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Alexander et al. WORD OF WISDOM TECHNIQUE AND CONSERVATION 21

Author’s Info: Frederick Travis, Maharishi Vedic Science Department, Maharishi Univer-sity of Management, Fairfield, IA 52557; (641) 472-7000; email [email protected].®Transcendental Meditation, TM, Maharishi Word of Wisdom, Word of Wisdom, MaharishiVedic Science, Maharishi University of Management, and Maharishi School of the Age ofEnlightenment are registered or common law trademarks licensed to Maharishi VedicEducation Development Corporation and used under sublicense or with permission

Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 2005, 17, 21–46.

©2005 Select Press, Novato, CA, 415/209-9838.

Effect of Practice of Maharishi Word of WisdomTechnique on Children’s Cognitive Stage

Development: Acquisition andConsolidation of Conservation

Charles N. AlexanderMaharishi University of Management

Sidney C. KurthHampshire College

Frederick TravisMaharishi University of Management

Victoria K. AlexanderMaharishi University of Management

This cross-sectional study examined cognitive stage development in 47children practicing the Maharishi Word of Wisdom technique and in47 matched controls. Cognitive stage development was operationalizedas acquisition and consolidation of conservation in seven tasks that wereordered easy to hard: two-dimensional space, number, substance, con-tinuous quantity, weight, discontinuous quantity, and volume. Thenumber of Word of Wisdom children mastering all conservation taskswas significantly larger and the number who were in transition wassignificantly smaller than those in the control group. The Word ofWisdom technique may lead to more rapid acquisition and consolidationof conservation by de-embedding thinking from perception and behaviorduring the practice. Once differentiated, more abstract thinking processeswould be available to mediate performance on complex cognitive tasks.

Human development typically moves towards increasing differen-tiation of the self from the environment (Piaget, 1954). The progress ofself-differentiation is in a dual direction, with the objective world be-coming more external to the self and of the activity of knowing becoming

22 APPLICATIONS OF MAHARISHI VEDIC SCIENCE

more internal and abstract (Piaget, 1954). At each further stage ofdevelopment, a more stable and unified internal frame of reference isestablished, providing an increasingly comprehensive context withinwhich information is processed and given meaning (Alexander et al.,1990).

Piaget identified four stages of cognitive development from birththrough adolescence and early adulthood (Piaget, 1970; Piaget & Inhelder,1974). These four stages are (1) the sensori-motor period characterizedby moving objects in relation to the body, i.e. shaking a rattle back andforth; (2) the preoperational level characterized by non-analytical men-tation and perception; (3) the concrete mental operations period charac-terized by the ability to perform internal, simple, logical operations onconcrete observables; and (4) the formal operations period characterizedby abstract or reflective thought and hypothetico-deductive reasoning—operating on operations. Although the specific ages at which a personachieves each stage varies, Piaget (1952) proposed that they form aninvariant hierarchical sequence. According to Piaget’s structural-devel-opmental theory, each earlier level is the logical and necessary conditionfor the following one, and all the abilities in the previous level areincorporated as a subset of the current stage.

There is a striking correspondence between the sequence of Piaget’sfour stages and the levels of mental functioning delineated in MaharishiVedic Science. These levels of conscious functioning in MaharishiVedic Science, collectively referred to as “levels of mind,” includesenses (perception), mind (conceptual thinking),1 intellect (decision-making and discrimination), and the ego (experiencer) (Maharishi MaheshYogi, 1969; Alexander et al., 1990). These levels represent qualitativelydistinct styles of functioning of the individual—like resonant modes of asingle frequency—that are hierarchically organized. For instance, allperceptions fall on the screen of the mind, which are discriminated by theintellect, and experienced by the ego.

It is recognized that there is a general correspondence between thelevel of maturation of the nervous system and the corresponding stage ofcognitive development delineated by Piaget. For example, growth spurtsin the brain and proportional increases in EEG alpha production tend tocorrespond with shifts to higher levels of cognitive-structural develop-ment (Epstein, 1974, 1980; Matousek & Petersen, 1973). The nervoussystem appears to develop from a relatively undifferentiated and primi-

1 “Mind” is used in two ways in Maharishi Vedic Science (Alexander et al., 1997). It refersboth specifically to the level of active conceptual thinking and generally to the totalityof individual subjectivity.


tive style of functioning to a more defined and differentiated style offunctioning (e.g., Geschwind, 1967; Werner, 1957).

From the perspective of Maharishi Vedic Science, progressive matu-ration of the nervous system is driven by biological mechanisms andongoing experience (Alexander et al., 1990; Buonomano & Merzenich,1998) that permit activation and utilization of each increasingly subtle—more inner or abstract—level of mind. We propose that the successiveactivation of each subtle level of the mind through physiological pro-cesses and an expanded range of experience may provide the “deepstructure” for the sequential unfoldment of each corresponding level ofcognitive development as described by Piaget and others (Piaget, 1950;Flavell, 1963). During the course of ontogenesis, identification witheach successively more abstract level of mind is postulated to underlieand give rise to a progressively higher expression of cognitive-structuraldevelopment.

