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Effect of Practice of Maharishi Word of Wisdom Technique on Childrens Cognitive Stage Development: Acquisition and Consolidation of Conservation
Charles N. Alexander
Maharishi University of Management

Sidney C. Kurth
Hampshire College

Frederick Travis
Maharishi University of Management

Victoria K. Alexander
Maharishi University of Management
This cross-sectional study examined cognitive stage development in 47 children practicing the Maharishi Word of Wisdom technique and in 47 matched controls. Cognitive stage development was operationalized as acquisition and consolidation of conservation in seven tasks that were ordered easy to hard: two-dimensional space, number, substance, continuous quantity, weight, discontinuous quantity, and volume. The number of Word of Wisdom children mastering all conservation tasks was significantly larger and the number who were in transition was significantly smaller than those in the control group. The Word of Wisdom technique may lead to more rapid acquisition and consolidation of conservation by de-embedding thinking from perception and behavior during the practice. Once differentiated, more abstract thinking processes would be available to mediate performance on complex cognitive tasks.

Human development typically moves towards increasing differentiation of the self from the environment (Piaget, 1954). The progress of self-differentiation is in a dual direction, with the objective world becoming more external to the self and of the activity of knowing becoming
Authors Info: Frederick Travis, Maharishi Vedic Science Department, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, IA 52557; (641) 472-7000; email ftravis@mum.edu.
Transcendental Meditation, TM, Maharishi Word of Wisdom, Word of Wisdom, Maharishi Vedic Science, Maharishi University of Management, and Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment are registered or common law trademarks licensed to Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation and used under sublicense or with permission

Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 2005, 17, 2146. 2005 Select Press, Novato, CA, 415/209-9838.

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more internal and abstract (Piaget, 1954). At each further stage of development, a more stable and unified internal frame of reference is established, providing an increasingly comprehensive context within which information is processed and given meaning (Alexander et al., 1990). Piaget identified four stages of cognitive development from birth through adolescence and early adulthood (Piaget, 1970; Piaget & Inhelder, 1974). These four stages are (1) the sensori-motor period characterized by moving objects in relation to the body, i.e. shaking a rattle back and forth; (2) the preoperational level characterized by non-analytical mentation and perception; (3) the concrete mental operations period characterized by the ability to perform internal, simple, logical operations on concrete observables; and (4) the formal operations period characterized by abstract or reflective thought and hypothetico-deductive reasoning operating on operations. Although the specific ages at which a person achieves each stage varies, Piaget (1952) proposed that they form an invariant hierarchical sequence. According to Piagets structural-developmental theory, each earlier level is the logical and necessary condition for the following one, and all the abilities in the previous level are incorporated as a subset of the current stage. There is a striking correspondence between the sequence of Piagets four stages and the levels of mental functioning delineated in Maharishi Vedic Science. These levels of conscious functioning in Maharishi Vedic Science, collectively referred to as levels of mind, include senses (perception), mind (conceptual thinking),1 intellect (decisionmaking and discrimination), and the ego (experiencer) (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 1969; Alexander et al., 1990). These levels represent qualitatively distinct styles of functioning of the individuallike resonant modes of a single frequencythat are hierarchically organized. For instance, all perceptions fall on the screen of the mind, which are discriminated by the intellect, and experienced by the ego. It is recognized that there is a general correspondence between the level of maturation of the nervous system and the corresponding stage of cognitive development delineated by Piaget. For example, growth spurts in the brain and proportional increases in EEG alpha production tend to correspond with shifts to higher levels of cognitive-structural development (Epstein, 1974, 1980; Matousek & Petersen, 1973). The nervous system appears to develop from a relatively undifferentiated and primi1

Mind is used in two ways in Maharishi Vedic Science (Alexander et al., 1997). It refers both specifically to the level of active conceptual thinking and generally to the totality of individual subjectivity.

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tive style of functioning to a more defined and differentiated style of functioning (e.g., Geschwind, 1967; Werner, 1957). From the perspective of Maharishi Vedic Science, progressive maturation of the nervous system is driven by biological mechanisms and ongoing experience (Alexander et al., 1990; Buonomano & Merzenich, 1998) that permit activation and utilization of each increasingly subtle more inner or abstractlevel of mind. We propose that the successive activation of each subtle level of the mind through physiological processes and an expanded range of experience may provide the deep structure for the sequential unfoldment of each corresponding level of cognitive development as described by Piaget and others (Piaget, 1950; Flavell, 1963). During the course of ontogenesis, identification with each successively more abstract level of mind is postulated to underlie and give rise to a progressively higher expression of cognitive-structural development. THE UNFREEZING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS Cognitive, moral, and self-development are typically believed to come to plateau during late adolescence or early adulthood with stabilization of formal operations (Kohlberg, 1969; Piaget & Inhelder, 1974; Redmore & Loevinger, 1979). This freezing of fundamental psychological development is generally believed to occur because the central nervous system stops developing during this period (e.g. Tanner, 1970), and because appropriate experiences are not available to activate more abstract levels of feeling and experience (Alexander et al., 1990). For instance, language learning is considered essential for promoting development through and beyond the sensori-motor and pre-conceptual levels of early childhood to the conceptual level of ordinary adult thought (Alexander, 1982; Alexander & Boedeker, 1982). In a similar fashion, a post-language system may be fundamental for promoting development through and beyond the ordinary language-based conceptual levels of thought to post-formal levels of cognitive and affective functioning (Alexander et al., 1990; Richards & Commons, 1990). Alexander and colleagues (1990) proposed that the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique may be a developmental technology for unfreezing the process of ontogenesis or human maturation (Alexander, 1982; Alexander et al., 1990). The TM technique is a simple, effortless mental procedure that is easily learned and practiced 20 minutes twice a day. It has been defined as turning the attention inward to subtler levels of awareness (beyond the ordinary conceptual level) until consciousness transcends the experience of the subtlest mental fluctuations and arrives at

