A Description of the Erhard Seminars Training (est) in the Terms of Behavior Analysis

Author(s): Donald M. Baer and Stephanie B. Stolz

Source: Behaviorism, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Spring, 1978), pp. 45-70
Published by: Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27758905 .
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of the Erhard

A Description
in the

of Behavior

Terms

Seminars

Training

(est)

Analysis

Donald

Stephanie
Alcohol,
Health

Drug

Administration,

Baer*

of Kansas

University

Mental

M.

B.
Abuse,

Kansas

Stolz1
and
City

In the first six and a half years since the founding of the Erhard Seminars
Training (est) by Werner Erhard inOctober, 1971, over 130,000 people have
"graduated"
twenty-five
has

training
Brewer,

in
from the training. As of early 1978, the est training is offered
This fast-growing awareness
the U.S.,
and in London.
in the media
and popular magazines
been much described
(e.g.,

cities around

1975; "Getting

your head

together,"

1976; Greenburg,

1977; Harrison,

1976;Kornbluth, 1976;Litwak, 1976;Viorst, (1977). Fenwick (1976) has drawn

in est and
used
the procedures
between
parallels
no
our
to
scientific
cesses,
but,
analysis
knowledge,
of est,2 like a characterization
A characterization

various

psychological
as yet, appeared.

pro

has,
of any process,
may pro
or deducing,
as necessary,
its procedures,
ceed by (a) describing
(b) describing
and (c) translating those
and probable
the possible
products of those procedures,
of the
terms that offer what seems to be an explanation
statements
into analytic

process
of view

and

its results. What

of behavior

follows

is just such an attempt,

done

from the point

analysis.
of a systematic

process from a point of view other than that of

Any description
a distorted view. The point of view of behavior
itself is necessarily
the process
is not the point of view of est; thus, what follows must be at
certainly
analysis
B. Parloff,
whose
and Morris
Victor
Gioscia,
thoughtful
Callaway,
Erhard
for his
thank Werner
and we also
in the formulation
of this paper,
of Human
be obtained
from D. M.
Baer, Department
Development,
may
Reprints
cooperation.
66045.
KS
of Kansas,
Lawrence,
University
1
or endorsement
No official
to this paper
in her private
Dr. Stolz
contributed
support
capacity.
*We

comments

thank

Drs.

were

by theADAMHA

Enoch

useful

is intended or should be inferred.

2In this paper,

Erhard
Seminars
{est)
Training
an approximately
60-hour
the Standard
Training,

is used

to refer

experience
45

to what

for adults.

the est organization

calls

Baer

Stolz

least somewhat distorted. This truismmay have special severity in the case of

est, because
accurately,
translation

est states

about

that it is about

the context

and concepts
(or, more
experience
and concepts),
and that any
experience
or (most especially)
systems
organized

personal

of personal

of that into words,

concepts,
a distortion.
is, inescapably,
Nevertheless,
just that analysis will be attempted here, for three reasons:
1. est is a technique of potential behavior change, although, as its proponents
is also a discipline
of behavior
say, that is not what it is about. Behavior
analysis

of concepts,

it is about. To translate those

and, as its proponents
say, that is what
est
of
that
foster
behavior
into the terms of a discipline
aspects
may
change
an
to
dedicated
and management
of behavior
systematically
understanding
change,

is at least a possibility, and certainly a temptation. We acknowledge

that
we
some
will
most
its
of
central
so,
est,
even,
by doing
aspects
ignore
perhaps,
we recommend
to the reader as of major
that realization
aspects;
importance.
change,

of the procedures
used in the est training resemble
those used in a
considerable
variety of therapies (Frank, 1977), some of them behavior
therapies
the
of
behavior
Decen
Ellis,
Goldfried,
1972;
(see, e.g.,
sharing
analysis
logic
2. Some

teceo, & Weinberg,

1974; Leitenberg, 1976; Stolz, Wienckowski, & Brown,

or packaging
of these procedures
in est may give them
1975). The programming
an effectiveness
that they would not have in isolation or in a different packaging.

This possibility isworth exploringwithin the research paradigm of the therapies,

the behavior
of est
especially
therapies. But before that can happen, a description
as a packaging
of potentially
is needed,
and that descrip
therapeutic
techniques

tionwill be more useful for research in theparadigms of the therapies ifit is stated
in the terms of those paradigms.
3. We
have no real choice:

The

terms of behavior

terms we know well.

analysis
est is about

are

the only

And considering
that what
is (according
to analysis
then this approach,
through language anyway,
although different from est's, is at least no more in error than any other approach
coming from a language-based
epistemology.
the worth of this attempt at analysis
rests with the reader. Those
Thus,
readers who,
like us, habitually work from a language-based
will
epistemology
analytic
to est) not

suitable

an "analysis"
be relieved
to encounter
in just the kind of terms they
perhaps
most often use, especially
to the terms Werner
when compared
Erhard uses in
a
to
reduce
to language:
attempting
non-language-amenable
experience