THE “UNFREEZING” HUMAN DEVELOPMENTHYPOTHESIS

Cognitive, moral, and self-development are typically believed tocome to plateau during late adolescence or early adulthood with stabili-zation of formal operations (Kohlberg, 1969; Piaget & Inhelder, 1974;Redmore & Loevinger, 1979). This freezing of fundamental psychologi-cal development is generally believed to occur because the centralnervous system stops developing during this period (e.g. Tanner, 1970),and because appropriate experiences are not available to activate moreabstract levels of feeling and experience (Alexander et al., 1990). Forinstance, language learning is considered essential for promoting devel-opment through and beyond the sensori-motor and pre-conceptual levelsof early childhood to the conceptual level of ordinary adult thought(Alexander, 1982; Alexander & Boedeker, 1982). In a similar fashion, apost-language system may be fundamental for promoting developmentthrough and beyond the ordinary language-based conceptual levels ofthought to post-formal levels of cognitive and affective functioning(Alexander et al., 1990; Richards & Commons, 1990).

Alexander and colleagues (1990) proposed that the TranscendentalMeditation (TM) technique may be a developmental technology for “un-freezing” the process of ontogenesis or human maturation (Alexander,1982; Alexander et al., 1990). The TM technique is a simple, effortlessmental procedure that is easily learned and practiced 20 minutes twice aday. It has been defined as turning the attention inward to subtler levels ofawareness (beyond the ordinary conceptual level) until consciousnesstranscends the experience of the subtlest mental fluctuations and arrives at


the source of thought, pure consciousness—content-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 prac-tice led to significant gains in cognitive development. In an elderlypopulation (mean age 80.7 years), participants randomly assigned tolearn the TM technique significantly improved on three measures ofcognitive flexibility and learning, on word fluency, systolic blood pres-sure, mental health, and self-ratings of behavioral flexibility and aging,compared to two control groups (Alexander, Langer, Newman, Chan-dler, & Davies, 1989). In a maximum security prison population, bothadvanced TM practitioners (with 33 months’ practice) and newer TMinmates (with 17 months’ practice) significantly improved on Loevinger’s(1976) measure of self- or socio-cognitive development. These inmatesprogressed more than one step in Loevinger’s scale, while a wait-listcontrol group and members of four other self-improvement groupsremained relatively unchanged (Alexander, 1982). On the average, newmeditators moved from a more concrete thinking “conformity” stage (1–3) to a more reflective “self-aware” level (1-3/4) of development onLoevinger’s scale, and regular advanced meditators moved from the self-aware (1-3/4) to the still more internalized, post-conventional “conscien-tious” stage (1–4). The above findings indicate that the TM programappears to facilitate fundamental cognitive and self-developmental shiftsin populations in which development has typically leveled off.

There also exists a technique that children may practice prior tolearning the Transcendental Meditation technique at age 10. Thistechnique, known as the Maharishi Word of Wisdom technique, maybe learned as early as four or five years of age—the time whenpreoperational thinking shifts to concrete operational thought. Thequestion that naturally arises is whether the Word of Wisdom tech-nique can promote child development similar to the changes in adultdevelopment reported above. Specifically, can practice of the Word ofWisdom technique facilitate a shift from preoperational thought to theconsolidation of concrete operational thought en route to full concep-tual development?

The TM technique appears to unfreeze human development throughtranscending to progressively more abstract levels of cognitive func-tioning, ultimately to pure consciousness. The Word of Wisdom tech-nique may facilitate children’s development by stabilizing attention at


a more fundamental level of mental activity—thinking rather than per-ception or action.

Developmental Landmarks in ChildrenA major hallmark in the development of Piaget’s concrete opera-

tional stage is the acquisition and consolidation of conservation (Piaget,1970; Ginsburg & Opper, 1969). Conservation is the ability to recognizethat certain attributes of an object remain invariant in the face of changesin other attributes (Flavell, 1963). During the preoperational period, thechild relies upon immediate perceptual input when dealing with concep-tual problems like Piaget’s conservation tasks. For example, to solvePiaget’s conservation-of-liquid-quantity task, the child must recognizethat 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 preschooleris more prone to spatially “center” his attention on a salient feature of thecurrent stimulus array to the exclusion of other task-relevant features,and is therefore more likely to reach a faulty conclusion. In this case, thechild typically centers his/her attention on the higher level of water in thetall beaker and thereby reaches the false conclusion that the tall beakercontains more water.

Similarly, the child is prone toward temporally centering on theimmediately present state to the exclusion of state-producing transfor-mations giving rise to the current state. In making a decision, the childdoes not duly take into consideration that the same liquid has simplybeen poured (state-transformed) from one beaker to another (Flavell,1977). In contrast, the concrete operational child employs a spatially andtemporally “decentered” analysis of the perceptual array. “He thereforeattains a broader and more inclusive purview of the stimulus field”(Flavell, 1977, p. 81). In reaching a decision that the amount of liquid hasnot changed, the concrete operator seems to be simultaneously takinginto account that the beaker is not only taller but also thinner. The childcomes to consider not only the end-state of the current display, but thestate-transformation that gave rise to it.

While the simplest conservation tasks may be mastered at 5–6 yearsof age, it has been consistently observed that full stabilization of conser-vation skills—the generalization of conservation across tasks of varyingdifficulty— requires a further 5 to 7 years. This phenomenon of temporaldisplacements or repeated delays in final consolidation of a general skillwithin 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


despite changes in their spatial arrangement—is typically acquired aroundthe age of 5–6. Nevertheless, it is usually not till the age of 7–8 that achild can conserve for liquid quantity; the age of 9–10 before he canconserve for weight; and conservation of volume is usually exhibitedaround the age of 11–12.