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the source of thought, pure consciousnesscontent-free awareness (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 1966; Alexander et al., 1997). Research supports the hypothesis that the TM program acts to unfreeze human development (Alexander, 1982; Alexander et al., 1990). In two participant populations that are highly resistant to change, the institutionalized elderly and maximum-security prisoners, TM practice led to significant gains in cognitive development. In an elderly population (mean age 80.7 years), participants randomly assigned to learn the TM technique significantly improved on three measures of cognitive flexibility and learning, on word fluency, systolic blood pressure, mental health, and self-ratings of behavioral flexibility and aging, compared to two control groups (Alexander, Langer, Newman, Chandler, & Davies, 1989). In a maximum security prison population, both advanced TM practitioners (with 33 months practice) and newer TM inmates (with 17 months practice) significantly improved on Loevingers (1976) measure of self- or socio-cognitive development. These inmates progressed more than one step in Loevingers scale, while a wait-list control group and members of four other self-improvement groups remained relatively unchanged (Alexander, 1982). On the average, new meditators moved from a more concrete thinking conformity stage (1 3) to a more reflective self-aware level (1-3/4) of development on Loevingers scale, and regular advanced meditators moved from the selfaware (1-3/4) to the still more internalized, post-conventional conscientious stage (14). The above findings indicate that the TM program appears to facilitate fundamental cognitive and self-developmental shifts in populations in which development has typically leveled off. There also exists a technique that children may practice prior to learning the Transcendental Meditation technique at age 10. This technique, known as the Maharishi Word of Wisdom technique, may be learned as early as four or five years of agethe time when preoperational thinking shifts to concrete operational thought. The question that naturally arises is whether the Word of Wisdom technique can promote child development similar to the changes in adult development reported above. Specifically, can practice of the Word of Wisdom technique facilitate a shift from preoperational thought to the consolidation of concrete operational thought en route to full conceptual development? The TM technique appears to unfreeze human development through transcending to progressively more abstract levels of cognitive functioning, ultimately to pure consciousness. The Word of Wisdom technique may facilitate childrens development by stabilizing attention at

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a more fundamental level of mental activitythinking rather than perception or action. Developmental Landmarks in Children A major hallmark in the development of Piagets concrete operational stage is the acquisition and consolidation of conservation (Piaget, 1970; Ginsburg & Opper, 1969). Conservation is the ability to recognize that certain attributes of an object remain invariant in the face of changes in other attributes (Flavell, 1963). During the preoperational period, the child relies upon immediate perceptual input when dealing with conceptual problems like Piagets conservation tasks. For example, to solve Piagets conservation-of-liquid-quantity task, the child must recognize that when water is poured from a short, stout beaker into tall, thin beaker, the amount of liquid remains the same (i.e., is conserved). The preschooler is more prone to spatially center his attention on a salient feature of the current stimulus array to the exclusion of other task-relevant features, and is therefore more likely to reach a faulty conclusion. In this case, the child typically centers his/her attention on the higher level of water in the tall beaker and thereby reaches the false conclusion that the tall beaker contains more water. Similarly, the child is prone toward temporally centering on the immediately present state to the exclusion of state-producing transformations giving rise to the current state. In making a decision, the child does not duly take into consideration that the same liquid has simply been poured (state-transformed) from one beaker to another (Flavell, 1977). In contrast, the concrete operational child employs a spatially and temporally decentered analysis of the perceptual array. He therefore attains a broader and more inclusive purview of the stimulus field (Flavell, 1977, p. 81). In reaching a decision that the amount of liquid has not changed, the concrete operator seems to be simultaneously taking into account that the beaker is not only taller but also thinner. The child comes to consider not only the end-state of the current display, but the state-transformation that gave rise to it. While the simplest conservation tasks may be mastered at 56 years of age, it has been consistently observed that full stabilization of conservation skillsthe generalization of conservation across tasks of varying difficulty requires a further 5 to 7 years. This phenomenon of temporal displacements or repeated delays in final consolidation of a general skill within a single developmental level is referred to as horizontal decalage (Flavell, 1963; Piaget, 1954). For example, conservation of number i.e., the ability to recognize that a number of items remains the same