The

logic system which we have built up is a logic system which is

consistent
with our perceptions,
in other words,
with our senses.
. . .There's
or
which
is
different
than
the reality that we
reality
beyond
. . .You and I are
sense.
a
in personal philosophy
and a personal
grounded
logic and a system of beliefs
than wholes.
And so when

and concepts
that has to do with parts rather
think about things, we think of a logic
at all. The logic
system that works for parts but does not work for wholes
of wholes
is also the logic of nothing.
In other words, when you have a
... If I take an
whole you at the same time have everything and nothing.
we

46

A Description

of the Erhard Seminars Training

a thing, it's a part, it's not the whole,

so it exists and it's nice
ashtray?it's
and concrete,
and we can get the this-isn't-it and the this-is-it. If you
that ashtray
in every direction
the whole.
expand
infinitely, it becomes
?
Now
same
it's everything.
the
token
also
it's
it's disap
By
nothing
...
It has shifted from being an event or thing to being a context
peared.

of events or things.Now that'swhy I say, kind of flippantly,that est is

about

nothing.
. . .And

parts.
tion about

I could
if you

wholes,

also say it's about everything or about wholes

of
a
listen with your part-oriented
to
conversa
mind
it doesn't make
any sense at all. It's nonsensical.

("A forest of thought," 1976)

the difficulty some readers may feel at having to operate

in such
Despite
we
that
retreat
warns
est
from them is exactly what
is the
terms,
emphasize
should be
primal error. From the est organization's
point of view, this document
use of this logic may be dangerous
labelled:
continued
to your
"Warning:
aliveness,

satisfaction,

wholeness,

fulfillment,

or sense

of completion!"

Why did est borrow Eastern philosophical language for itsdiscourse? Werner

Erhard

and analysis
in terms
says that language is the tool of conceptual
analysis;
of concepts
is exactly what est attempts to teach trainees to ignore, so as to more
events. Experiencing
is different from analyzing,
and it
immediately
experience
iswhat est aims for, as an additional
are
basis for everyday
life. Trainees
told that

or they may use experience;

they may use analysis,
one is typically a tradeoff for use of the other.

they are also

told that use of

a new openness
to develop
to personal
est proceeds
experience,
by
on
sole
reliance
use
and
the
of
Of
discrediting
analysis
ordinary
language.
itmust proceed
it seems
however,
necessity,
by using language. Consequently,
to us, est systematically
of language,
attempts to reveal the usual connotations
and to replace
them with new connotations
of the
arising from the experience
In order

training.
In addition,
trainees

the trainer devotes

the dictionary

definitions

a large amount of time and effort to reading

of the words being used, and, when necessary,

thedictionary definitionsof thewords in those definitions.Dictionary meanings,

the trainees

tend to be different in connotation

from the meanings
discover,
they
a heavy reliance
have been using in their everday
language. Thus, est combines
on the literal, dictionary meanings
terms with the trainees'
of many
intuitive
induction

of what

is intended.

their
often are inarticulate when trying to describe
graduates
est experiences
to nongraduates,
essence
because
the
of the est training is the
wealth of inductive experience
that the trainees underwent
during the training
and the subsequent
to
of
and
intuitions
self-discoveries
"processes"
reporting
In consequence,

other

on that body of
est jargon depends
for its connotative
meaning
a
est
to
not share that
who
does
Thus, offering
experience.
jargon
non-graduate
inductive connotation
is usually an exercise
in futility.
trainees,

Some

everyday

terms used

meanings.

in est have meanings

that are the same as or close
made
and repeatedly
distinction
is carefully

The

47

to their
in the

Baer

Stolz

between what one "is" and what one "does"

and "has";
training, for example,
the former term refers to one's
self or being, the latter terms to one's behavior
and beliefs.
in epistemology"
term for which
"Shift
is another
the precise
as
as
est
is
useful
in
the
in
well
dis
dictionary meaning
training
philosophical
course.

it appears
that "epistemology"
is not a widely
under
Unfortunately,
term among
est trainees,
or through its
either in its precise meaning
and thus it is not used often by est as part of its descriptive
connotations,
use of it in his discussions
Werner
Erhard makes
of est (e.g., Erhard,
language.
an experi
more
he
and
the
will
to
trainers
often
refer
1976), although
"holding
stood

ence

in a different context,"

or "coming

from a different place,"

than to "shift

ing your epistemology."