Even though each conservation task involves similar mental opera-tions, these mental operations are tied to specific situations and percep-tions and cannot be readily adapted to more demanding settings. Thisdemonstrates how concrete the thinking of a child is at this age (Piaget,1954; Ginsburg & Opper, 1969). Piaget believes that horizontal decalagemay result from the child’s gradual and sequential assimilation of eachnew level of task complexity into his/her existing cognitive scheme.While the gradual nature of this process may suggest a partial explana-tion of horizontal decalage, nevertheless this prevalent phenomenonposes a fundamental problem to Piaget’s theory of cognitive-structuraldevelopment. If cognitive stages represent qualitatively distinct struc-tured wholes, which are acquired through a metamorphosis-like processof phase changes, then a child should not be at one level of cognitivedevelopment (as evidenced by mastery of conservation) in one settingand at a different level of cognitive development (as indicated by failureto conserve) in another setting (other “irregularities” in developmenthave also been observed; see, for example, Flavell, 1977, pp. 219–256).

Piaget (1960) found that increased familiarity with materials used inconservation tasks shortens the time span of horizontal decalage. Cross-cultural studies support this concept (Wessells, 1982). However, unlesschildren are already in transition in the mastering of conservation tasks,attempts to teach conservation by demonstrating the logical operationsinvolved or providing behavioral reinforcement generally meet withlittle success (for example, Ault, 1977; Smedslund, 1961). Gelman(1969) was successful in using feedback to teach children the relevantdimensions for determining conservation of length and number. How-ever, she did not know how children naturally learn to attend to therelevant dimensions.

Researchers working with a process-approach to development havesuggested that the development of certain cognitive abilities like percep-tual activity (O’Bryan & Boersma, 1971), memory and cognitive synthe-sis (Jamison & Dansky, 1979), sequential processing (Hamilton & Moss,1974), and central information capacity or working memory (Pascual-Leone, 1970) may be a prerequisite for the transition to and consolida-tion of the concrete operational stage.

Following Piaget, Flavell (1963) placed emphasis not so much onthe continuous growth of specific cognitive abilities in explaining the


final consolidation of conservation but rather on the requirement for anunderlying qualitative transformation in the relationship of the partici-pant (or knower) to the object of experience:

The fact that the concrete operational child is still (relatively) boundto the phenomena here (requires him) to vanquish the variousphysical properties of objects and events one by one because hiscognitive instruments are insufficiently detached and dissociatedfrom the subject matter they bear upon to permit a content-freeonce-for-all restructuring. A cognitive system more independent anddetached from the specific reality it organizes would not beexpected to show horizontal decalage. (p. 204)

If there existed a technology of consciousness to systematically takeattention to more abstract levels of the mind—more independent anddetached from the specific realities it currently organizes—then horizon-tal decalage (at any level of development) could be eliminated or at leastminimized.

Description of the Word of Wisdom TechniqueThe Word of Wisdom technique was developed by Maharishi Mahesh

Yogi as an age-appropriate technique to strengthen the mind and stabi-lize the thinking process of the child. It is learned around the age of fouror five and practiced for a few minutes each day with eyes open, whilethe child is engaged in easy activity, such as walking. The Word ofWisdom technique differs from most developmental interventions, suchas training and instructional methodologies. It is not task oriented anddoes not attempt to teach concepts and rules of problem solving. Rather,it is understood to promote balance in the mind and body and greaterintegration in the functioning of the nervous system. This increasedintegration may underly observed improvements on a wide range oftasks.

Piaget (1970) suggested that new cognitive structures are builtthrough a process of learning or resolving cognitive conflict. In contrast,the Word of Wisdom technique may stimulate more fundamental levelsof inner functioning through systematic attention, without strain, to adeeper level of cognitive activity than has been dominant so far—thelevel of inner speech or thought. This may facilitate a shift of thedominant locus of conscious awareness from the level of simple percep-tion, representation, and desire to the level of the thinking mind.

According to the theory of levels of mind in Maharishi VedicScience, during the preoperational stage of development, consciousawareness would be primarily identified with or would operate throughthe level of perception. During the concrete operational stage, consciousawareness would be primarily identified with the concrete thinking level


of mind, which is said to be responsible for comparing and integratingperceptual and simple mental content (Alexander, Travis, Rector, &Clayborne, 1997). The Word of Wisdom technique may promote thetransition from the preoperational to the concrete operational stage bystabilizing the thinking process and increasing integration between think-ing, perception, and action.

According to the ontogenetic principle of development (Werner,1957; Langer, 1969), the defining characteristic of a more developedsystem is that it is increasingly differentiated and hierarchically inte-grated. In this case, the Word of Wisdom technique would be fosteringthe differentiation of thought and perception and the hierarchical inte-gration of thought with perception. Through regular practice of thisprocedure, awareness would no longer be primarily identified with—or“centered” upon—particulars of the current perceptual array but ratherwould come to be primarily identified with the hierarchically morecomprehensive level of the apprehending mind. This more comprehen-sive—or “decentered”—level of mind would permit coordination of theparticulars of the stimulus array, and allow a “broader and more inclu-sive purview” of the temporal and spatial field, thus allowing solution ofconservation problems (Flavell, 1977).