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despite changes in their spatial arrangementis typically acquired around the age of 56. Nevertheless, it is usually not till the age of 78 that a child can conserve for liquid quantity; the age of 910 before he can conserve for weight; and conservation of volume is usually exhibited around the age of 1112. Even though each conservation task involves similar mental operations, these mental operations are tied to specific situations and perceptions and cannot be readily adapted to more demanding settings. This demonstrates how concrete the thinking of a child is at this age (Piaget, 1954; Ginsburg & Opper, 1969). Piaget believes that horizontal decalage may result from the childs gradual and sequential assimilation of each new level of task complexity into his/her existing cognitive scheme. While the gradual nature of this process may suggest a partial explanation of horizontal decalage, nevertheless this prevalent phenomenon poses a fundamental problem to Piagets theory of cognitive-structural development. If cognitive stages represent qualitatively distinct structured wholes, which are acquired through a metamorphosis-like process of phase changes, then a child should not be at one level of cognitive development (as evidenced by mastery of conservation) in one setting and at a different level of cognitive development (as indicated by failure to conserve) in another setting (other irregularities in development have also been observed; see, for example, Flavell, 1977, pp. 219256). Piaget (1960) found that increased familiarity with materials used in conservation tasks shortens the time span of horizontal decalage. Crosscultural studies support this concept (Wessells, 1982). However, unless children are already in transition in the mastering of conservation tasks, attempts to teach conservation by demonstrating the logical operations involved or providing behavioral reinforcement generally meet with little success (for example, Ault, 1977; Smedslund, 1961). Gelman (1969) was successful in using feedback to teach children the relevant dimensions for determining conservation of length and number. However, she did not know how children naturally learn to attend to the relevant dimensions. Researchers working with a process-approach to development have suggested that the development of certain cognitive abilities like perceptual activity (OBryan & Boersma, 1971), memory and cognitive synthesis (Jamison & Dansky, 1979), sequential processing (Hamilton & Moss, 1974), and central information capacity or working memory (PascualLeone, 1970) may be a prerequisite for the transition to and consolidation of the concrete operational stage. Following Piaget, Flavell (1963) placed emphasis not so much on the continuous growth of specific cognitive abilities in explaining the

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final consolidation of conservation but rather on the requirement for an underlying qualitative transformation in the relationship of the participant (or knower) to the object of experience:
The fact that the concrete operational child is still (relatively) bound to the phenomena here (requires him) to vanquish the various physical properties of objects and events one by one because his cognitive instruments are insufficiently detached and dissociated from the subject matter they bear upon to permit a content-free once-for-all restructuring. A cognitive system more independent and detached from the specific reality it organizes would not be expected to show horizontal decalage. (p. 204)

If there existed a technology of consciousness to systematically take attention to more abstract levels of the mindmore independent and detached from the specific realities it currently organizesthen horizontal decalage (at any level of development) could be eliminated or at least minimized. Description of the Word of Wisdom Technique The Word of Wisdom technique was developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as an age-appropriate technique to strengthen the mind and stabilize the thinking process of the child. It is learned around the age of four or five and practiced for a few minutes each day with eyes open, while the child is engaged in easy activity, such as walking. The Word of Wisdom technique differs from most developmental interventions, such as training and instructional methodologies. It is not task oriented and does not attempt to teach concepts and rules of problem solving. Rather, it is understood to promote balance in the mind and body and greater integration in the functioning of the nervous system. This increased integration may underly observed improvements on a wide range of tasks. Piaget (1970) suggested that new cognitive structures are built through a process of learning or resolving cognitive conflict. In contrast, the Word of Wisdom technique may stimulate more fundamental levels of inner functioning through systematic attention, without strain, to a deeper level of cognitive activity than has been dominant so farthe level of inner speech or thought. This may facilitate a shift of the dominant locus of conscious awareness from the level of simple perception, representation, and desire to the level of the thinking mind. According to the theory of levels of mind in Maharishi Vedic Science, during the preoperational stage of development, conscious awareness would be primarily identified with or would operate through the level of perception. During the concrete operational stage, conscious awareness would be primarily identified with the concrete thinking level

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of mind, which is said to be responsible for comparing and integrating perceptual and simple mental content (Alexander, Travis, Rector, & Clayborne, 1997). The Word of Wisdom technique may promote the transition from the preoperational to the concrete operational stage by stabilizing the thinking process and increasing integration between thinking, perception, and action. According to the ontogenetic principle of development (Werner, 1957; Langer, 1969), the defining characteristic of a more developed system is that it is increasingly differentiated and hierarchically integrated. In this case, the Word of Wisdom technique would be fostering the differentiation of thought and perception and the hierarchical integration of thought with perception. Through regular practice of this procedure, awareness would no longer be primarily identified withor centered uponparticulars of the current perceptual array but rather would come to be primarily identified with the hierarchically more comprehensive level of the apprehending mind. This more comprehensiveor decenteredlevel of mind would permit coordination of the particulars of the stimulus array, and allow a broader and more inclusive purview of the temporal and spatial field, thus allowing solution of conservation problems (Flavell, 1977). HYPOTHESES According to Piaget (1954), conservation of quantity, weight, and volume require greater degrees of departure from the field of immediate actions and perceptions in order to construct an adequate network of relations to explain phenomena increasingly remote from the surface appearance of objects in vision. Daily practice of the Word of Wisdom technique should more rapidly habituate awareness to function from the more comprehensive perspective of the thinking mind while engaged in perception and action, and hence accelerate the rate of consolidation of conservation. Through this process, when thought becomes completely differentiated or independent from the field of perception, which it organizes (regardless of the complexity of the perceptual array), then according to Flavells dictum (1963), horizontal decalage would be minimized.2 If the Word of Wisdom practice optimizes the natural process of growth in childhood, then it may be anticipated that the initial onset of conservation skills in children participating in this program would be
2

Cognitive differentiation should not be confused with inner detachment or withdrawal. From a developmental perspective, cognitive differentiation is a necessary condition for integration whereas inner withdrawal may actually impede mind/body coordination (Werner, 1948).

