overall quality of life index used in our previous research, which is the arithmetic mean of crime, auto accidents, fires, national mood, the stock market, and the war intensity in Lebanon. Vacations (weekends and holidays in Israel) improved the Overall index (effect size d = 1.25, p < .00001). Summer heat and the resignation of Prime Minister Begin both decreased the index (d’s = -.78 and -.89, respectively, p < .004). These findings validate that our quality of life index was sensitive to a variety of events, and therefore is a good reflection of the collective consciousness of the country. The effect of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi group on the Overall index was stronger than any of the cultural, military, political, or climatic events studied, effect size d = 1.64, p < .00001. Moreover, the effect of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi group on the index was robust under different conditions, during workdays as well as during vacations, during hot days as well as cool days, before as well as after the Israeli military withdrawal from Lebanon, and during the Begin resignation period as well as at other times (p’s ranged from .003 to .0000001). These results support the theory that the Maharishi Effect operates on the fundamental level of the unified field of natural law, which is transcendental to the relative changing values in cultural, political, military, and climatic events. The next phase in this study was to examine how the different social indicators might cluster into higher order factors and to study how the Maharishi Effect might differentially influence these factors. Factor analysis of the dependent variables yielded two factors that accounted for 57% of the variance. Factor 1 loaded on the Lebanon-war variables, the national mood, and stock prices. Factor 2 loaded on crime, fires, and auto accidents. The Begin resignation and the withdrawal of the Israeli army had a negative impact on Factor 1 (i.e., during that period war increased and stock prices and national mood declined, p’s < .000002). Vacations and temperature changes had no significant effect on Factor 1. However, vacations, cool days, and the military withdrawal were associated with improvements in Factor 2 (fewer crimes, auto accidents, and fires (p’s < .003 to .0000004). Only the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi group had a significant and positive effect on both Factors 1 and 2, and its effect on Factor 1 was over twice as strong as that on Factor 2 (d = 1.52, p < .0000004 and d = .67, p < .01, respectively). Factor 1 may be interpreted as a collective-actor dimension of social indicators, which reflects the motivations and actions of society as a whole, represented in this study by events pertaining to the nation’s leader, war, and economic index. Factor 2 appears to represent individual-actor variables, which reflect individually motivated behaviours in society, as indicated by criminal behaviour, driving skill, and domestic fires. This interpretation of the results suggests that the effect of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi group was stronger on society as a holistic entity than on the personal behaviour of individuals within society. This suggests new directions of study for this as well as for other areas of social indicators research. First, we studied the effects of the various salient events in the country on the Overall quality of life index used in our previous research. Vacations improved the Overall index (effect size d = 1.25, p < .00001). Summer heat and the resignation of Prime Minister Begin both decreased the index (d’s = -.78 and -.89, respectively, p < .004). These findings validate that our quality of life index was sensitive to a variety of events, and therefore is a good reflection of the collective consciousness of the country. The effect of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi group (the “TM Group”) on the Overall index was stronger than any of the cultural, military, political, or climatic events studied. Moreover, the effect of the TM Group on the index was robust under different conditions. These results support the theory that the Maharishi Effect operates on the fundamental level of the unified field of natural law, which is transcendental to the relative changing values in cultural, political, military, and climatic events. The next phase in this study was to examine how the different social indicators might cluster into higher order factors and to study how the Maharishi Effect might differentially influence these factors. Factor analysis of the dependent variables yielded two factors that accounted for 57% of the variance. Factor 1 loaded on the Lebanon-war variables, the national mood, and stock prices. Factor 2 loaded on crime, fires, and auto accidents. Factor 1 may be interpreted as a collective-actor dimension of social indicators, which reflects the motivations and actions of society as a whole. Factor 2 appears to represent individual-actor variables. This interpretation of the results suggests that the effect of the TM Group was stronger on society as a holistic entity than on the personal behaviour of individuals within society. This suggests new directions of study for this as well as for other areas of social indicators research.