HYPOTHESES

According to Piaget (1954), conservation of quantity, weight, andvolume require greater degrees of departure from the field of immediateactions and perceptions in order to construct an adequate network ofrelations to explain phenomena increasingly remote from the surfaceappearance of objects in vision. Daily practice of the Word of Wisdomtechnique should more rapidly habituate awareness to function from themore comprehensive perspective of the thinking mind while engaged inperception and action, and hence accelerate the rate of consolidation ofconservation. Through this process, when thought becomes completelydifferentiated or independent from the field of perception, which itorganizes (regardless of the complexity of the perceptual array), thenaccording to Flavell’s dictum (1963), horizontal decalage would beminimized.2

If the Word of Wisdom practice optimizes the natural process ofgrowth in childhood, then it may be anticipated that the initial onset ofconservation 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 forintegration whereas inner withdrawal may actually impede mind/body coordination(Werner, 1948).


accelerated. More important it would be predicted that the seemingdevelopmental “irregularity” of prolonged consolidation of conserva-tion skills—the phenomena of horizontal decalage—would be signifi-cantly foreshortened, and in some cases possibly eliminated in childrenpracticing the Word of Wisdom technique.

In the context of this cross-sectional study it is specifically hypoth-esized that, compared to controls:

1. Participants practicing the Word of Wisdom technique will achievesignificantly higher scores on a series of conservation tasks (of increas-ing difficulty) than a control group equivalent in age range, education,and socio-economic status. Also, examination of the raw data shouldreveal earlier initial onset times of conservation skills.

2. A significantly greater proportion of the participants practicingthe Word of Wisdom technique should exhibit full consolidation ofconservation as indicated by complete mastery on the series of conserva-tion tasks (i.e., receiving a maximum score).

3. Significantly fewer participants practicing the Word of Wisdomtechnique should display horizontal decalage as indicated by a transi-tional score in mastering of the conservation series (i.e., receivingbetween a minimum and maximum score).

METHODS

ParticipantsTwo groups of children participated in the study. The experimental

group included 45 participants (24 females and 21 males). Thirty-two ofthe children were from the Cambridge, Massachusetts area. Thirteen ofthe children were from Fairfield, Iowa—the location of Maharishi Uni-versity of Management and the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlight-enment—a K–12 school on the university campus. The Maharishi Schoolis fully accredited and offers a traditional academic curriculum supple-mented by programs to provide knowledge and direct experience of theknower through the Word of Wisdom technique (K–4th grade) and theTM program (5th–12th grade). The control group was composed of 47non-meditating participants—21 females and 26 males—from the RyanRoad School in Northampton, Massachusetts, which is associated withHampshire College.

The mean parental occupational SES level (U.S. Bureau of theCensus, 1950) as determined by primary source of income was 58 for theexperimental group and 56 for the control group. The groups were alsosimilar in grade and age. The experimental group ranged in age from4.00 to 11.00 with a mean of 7.8 years and the control group ranged in


age from 5.00 to 10.00 with a mean of 7.7 years. The groups did notsignificantly differ on any of these demographic variables.

MaterialsTest of conservation ability. The Concept Assessment Kit-Conser-

vation Form A, developed by M.L. Goldschmidt and P.M. Bentler(1968), was used to test conservation performance. The kit is a standard-ized measure assessing the principle of conservation. It is the onlycommercially available standardized measurement of conservation andhas been used extensively for research purposes. It includes six differenttasks that sequentially test conservation of two-dimensional space, num-ber, substance, continuous quantity, weight, and discontinuous quantity.The tasks were presented in increasing level of difficulty except for thelast two tasks in which weight was presented before discontinuousquantity. Two tasks are included that require a “more” response ratherthan the usual “same” response to receive a correct answer, in order toreduce the effect of participant response set. Also, because the partici-pants had to explain their responses, the experimenter could determinewhether the correct behavior was due to understanding the principlesinvolved in the task, rather than just guessing or a superficial level ofcomprehension.

This instrument was augmented by a standard volume conservationtask described by Ginsburg and Opper (1969, p. 163), so that the fullrange of complexity of conservation tasks could be measured. This taskinvolves putting clay balls into two glasses filled with identical amountsof water. They are then taken out, and one of the balls is flattened into apancake. The child is then asked the following question: “If the twopieces of clay were put back into the water, would the water rise up thesame amount in each glass, or would it rise more in one glass or more inthe other glass?”

The series of conservation tasks were scored as follows: one pointwas given for a correct response on each task, and one point for a correctexplanation of each response. This permitted a maximum score offourteen points: twelve points for the six tasks in the Concept Assess-ment Kit, and an additional two points for the volume task.

Parental demographics. A parental occupation/socioeconomic back-ground questionnaire (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1950) was also givento the parents to fill out, and the children’s age, grade, and gender wererecorded. These were obtained because a child’s age, grade, and incertain studies parental SES, have been found to correlate with perfor-mance on conservation tasks (e.g., Goodnow & Bethon, 1966).