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accelerated. More important it would be predicted that the seeming developmental irregularity of prolonged consolidation of conservation skillsthe phenomena of horizontal decalagewould be significantly foreshortened, and in some cases possibly eliminated in children practicing the Word of Wisdom technique. In the context of this cross-sectional study it is specifically hypothesized that, compared to controls: 1. Participants practicing the Word of Wisdom technique will achieve significantly higher scores on a series of conservation tasks (of increasing difficulty) than a control group equivalent in age range, education, and socio-economic status. Also, examination of the raw data should reveal earlier initial onset times of conservation skills. 2. A significantly greater proportion of the participants practicing the Word of Wisdom technique should exhibit full consolidation of conservation as indicated by complete mastery on the series of conservation tasks (i.e., receiving a maximum score). 3. Significantly fewer participants practicing the Word of Wisdom technique should display horizontal decalage as indicated by a transitional score in mastering of the conservation series (i.e., receiving between a minimum and maximum score). METHODS Participants Two groups of children participated in the study. The experimental group included 45 participants (24 females and 21 males). Thirty-two of the children were from the Cambridge, Massachusetts area. Thirteen of the children were from Fairfield, Iowathe location of Maharishi University of Management and the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenmenta K12 school on the university campus. The Maharishi School is fully accredited and offers a traditional academic curriculum supplemented by programs to provide knowledge and direct experience of the knower through the Word of Wisdom technique (K4th grade) and the TM program (5th12th grade). The control group was composed of 47 non-meditating participants21 females and 26 malesfrom the Ryan Road School in Northampton, Massachusetts, which is associated with Hampshire College. The mean parental occupational SES level (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1950) as determined by primary source of income was 58 for the experimental group and 56 for the control group. The groups were also similar in grade and age. The experimental group ranged in age from 4.00 to 11.00 with a mean of 7.8 years and the control group ranged in

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age from 5.00 to 10.00 with a mean of 7.7 years. The groups did not significantly differ on any of these demographic variables. Materials Test of conservation ability. The Concept Assessment Kit-Conservation Form A, developed by M.L. Goldschmidt and P.M. Bentler (1968), was used to test conservation performance. The kit is a standardized measure assessing the principle of conservation. It is the only commercially available standardized measurement of conservation and has been used extensively for research purposes. It includes six different tasks that sequentially test conservation of two-dimensional space, number, substance, continuous quantity, weight, and discontinuous quantity. The tasks were presented in increasing level of difficulty except for the last two tasks in which weight was presented before discontinuous quantity. Two tasks are included that require a more response rather than the usual same response to receive a correct answer, in order to reduce the effect of participant response set. Also, because the participants had to explain their responses, the experimenter could determine whether the correct behavior was due to understanding the principles involved in the task, rather than just guessing or a superficial level of comprehension. This instrument was augmented by a standard volume conservation task described by Ginsburg and Opper (1969, p. 163), so that the full range of complexity of conservation tasks could be measured. This task involves putting clay balls into two glasses filled with identical amounts of water. They are then taken out, and one of the balls is flattened into a pancake. The child is then asked the following question: If the two pieces of clay were put back into the water, would the water rise up the same amount in each glass, or would it rise more in one glass or more in the other glass? The series of conservation tasks were scored as follows: one point was given for a correct response on each task, and one point for a correct explanation of each response. This permitted a maximum score of fourteen points: twelve points for the six tasks in the Concept Assessment Kit, and an additional two points for the volume task. Parental demographics. A parental occupation/socioeconomic background questionnaire (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1950) was also given to the parents to fill out, and the childrens age, grade, and gender were recorded. These were obtained because a childs age, grade, and in certain studies parental SES, have been found to correlate with performance on conservation tasks (e.g., Goodnow & Bethon, 1966).

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Procedure All of the available children participating in the Word of Wisdom technique in Cambridge and the surrounding area (according to the Cambridge TM Center records) were canvassed and, with only one exception, agreed to participate in the study (with their parents permission). In addition, all the children in the kindergarten4th grades at Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment were invited to participate in the study, and all agreed to participate. To form a comparison control, students were randomly selected from the kindergarten4th grades at the Ryan School and asked to participate in the study. All students randomly selected agreed to participate in the research. The participants were tested over a three-month period in the spring. Each participant was tested individually. The participants at the Ryan School and the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment were tested in school during class time. The testing time was approximately 15 minutes. The children living around the Cambridge TM Center were individually contacted and tested in their homes. The children were made to feel that the procedure was a game instead of a test in the usual sense of the term. The children were unaware of the experimental hypotheses. The test was given using the standard instructions for the Concept Assessment Kit and for the conservation of volume task. Statistical Analyses To test the first hypothesis, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was utilized to determine whether the children in the Word of Wisdom group would score higher than the control group adjusting for possible differences between the groups on the relevant demographic covariates of age, grade, gender, and parental SES. A nonparametric test of proportion (Bruning & Kintz, 1968) was used to test the second hypothesis that fewer participants in the Word of Wisdom group would be in transition (i.e., experiencing horizontal decalage on the tests of mastery of conservation) as indicated by (a) a higher proportion of Word of Wisdom participants than control participants fully mastering the series of conservation tasks, and (b) a smaller proportion of Word of Wisdom participants than control participants still in transition in mastery of these tasks. RESULTS As predicted, mean conservation score was found to be significantly correlated with age (r = .56, p < .0001), grade (r = . 53, p < .0001), and SES (r = .21, p < .05) but not significantly correlated with gender (r = .14, NS). These first three demographic variables were entered as covariates in the analysis.