ProcedureAll of the available children participating in the Word of Wisdom

technique in Cambridge and the surrounding area (according to theCambridge TM Center records) were canvassed and, with only oneexception, agreed to participate in the study (with their parents’ permis-sion). In addition, all the children in the kindergarten–4th grades atMaharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment were invited to partici-pate in the study, and all agreed to participate. To form a comparisoncontrol, students were randomly selected from the kindergarten–4thgrades at the Ryan School and asked to participate in the study. Allstudents 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 RyanSchool and the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment weretested in school during class time. The testing time was approximately 15minutes. The children living around the Cambridge TM Center wereindividually contacted and tested in their homes. The children weremade to feel that the procedure was a game instead of a test in the usualsense of the term. The children were unaware of the experimentalhypotheses. The test was given using the standard instructions for theConcept Assessment Kit and for the conservation of volume task.

Statistical AnalysesTo test the first hypothesis, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was

utilized to determine whether the children in the Word of Wisdom groupwould score higher than the control group adjusting for possible differ-ences 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 thatfewer participants in the Word of Wisdom group would be in transition(i.e., experiencing horizontal decalage on the tests of mastery of conser-vation) as indicated by (a) a higher proportion of Word of Wisdomparticipants than control participants fully mastering the series of con-servation tasks, and (b) a smaller proportion of Word of Wisdom partici-pants than control participants still in transition in mastery of these tasks.

RESULTS

As predicted, mean conservation score was found to be significantlycorrelated with age (r = .56, p < .0001), grade (r = . 53, p < .0001), andSES (r = .21, p < .05) but not significantly correlated with gender (r = .14,NS). These first three demographic variables were entered as covariatesin the analysis.


All of the variables were normally distributed except for the rawconservation scores, which displayed skewed distribution. However, theresiduals for the conservation variable (i.e., the portion of the observedscore not explained by the treatment variable and covariates) was normallydistributed. Therefore it was appropriate to apply analysis of covariance.For the residuals, tests for skewness and kurtosis indicated that the as-sumption of a normal distribution of the residuals could not be rejected.

The control group scored well above the norms collected byGoldschmidt and Bentler (1968) on this series of tasks for children ofcomparable ages (albeit their norms seem to be based on samples drawnfrom a somewhat lower socioeconomic level). While Ginsburg andOpper (1969) do not report precise norms on their standard volumeconservation test, they stated (along with Piaget & Inhelder, 1969, p. 99)that volume conservation is not typically attained till 11–12 years of age.Interestingly, in Piaget’s seminal study on conservation (Piaget & Inhelder,1941), which employed the exact same conservation of volume proce-dure, only 11% of the 180 Swiss children aged 4–10 years attainedconservation of matter, weight and volume.

In marked contrast, in the current study, 82% of the Word ofWisdom group (similar in age range) fully mastered the series. Again,the current control group appeared to score relatively well as indicatedby 43% of the controls mastering the entire series. In general, therelatively high level of performance for the controls is probably due totheir similar demographic make-up to the Word of Wisdom group—forexample, their residential location in a college environment and a gener-ally high level of occupational SES attainment by their parents. Thisindicates that the substantially higher proportion of stabilized conserversin the Word of Wisdom group is not due to a poorer performance by thecontrol group than the general population. Indeed, the generally high rateof conservation among the controls in comparison to the larger popula-tion suggests that it may have provided a relatively conservative com-parison group.

Figure 1 displays the mean conservation scores for the two groupsadjusted for the covariates of age, grade, gender, and parental SES. Theadjusted mean score for the TM group (M = 12.06, S.E. = .60) wassignificantly 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 childrenfrom the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment (n = 13), thesubgroup from Cambridge (n = 32), and the control group (n = 47). Acontrast on this ANCOVA indicated that there was no significant differ-


ence in adjusted mean score between the two Word of Wisdomsubgroups (t(85) = -.60, NS).

Figure 2 shows the percentage of participants in the Word ofWisdom and control groups who achieved full mastery of the cognitive-developmental tasks measuring conservation. A markedly higher per-centage of the Word of Wisdom participants achieved full mastery oftasks (82%) than control participants (43%). Employing a nonparametrictest of proportion (Bruning & Kintz, 1968) this difference was highlysignificant (z = 3.85, p < 0001).

Figure 3 indicates the percentage of subjects in each group who werein transition on mastery of conservation tasks, i.e., solving simpleconservation tasks but not complex ones. The proportion was substan-tially 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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FIGURE 1 Adjusted Mean Scores on Mastery of Conservation Tasks

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


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

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FIGURE 2 Percentage of Participants Mastering All ConservationTasks

Note: Eighty-two percent of the subjects practicing the Word of Wisdomtechnique exhibited full mastery of the cognitive-developmental tasksmeasuring conservation (N=45). In contrast, significantly fewer controlsubjects (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.


relatively young children who did not conserve at all, and then there wasa general trend toward increasing competence in performance on conser-vation tasks with increasing age, rather than a sharp transition to com-plete mastery as seen in the Word of Wisdom group.

In addition to a more marked phase transition to full conservation inthe Word of Wisdom group, the Word of Wisdom children appeared tobegin acquisition of conservation skills at an earlier age than the controlchildren. As seen in Figure 1, from 5.08–11.00 years of age, all of theWord of Wisdom children were fully conserving with the exception oftwo individuals (at 6.09 and 8.03). In contrast, the youngest control childto fully master the conservation series was 6.05.

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FIGURE 3 Percentage of Participants in Transition of Mastery ofConservation Tasks

Note: Only seven percent of the subjects practicing the Word of Wisdomtechnique were in transition (N = 45) in mastering the cognitive-developmen-tal tasks measuring conservation. In contrast, significantly more controlsubjects (fifty-one percent) were in transition in mastery of the series ofconservation tasks (N = 47). They had mastered some simple conservationtasks: but not more complex ones. The two groups were similar in age, grade,gender and parental SES. This suggests more rapid consolidation ofconservation in children practicing the Word of Wisdom technique.


DISCUSSION

The results clearly indicate that children’s practice of the Word ofWisdom technique is positively related to performance on a series ofcognitive-developmental tasks measuring conservation. All three ex-perimental hypotheses were supported. First, the children practicing theWord of Wisdom technique appeared to begin acquisition of conserva-tion skills at an earlier age than the controls. This is in part reflected bya significantly higher adjusted mean conservation score for the Word ofWisdom group and is further suggested by inspection of the raw data. Forexample, the youngest Word of Wisdom participant (4.00 years) wasdisplaying minimal conservation skills, and two Word of Wisdom chil-dren younger than five (4.05 and 4.08) were already fully conserving. Incontrast, the youngest control participant to fully conserve was 6.05years of age. Second, a significantly greater proportion of the Word ofWisdom group exhibited full consolidation of conservation, as indicatedby complete mastery of the conservation series. Finally, significantlyfewer Word of Wisdom children displayed horizontal decalage, asindicated by a transitional score on the conservation series.

The average adjusted conservation scores for each group signifi-cantly differed. In addition, the relative proportion of participants in each

FIGURE 4 Number of Conservation Tasks Mastered for theWord of Wisdom Group and the Control Group

Age in Years

Num

ber

of C

onse

rvat

ion

Tas

ks M

aste

red

In T

rans

ition

Mas

tery

Zero

Word of Wisdomgroup

Control group


group exhibiting complete consolidation of conservation, i.e., not dis-playing horizontal decalage, also significantly differed. Horizontaldecalage was the exception rather than the rule for children practicingthe Word of Wisdom technique. If the children practicing the Word ofWisdom technique succeeded on a simpler task, they appeared verylikely to master all the more complex conservation tasks as well. Theyseemed to be able to generalize a basic cognitive ability across differentmeasures, regardless of the increasing difficulty of the tasks. The controlparticipants’ performance was more representative of what is generallyobserved in young populations. Mastery of more complex conservationtasks occurred with increasing age, as seen in the upward drift in thecontrols’ raw test scores in Fig. 4. The larger number of control partici-pants still in horizontal decalage is far more typical for children in thisage range.

The performance of the children practicing the Word of Wisdomtechnique suggests phase transitions between stages rather than pro-longed temporal displacement. The possibility that under optimal condi-tions cognitive development could follow a more stage-like progressionthrough discrete phase transitions would certainly be consistent with thegeneral structural-developmental model which describes cognitive stagesas structured wholes acquired through qualitative phase changes(Kohlberg, 1969; Flavell, 1971).

A striking implication of this accelerated consolidation finding isthat optimization of the natural growth process in childhood through thepractice of the Word of Wisdom technique may result in a substantialforeshortening and, in some cases, possible elimination of the develop-mental “irregularity” of horizontal decalage. Given that virtually all thechildren who were practicing the Word of Wisdom technique were fullyconserving by 5.08 years and that complete conservation does nottypically occur till 11 or 12 years of age, the strongest possible interpre-tation of these data would suggest that practice of the Word of Wisdomtechnique 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 theModel of Levels of Mind

As a developmental technology, the practice of the Word of Wis-dom technique may be complementary to the role of language learning inchild development. Language provides a medium for the internal repre-sentation of perception and thought, and for subsequent communication.While one can imagine thought without language, language provides apowerful symbol system for the elaboration of pre-conceptual and con-


ceptual processes (Bruner, Oliver, & Greenfield, 1966; Kendler &Kendler, 1970). Though language may help release the very young childfrom the constraints of sensori-motor life by providing a vehicle forinternal representation, it also provides its own constraints. The preop-erational child becomes “egocentric” with respect to language andthought (Flavell, 1963). The young child is prone to confuse “thoughtswith things” (Elkind, 1974). He finds it very difficult to treat his ownthought processes as objects of thought. As Kegan (1982) has aptlystated, at this stage I am my perceptions and thoughts, rather than I haveperceptions and thoughts. In our theoretical terms, at this stage thechild’s awareness is totally “identified” with his percepts and simplementation.

Once the child’s awareness has become identified with perceptionand simple mentation rather than sensori-motor action, then the Word ofWisdom technique may facilitate the process whereby awareness be-comes further de-embedded from perception and simple mentation.Instead it becomes primarily identified with the more comprehensivethinking level of the mind. From the thinking mind, perception andsimple mentation can be more effectively coordinated. We predicted thatthrough daily practice of this simple procedure, thought would becomerapidly differentiated from and hierarchically integrated with the field ofperception that it organizes, and hence, according to Flavell’s dictum(1963) horizontal decalage would be minimized. This was the apparentresult observed.