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All of the variables were normally distributed except for the raw conservation scores, which displayed skewed distribution. However, the residuals for the conservation variable (i.e., the portion of the observed score not explained by the treatment variable and covariates) was normally distributed. Therefore it was appropriate to apply analysis of covariance. For the residuals, tests for skewness and kurtosis indicated that the assumption of a normal distribution of the residuals could not be rejected. The control group scored well above the norms collected by Goldschmidt and Bentler (1968) on this series of tasks for children of comparable ages (albeit their norms seem to be based on samples drawn from a somewhat lower socioeconomic level). While Ginsburg and Opper (1969) do not report precise norms on their standard volume conservation test, they stated (along with Piaget & Inhelder, 1969, p. 99) that volume conservation is not typically attained till 1112 years of age. Interestingly, in Piagets seminal study on conservation (Piaget & Inhelder, 1941), which employed the exact same conservation of volume procedure, only 11% of the 180 Swiss children aged 410 years attained conservation of matter, weight and volume. In marked contrast, in the current study, 82% of the Word of Wisdom group (similar in age range) fully mastered the series. Again, the current control group appeared to score relatively well as indicated by 43% of the controls mastering the entire series. In general, the relatively high level of performance for the controls is probably due to their similar demographic make-up to the Word of Wisdom groupfor example, their residential location in a college environment and a generally high level of occupational SES attainment by their parents. This indicates that the substantially higher proportion of stabilized conservers in the Word of Wisdom group is not due to a poorer performance by the control group than the general population. Indeed, the generally high rate of conservation among the controls in comparison to the larger population suggests that it may have provided a relatively conservative comparison group. Figure 1 displays the mean conservation scores for the two groups adjusted for the covariates of age, grade, gender, and parental SES. The adjusted mean score for the TM group (M = 12.06, S.E. = .60) was significantly higher than the adjusted mean score (M = 9.87, S.E. = .58) for the control group (F(l, 86) = 6.21, p < .01). Another ANCOVA was performed on the subgroup of children from the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment (n = 13), the subgroup from Cambridge (n = 32), and the control group (n = 47). A contrast on this ANCOVA indicated that there was no significant differ-

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14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Word of Wisdom Controls p < .01

ADJUSTED MEAN SCORE

Note: The mean scores on the cognitive-developmental tasks measuring conservation were adjusted for age, grade, gender and parental SES. The adjusted mean score for the participants practicing the Word of Wisdom technique (M = 12.06) was significantly higher than the adjusted mean score for the control group (M = 9.87). This suggests a faster rate of acquisition of conservation by the children practicing the Word of Wisdom technique.

FIGURE 1

Adjusted Mean Scores on Mastery of Conservation Tasks

ence in adjusted mean score between the two Word of Wisdom subgroups (t(85) = -.60, NS). Figure 2 shows the percentage of participants in the Word of Wisdom and control groups who achieved full mastery of the cognitivedevelopmental tasks measuring conservation. A markedly higher percentage of the Word of Wisdom participants achieved full mastery of tasks (82%) than control participants (43%). Employing a nonparametric test of proportion (Bruning & Kintz, 1968) this difference was highly significant (z = 3.85, p < 0001). Figure 3 indicates the percentage of subjects in each group who were in transition on mastery of conservation tasks, i.e., solving simple conservation tasks but not complex ones. The proportion was substantially lower for the Word of Wisdom group (7%) than the control group (51%). This difference was again highly significant (z= 4.50, p<.000l).

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90 80

PERCENTAGE OF PARTICIPANTS

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Word of Wisdom Controls p < .0001

Note: Eighty-two percent of the subjects practicing the Word of Wisdom technique exhibited full mastery of the cognitive-developmental tasks measuring conservation (N=45). In contrast, significantly fewer control subjects (only forty-three percent) exhibited full mastery on this series of tasks (N=47). The two groups were similar in age, grade, gender and parental SES.