Once awareness is differentiated from perception, regardless of howcomplex the perceptual array may be, it would follow that the childshould no longer slip back into centering on only the dominant featuresof the array. As a result of shifting the primary locus of awareness fromperception to thought, conservation would become a conceptual prob-lem—based on the mind’s internal capacity to spontaneously compareand integrate simple perceptual and mental representations—rather thanprimarily a perceptual problem. Indeed, such a shift from “on-the-surface” perceptual representation to simple internal conceptual pro-cessing is a milestone in the development of concrete operational thought(Flavell, 1977, p. 79).

Interestingly, efforts at “training” in cognitive, moral or self-devel-opment in childhood and adulthood usually focus on tasks very muchrelated to the outcomes being measured. For example, young childrenlearning conservation will train on conservation-like measures that makeincreasingly apparent the contradictions in the way the children areattempting to solve the problems (e.g., Inhelder & Sinclair, 1969).Because of this popular training methodology, treatment is typically


confounded with outcome measures, and it is difficult to interpret howmuch the results represent meaningful changes. Even with application ofthese approaches, structural-developmental stage change has provensurprisingly resistant to modification (e.g., Kohlberg, Kauffman, Scharf,& Hickey, 1974; Kuhn, 1974; Loevinger, 1979).

In this study, participants received no training in test-related materi-als or exposure to belief systems, nor did they maintain close contactwith trainers or testers. These findings challenge the fundamental tenetheld widely by different psychologists and educators—from B.F. Skin-ner (1974) to Jean Piaget (1970)—that interaction with the externalenvironment in some form, is the critical factor in cognitive growth. Forexample, for Piaget (1954) the primary mechanism for transition throughcognitive stages is the dynamic equilibration of assimilation and accom-modation through interaction with the physical and social world. Eachexperience of the world involves some kind of cognitive restructuring.Once a new experience is assimilated into a present scheme, it tends tochange the structure to some degree and through this change makespossible further accommodation (Flavell, 1963). For Piaget, cognitivestages reside neither in the organism nor in the environment but areactively constructed by the knower in his effort to come to know theexternal world (Kohlberg, 1969; Piaget, 1970). In fact for Piaget, it isprimarily through “cognitive conflict,” through active efforts to solveapparent discrepancies or disequilibria in experience, that cognitivegrowth takes place.

From our viewpoint, the unfolding of Piaget’s four cognitive stagesmay be optimized by specific inner experiences along with interactionwith the external environment. Through regular practice of the Word ofWisdom technique, the child experiences latent structures of mind (think-ing mind) as separate from perception and action. With repeated prac-tice, the child may primarily identify or station his/her attention on thelevel of the thinking mind. This more abstract level becomes the founda-tion for experiencing the world. This experience may facilitate a changein cognitive development. Outward piecemeal assimilation and accom-modation of each new bit of knowledge in order to consolidate cognitivestructures (as is experienced in horizontal decalage at various develop-mental levels) would be substantially reduced due to direct inner incor-poration of more comprehensive structures of mind into consciousawareness.

Two clarifications are in order. First, while we propose that theprimary identification or stationing of attention at each subtler level ofmind underlies the unfoldment of Piaget’s four cognitive stages, it


should not be misunderstood that this is strictly a linear process witheach level of mind coming to exist or participate at only one level ofcognitive development. Because the levels of mind constitute the inher-ent structure of consciousness, they exist at all times, lying at the basis ofthe development of each thought as well as the development of everycognitive stage. Instead, it is the ability to fully appreciate and utilizeeach of these inherent structures of mind on the level of consciousawareness that develops over time.

Second, our emphasis on underlying qualitative transformations inconsciousness is not to minimize the potential contribution of suchprocess-oriented factors as attention, memory, or learning in the acquisi-tion of conservation. A number of studies with college students indicatethat practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique enhances infor-mation processing capacity (e.g., Aron, Orme-Johnson, & Brubaker,1981; Dillbeck, 1982; Travis, 1979). In addition, practice of the Word ofWisdom technique has been reported to enhance psychological differen-tiation and analytical intelligence in a cross sectional (Warner, 1986; seealso 2005) and longitudinal study (Dixon, 1989; see also 2005), andacademic performance and moral development (Nidich & Nidich, 1990)in cross sectional studies. It is postulated that through the integration ofthinking with perception and action, the Word of Wisdom techniquenaturally 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 practiceof the Transcendental Meditation technique on adult development inprison and elderly populations were sufficiently rigorous to support strongcausal inferences about the role of the TM technique in promoting self-development and cognitive growth in adulthood. However, the cross-sectional design used in the current study of children practicing the Wordof Wisdom technique has recognized limitations, i.e. possible systematicdifferences between groups in addition to the independent variable (Cook& Campbell, 1979). Also, in this study, there are possible instrumenta-tion effects.

Possible Instrumentation EffectsThe conservation tasks were presented in a graded sequence from

easy to hard. Research has shown that such a sequence of presentationresults in a higher performance level than is achieved when the tasks arepresented in decreasing difficulty—hard to easy (Miller, 1978). Conse-quently the observed differences between groups could represent accel-


erated learning (a process-explanation) rather than differences in cogni-tive stage development (a structural-explanation). The children whopractice the Word of Wisdom technique may have been better able totransfer the correct response on easier tasks to more complex ones.

This instrument confound is built into the standardized instrumentused in this study. The Concept Assessment Kit recommends present-ing the tasks in an easy-to-hard sequence. This recommendation issupported by Piaget’s original work that presented conservation tasksin order of increasing difficulty, and by a methodological review onconservation testing that recommended this sequence as the preferredapproach (Hobbs, 1975).

Enhanced learning ability has been reported in young adults practic-ing the TM program (e.g., Aron, Orme-Johnson, & Brubaker, 1981;Dillbeck, 1982; Travis, 1979). Thus, a learning explanation of these datacannot be dismissed. Indeed, the current research design is not able todistinguish which explanation better accounts for the data, or whethereach one accounts for different levels of variance between groups.Nevertheless, enhanced learning ability and logical competence bothmay result from attention becoming identified with progressively morecomprehensive levels of the thinking mind, which is theorized to occurduring practice of the Word of Wisdom technique. Future research couldtest these two competing explanations.

Possible Initial Group DifferencesSince this was a cross-sectional study, the observed differences

between groups may have resulted from initial differences between theparticipants due to self-selection rather than due to treatment effects. Inthe developmental literature, two demographic variables highly associ-ated with ability to conserve are chronological age and education level.These variables may reflect two important determinants of cognitive-development: neurophysiological development and learning/educationalopportunities, respectively. In fact in this study, both age and educationwere highly correlated with conservation score and with each other, aswould be anticipated. In addition, socioeconomic status correlates withconservation performance. Occupational status/SES of parents may beassociated with the educational and social opportunities, physical health,and intelligence quotient of the child, all of which may influence the rateof cognitive development.

However, this study controlled for these known self-selection con-founds. The participants were matched for age, educational level, gen-der, and parental SES. While this study controlled for these four criticaldemographic variables, and presumably the underlying influences that


they reflect, there may have been other potential initial differencesbetween the groups that influenced the outcomes. One such possibility isthat the meditating parents, while similar in SES, differed along otherdimensions that could have influenced their children’s rate of develop-ment. However, a large number of studies have indicated that adults whochoose to participate in the TM program tend to be similar to their non-meditating peers across a wide variety of demographic variables. Moreimportantly, many random assignment experiments (e.g., Alexander,Rainforth, & Gelderloos, 1991; Dillbeck, 1982; Shecter, 1978) haveclearly identified that positive long-term personality and cognitive dif-ferences between TM and control groups are attributable to regularpractice of this technology and not to initial differences between groups.

If the potential parental influence were due to belief system orlifestyle (and the educational practices they may engender) rather thanTM practice, one might anticipate more extreme effects for the meditat-ing children who came from the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlight-enment in Fairfield, Iowa. There was, however, no difference in adjustedmean scores for the TM subgroups in Cambridge and Fairfield. There-fore, while the current design cannot exclude the possibility that positivedifferences exist between meditating and non-meditating parents thatinfluenced child development, such differences would be likely to beattributable to the parents’ practice of the TM technique rather than tonon-treatment variables. Hence, it is possible that both child and parentalpractice of the Word of Wisdom and TM techniques, respectively, arejointly contributing to the observed differences between groups. Wewould predict, however, that the children’s practice would produce theprimary influence due to its proposed direct effect on cognitive pro-cesses underlying the acquisition and consolidation of conservation.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study on cognitive stage development in childrenpracticing the Maharishi Word of Wisdom technique are striking. Thesefindings suggest that practice of the Word of Wisdom technique mayaccelerate the rate of acquisition and especially consolidation of conser-vation in childhood. The transition process in the mastery of conserva-tion—horizontal decalage—was substantially reduced in these children.Conservation is a hallmark in the development of Piaget’s concreteoperational stage. The development of concrete operations is character-ized by a growing capacity for conceptual thought, the ability to commu-nicate effectively and understand the viewpoint of others. The consolida-tion of conservation provides an essential foundation for taking full


advantage of primary education which traditionally begins at the agemost children begin to acquire concrete operations.

Although these developmental findings are promising, they requirelongitudinal replication under more controlled conditions. Nevertheless,an accelerated consolidation of conservation was predicted in advanceand is consistent with and extends results supporting the unfreezinghuman development hypothesis. In fact in this context, the unfreezingphenomenon may now be considered as a general finding that innerexperiences optimize the natural growth of human development acrossthe life cycle: (a) in the young, ongoing development my be acceleratedand consolidated; (b) in adolescents and young adults, development thatmay have plateaued may be “unfrozen;” and (c) in the advanced aged,developmental deficits may be reversed.

Efforts to promote cognitive stage development through environ-mental and cognitive enrichment programs have generally met with littlesuccess. In contrast, these technologies of consciousness (the Word ofWisdom technique for young children and the TM program) appear todirectly catalyze substantial stage development across the life span. Inchildren, practice of the Word of Wisdom technique appears to promotea shift from a preconceptual to a conceptual level of thought. Practice ofthe Transcendental Meditation technique appears to foster developmentto a more abstract level of thought and, ultimately, to postconceptual orhigher states of consciousness that lie beyond the ordinary endpoint ofhuman development.

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