FIGURE 2

Percentage of Participants Mastering All Conservation Tasks

It is striking that children who were practicing the Word of Wisdom technique either fully mastered the conservation tasks or did not appear to conserve at all. The scatter plot in Figure 4 provides an overall picture of the raw scores by age. The Word of Wisdom group had a small cluster of very young participants (younger than any control participants) who did not conserve on any of the tasks, and three participants still in transition (two of whom were also quite young). However 82% of the Word of Wisdom children, ranging in age from four years, five months (4.05) to eleven years, zero months (11.00) exhibited full mastery of the conservation tasks. This profile distinctly differs from that of the control group, whose distribution of scores more closely resembles what is usually seen in a population of children. Generally, once children begin to master simple conservation tasks they take a number of years typically five to seven years in horizontal decalagebefore fully mastering more complex tasks. The control group had a small cluster of

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55 50

PERCENTAGE OF PARTICIPANTS

45 40 30 20 15 10 5 0 Word of Wisdom Controls Note: Only seven percent of the subjects practicing the Word of Wisdom technique were in transition (N = 45) in mastering the cognitive-developmental tasks measuring conservation. In contrast, significantly more control subjects (fifty-one percent) were in transition in mastery of the series of conservation tasks (N = 47). They had mastered some simple conservation tasks: but not more complex ones. The two groups were similar in age, grade, gender and parental SES. This suggests more rapid consolidation of conservation in children practicing the Word of Wisdom technique. p < .0001

FIGURE 3

Percentage of Participants in Transition of Mastery of Conservation Tasks

relatively young children who did not conserve at all, and then there was a general trend toward increasing competence in performance on conservation tasks with increasing age, rather than a sharp transition to complete mastery as seen in the Word of Wisdom group. In addition to a more marked phase transition to full conservation in the Word of Wisdom group, the Word of Wisdom children appeared to begin acquisition of conservation skills at an earlier age than the control children. As seen in Figure 1, from 5.0811.00 years of age, all of the Word of Wisdom children were fully conserving with the exception of two individuals (at 6.09 and 8.03). In contrast, the youngest control child to fully master the conservation series was 6.05.

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Number of Conservation Tasks Mastered

Word of Wisdom group Control group

Zero

Age in Years

FIGURE 4

Number of Conservation Tasks Mastered for the Word of Wisdom Group and the Control Group

DISCUSSION
The results clearly indicate that childrens practice of the Word of Wisdom technique is positively related to performance on a series of cognitive-developmental tasks measuring conservation. All three experimental hypotheses were supported. First, the children practicing the Word of Wisdom technique appeared to begin acquisition of conservation skills at an earlier age than the controls. This is in part reflected by a significantly higher adjusted mean conservation score for the Word of Wisdom group and is further suggested by inspection of the raw data. For example, the youngest Word of Wisdom participant (4.00 years) was displaying minimal conservation skills, and two Word of Wisdom children younger than five (4.05 and 4.08) were already fully conserving. In contrast, the youngest control participant to fully conserve was 6.05 years of age. Second, a significantly greater proportion of the Word of Wisdom group exhibited full consolidation of conservation, as indicated by complete mastery of the conservation series. Finally, significantly fewer Word of Wisdom children displayed horizontal decalage, as indicated by a transitional score on the conservation series. The average adjusted conservation scores for each group significantly differed. In addition, the relative proportion of participants in each

In Transition

Mastery

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group exhibiting complete consolidation of conservation, i.e., not displaying horizontal decalage, also significantly differed. Horizontal decalage was the exception rather than the rule for children practicing the Word of Wisdom technique. If the children practicing the Word of Wisdom technique succeeded on a simpler task, they appeared very likely to master all the more complex conservation tasks as well. They seemed to be able to generalize a basic cognitive ability across different measures, regardless of the increasing difficulty of the tasks. The control participants performance was more representative of what is generally observed in young populations. Mastery of more complex conservation tasks occurred with increasing age, as seen in the upward drift in the controls raw test scores in Fig. 4. The larger number of control participants still in horizontal decalage is far more typical for children in this age range. The performance of the children practicing the Word of Wisdom technique suggests phase transitions between stages rather than prolonged temporal displacement. The possibility that under optimal conditions cognitive development could follow a more stage-like progression through discrete phase transitions would certainly be consistent with the general structural-developmental model which describes cognitive stages as structured wholes acquired through qualitative phase changes (Kohlberg, 1969; Flavell, 1971). A striking implication of this accelerated consolidation finding is that optimization of the natural growth process in childhood through the practice of the Word of Wisdom technique may result in a substantial foreshortening and, in some cases, possible elimination of the developmental irregularity of horizontal decalage. Given that virtually all the children who were practicing the Word of Wisdom technique were fully conserving by 5.08 years and that complete conservation does not typically occur till 11 or 12 years of age, the strongest possible interpretation of these data would suggest that practice of the Word of Wisdom technique may accelerate consolidation of conservation by as much as 5 7 years in comparison to the larger population. Consideration of the Findings in Terms of the Model of Levels of Mind As a developmental technology, the practice of the Word of Wisdom technique may be complementary to the role of language learning in child development. Language provides a medium for the internal representation of perception and thought, and for subsequent communication. While one can imagine thought without language, language provides a powerful symbol system for the elaboration of pre-conceptual and con-

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ceptual processes (Bruner, Oliver, & Greenfield, 1966; Kendler & Kendler, 1970). Though language may help release the very young child from the constraints of sensori-motor life by providing a vehicle for internal representation, it also provides its own constraints. The preoperational child becomes egocentric with respect to language and thought (Flavell, 1963). The young child is prone to confuse thoughts with things (Elkind, 1974). He finds it very difficult to treat his own thought processes as objects of thought. As Kegan (1982) has aptly stated, at this stage I am my perceptions and thoughts, rather than I have perceptions and thoughts. In our theoretical terms, at this stage the childs awareness is totally identified with his percepts and simple mentation. Once the childs awareness has become identified with perception and simple mentation rather than sensori-motor action, then the Word of Wisdom technique may facilitate the process whereby awareness becomes further de-embedded from perception and simple mentation. Instead it becomes primarily identified with the more comprehensive thinking level of the mind. From the thinking mind, perception and simple mentation can be more effectively coordinated. We predicted that through daily practice of this simple procedure, thought would become rapidly differentiated from and hierarchically integrated with the field of perception that it organizes, and hence, according to Flavells dictum (1963) horizontal decalage would be minimized. This was the apparent result observed. Once awareness is differentiated from perception, regardless of how complex the perceptual array may be, it would follow that the child should no longer slip back into centering on only the dominant features of the array. As a result of shifting the primary locus of awareness from perception to thought, conservation would become a conceptual problembased on the minds internal capacity to spontaneously compare and integrate simple perceptual and mental representationsrather than primarily a perceptual problem. Indeed, such a shift from on-thesurface perceptual representation to simple internal conceptual processing is a milestone in the development of concrete operational thought (Flavell, 1977, p. 79). Interestingly, efforts at training in cognitive, moral or self-development in childhood and adulthood usually focus on tasks very much related to the outcomes being measured. For example, young children learning conservation will train on conservation-like measures that make increasingly apparent the contradictions in the way the children are attempting to solve the problems (e.g., Inhelder & Sinclair, 1969). Because of this popular training methodology, treatment is typically

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confounded with outcome measures, and it is difficult to interpret how much the results represent meaningful changes. Even with application of these approaches, structural-developmental stage change has proven surprisingly resistant to modification (e.g., Kohlberg, Kauffman, Scharf, & Hickey, 1974; Kuhn, 1974; Loevinger, 1979). In this study, participants received no training in test-related materials or exposure to belief systems, nor did they maintain close contact with trainers or testers. These findings challenge the fundamental tenet held widely by different psychologists and educatorsfrom B.F. Skinner (1974) to Jean Piaget (1970)that interaction with the external environment in some form, is the critical factor in cognitive growth. For example, for Piaget (1954) the primary mechanism for transition through cognitive stages is the dynamic equilibration of assimilation and accommodation through interaction with the physical and social world. Each experience of the world involves some kind of cognitive restructuring. Once a new experience is assimilated into a present scheme, it tends to change the structure to some degree and through this change makes possible further accommodation (Flavell, 1963). For Piaget, cognitive stages reside neither in the organism nor in the environment but are actively constructed by the knower in his effort to come to know the external world (Kohlberg, 1969; Piaget, 1970). In fact for Piaget, it is primarily through cognitive conflict, through active efforts to solve apparent discrepancies or disequilibria in experience, that cognitive growth takes place. From our viewpoint, the unfolding of Piagets four cognitive stages may be optimized by specific inner experiences along with interaction with the external environment. Through regular practice of the Word of Wisdom technique, the child experiences latent structures of mind (thinking mind) as separate from perception and action. With repeated practice, the child may primarily identify or station his/her attention on the level of the thinking mind. This more abstract level becomes the foundation for experiencing the world. This experience may facilitate a change in cognitive development. Outward piecemeal assimilation and accommodation of each new bit of knowledge in order to consolidate cognitive structures (as is experienced in horizontal decalage at various developmental levels) would be substantially reduced due to direct inner incorporation of more comprehensive structures of mind into conscious awareness. Two clarifications are in order. First, while we propose that the primary identification or stationing of attention at each subtler level of mind underlies the unfoldment of Piagets four cognitive stages, it

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should not be misunderstood that this is strictly a linear process with each level of mind coming to exist or participate at only one level of cognitive development. Because the levels of mind constitute the inherent structure of consciousness, they exist at all times, lying at the basis of the development of each thought as well as the development of every cognitive stage. Instead, it is the ability to fully appreciate and utilize each of these inherent structures of mind on the level of conscious awareness that develops over time. Second, our emphasis on underlying qualitative transformations in consciousness is not to minimize the potential contribution of such process-oriented factors as attention, memory, or learning in the acquisition of conservation. A number of studies with college students indicate that practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique enhances information processing capacity (e.g., Aron, Orme-Johnson, & Brubaker, 1981; Dillbeck, 1982; Travis, 1979). In addition, practice of the Word of Wisdom technique has been reported to enhance psychological differentiation and analytical intelligence in a cross sectional (Warner, 1986; see also 2005) and longitudinal study (Dixon, 1989; see also 2005), and academic performance and moral development (Nidich & Nidich, 1990) in cross sectional studies. It is postulated that through the integration of thinking with perception and action, the Word of Wisdom technique naturally makes available greater attentional or processing resources, which in turn may partly mediate improved task performance. ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS The experimental designs used to investigate the impact of practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique on adult development in prison and elderly populations were sufficiently rigorous to support strong causal inferences about the role of the TM technique in promoting selfdevelopment and cognitive growth in adulthood. However, the crosssectional design used in the current study of children practicing the Word of Wisdom technique has recognized limitations, i.e. possible systematic differences between groups in addition to the independent variable (Cook & Campbell, 1979). Also, in this study, there are possible instrumentation effects. Possible Instrumentation Effects The conservation tasks were presented in a graded sequence from easy to hard. Research has shown that such a sequence of presentation results in a higher performance level than is achieved when the tasks are presented in decreasing difficultyhard to easy (Miller, 1978). Consequently the observed differences between groups could represent accel-

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erated learning (a process-explanation) rather than differences in cognitive stage development (a structural-explanation). The children who practice the Word of Wisdom technique may have been better able to transfer the correct response on easier tasks to more complex ones. This instrument confound is built into the standardized instrument used in this study. The Concept Assessment Kit recommends presenting the tasks in an easy-to-hard sequence. This recommendation is supported by Piagets original work that presented conservation tasks in order of increasing difficulty, and by a methodological review on conservation testing that recommended this sequence as the preferred approach (Hobbs, 1975). Enhanced learning ability has been reported in young adults practicing the TM program (e.g., Aron, Orme-Johnson, & Brubaker, 1981; Dillbeck, 1982; Travis, 1979). Thus, a learning explanation of these data cannot be dismissed. Indeed, the current research design is not able to distinguish which explanation better accounts for the data, or whether each one accounts for different levels of variance between groups. Nevertheless, enhanced learning ability and logical competence both may result from attention becoming identified with progressively more comprehensive levels of the thinking mind, which is theorized to occur during practice of the Word of Wisdom technique. Future research could test these two competing explanations. Possible Initial Group Differences Since this was a cross-sectional study, the observed differences between groups may have resulted from initial differences between the participants due to self-selection rather than due to treatment effects. In the developmental literature, two demographic variables highly associated with ability to conserve are chronological age and education level. These variables may reflect two important determinants of cognitivedevelopment: neurophysiological development and learning/educational opportunities, respectively. In fact in this study, both age and education were highly correlated with conservation score and with each other, as would be anticipated. In addition, socioeconomic status correlates with conservation performance. Occupational status/SES of parents may be associated with the educational and social opportunities, physical health, and intelligence quotient of the child, all of which may influence the rate of cognitive development. However, this study controlled for these known self-selection confounds. The participants were matched for age, educational level, gender, and parental SES. While this study controlled for these four critical demographic variables, and presumably the underlying influences that

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they reflect, there may have been other potential initial differences between the groups that influenced the outcomes. One such possibility is that the meditating parents, while similar in SES, differed along other dimensions that could have influenced their childrens rate of development. However, a large number of studies have indicated that adults who choose to participate in the TM program tend to be similar to their nonmeditating peers across a wide variety of demographic variables. More importantly, many random assignment experiments (e.g., Alexander, Rainforth, & Gelderloos, 1991; Dillbeck, 1982; Shecter, 1978) have clearly identified that positive long-term personality and cognitive differences between TM and control groups are attributable to regular practice of this technology and not to initial differences between groups. If the potential parental influence were due to belief system or lifestyle (and the educational practices they may engender) rather than TM practice, one might anticipate more extreme effects for the meditating children who came from the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment in Fairfield, Iowa. There was, however, no difference in adjusted mean scores for the TM subgroups in Cambridge and Fairfield. Therefore, while the current design cannot exclude the possibility that positive differences exist between meditating and non-meditating parents that influenced child development, such differences would be likely to be attributable to the parents practice of the TM technique rather than to non-treatment variables. Hence, it is possible that both child and parental practice of the Word of Wisdom and TM techniques, respectively, are jointly contributing to the observed differences between groups. We would predict, however, that the childrens practice would produce the primary influence due to its proposed direct effect on cognitive processes underlying the acquisition and consolidation of conservation. CONCLUSION The results of this study on cognitive stage development in children practicing the Maharishi Word of Wisdom technique are striking. These findings suggest that practice of the Word of Wisdom technique may accelerate the rate of acquisition and especially consolidation of conservation in childhood. The transition process in the mastery of conservationhorizontal decalagewas substantially reduced in these children. Conservation is a hallmark in the development of Piagets concrete operational stage. The development of concrete operations is characterized by a growing capacity for conceptual thought, the ability to communicate effectively and understand the viewpoint of others. The consolidation of conservation provides an essential foundation for taking full

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advantage of primary education which traditionally begins at the age most children begin to acquire concrete operations. Although these developmental findings are promising, they require longitudinal replication under more controlled conditions. Nevertheless, an accelerated consolidation of conservation was predicted in advance and is consistent with and extends results supporting the unfreezing human development hypothesis. In fact in this context, the unfreezing phenomenon may now be considered as a general finding that inner experiences optimize the natural growth of human development across the life cycle: (a) in the young, ongoing development my be accelerated and consolidated; (b) in adolescents and young adults, development that may have plateaued may be unfrozen; and (c) in the advanced aged, developmental deficits may be reversed. Efforts to promote cognitive stage development through environmental and cognitive enrichment programs have generally met with little success. In contrast, these technologies of consciousness (the Word of Wisdom technique for young children and the TM program) appear to directly catalyze substantial stage development across the life span. In children, practice of the Word of Wisdom technique appears to promote a shift from a preconceptual to a conceptual level of thought. Practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique appears to foster development to a more abstract level of thought and, ultimately, to postconceptual or higher states of consciousness that lie beyond the ordinary endpoint of human development. REFERENCES
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