Overview
est standard

training typically is offered in a four-day, 60-hour period to

trainees at a time. An optional
of the training is an
aspect
one preceding
additional
three evenings,
the four days (which usually are con
ducted across
two consecutive
one between
the second and third
weekends),
The

some

200

to 300

days, and one following the fourthday. The training is conducted by a single
called

individual,

a trainer. At present,

nine persons

are considered

qualified

to

offer the training.Any given trainingwill be conducted ordinarilyby one of these

nine people:
sometimes
the trainer who
one
from the
who did the first.

conducts

the second weekend

is different

In summary of what
the
is to follow (and in the terms of behavior
analysis),
est experience,
in our opinion,
is designed:
1. to bring some behaviors
of the trainees under unusually
effective instruc
tional control of the trainer;
2.

to use

to attempt to give each trainee

of the trainee's personal,
inner experience,
of reliance on the trainee's total store of accumulated

that instructional

control

a.

an

b.

a sharp distrust
conventional
knowledge,

increased

awareness

c. a total trust in the primacy and validity ofwhat the trainee findswithin

awareness
the newly heightened
of personal
and thus,
experience,
d. final independence
from the trainer;
3. to leave each trainee able to continue examining,
trusting, and
exploring,
in
the
service
of
whatever
using personal
experience
goals, problems, whimsies,
or accidents
the trainee/graduate
may discover, choose, or encounter. According
toWerner
Erhard:

It elevates

you from [the position of] being the effect of your

to [the experience
circumstances
of] being the cause of your circum
. . When
.
stances.
with your posi
you get in touch with yourself?not
tion and not with your ego and not with your point of view, but with
. . you will
yourself?.
experience
yourself as the creator of your own
circumstances.
of
forest
("A
1976)
thought,"
48

A Description

of the Erhard Seminars Training

Subsequently, est offers a series of optional evening meetings duringwhich

are
the pursuit of just such activity is encouraged
and facilitated. These meetings
or per series of ten meet
topically, with one topic either per meeting
relations, money,
ings; they cover areas such as sex, interpersonal
responsibility,
and self-expression.
organized

(The first 60 hours currently cost the trainee $300; the subsequent evening
cost about

meetings

$5 each.)
est Procedures

Induction
The

of Instructional

Control

used

procedures

in the est

to establish

procedures
designed
the trainer over certain

training are,
a remarkable
amount
of the trainee.

behaviors

subverts

systematically

reliance

invalidating
worth and status.

in our

To

opinion,
of instructional
do

so,

induction

control by
the trainer first

the trainees' defenses

against
on their conventional
convictions

his3 teaching, primarily by

about their own personal
them to unconventional
experi

the trainer will lead

(Later,
ences of a rather different personal worth and status, based on their own experi
ence rather than on their dependence
on the opinions
of others.) The conven
about personal worth and status, referred to above, which
the
tional convictions
means
to invalidate consist of:
trainer

your beliefs about yourself;

to you;
titles, and their importance
to
their
and
your roles,
you;
importance
to you;
and its importance
your wealth,
of your own reputation,
your knowledge

your

and its importance

of self-defense when
threatened.
your typical techniques
In est, this constellation
of beliefs and knowledges
and its correlated
are referred to collectively
as the trainee's "act."

to you;
behaviors

some aspects of the trainees' behavior:

status (their "act")
1. Any assertion
is
by trainees of their own personal
are
the
The
trainer.
trainees
called
"assholes"
for
verbally by
usually
punished
are subjected
to polished
of their "act"
forms of
that, and continuing assertions
To

intense

induce

ridicule

instructional

control

over

by the trainer.

their status, trainees repeatedly

they stop spontaneously
asserting
status (their
are questioned
their personal
into
and otherwise
provoked
asserting
are
the
trainer.
The
further
assertions
these
and
"act"),
punishment
punished by
not for "them."
and ridicule are for the trainees'
est, like operant
"act,"
1976), proceeds
1969), and behavior modification
(Baer,
(Catania,
conditioning
2. When

not people.
not people,
and reinforcing responses,
responses,
by punishing
are reminded
know
what
don't
that
3. Trainees
they
really
they
repeatedly
true of
most
think th?y know, and most especially
don't know what they think is
3
At

the time of this writing,

all

trainers

who

conduct
49

the est Standard

Training

are males.

Baer

Stolz

themselves. For example, they are reminded thatwhat they thinkof as facts in

fact are

things that they have heard or read or seem to remember from school;
that the science on which
those facts depend was not done by them nor truly
no different from rumor; and that
understood
and
thus
is essentially
by them,
can
what
most
know
is
their
individual
selves and their experience,
they
truly

both ofwhich theyhave woefully ignored infavor ofwhat theywere toldwas so.
4. A distinction

between

their selves and their minds is created. Their minds,

those particular
of thoughts, beliefs, memories,
collections
to maintain
the trainees'
status and worth,
and to defend
a
threat and attack. But this mind, the trainees hear, is
against
trickster, dedi
cated to its own survival (i.e., their survival as they think they know themselves),
in this context, are
etc., that are used

even at the expense

of their openness
to experience.
Thus, distrust of reliance on
the mind is urged in a variety of ways.
5. The trainer punishes
all attempts to escape
from these contingencies,
and
were
of
the
that
established
any breaking
emphasizes
repeatedly
agreements

the agreements
would
feel like.
earlier, before the trainees know what keeping
The trainees are reminded frequently of how poor they are at keeping agreements

ingeneral, how often they lie as they break them, and how bad this is for them;

and as

they don't yet know the est maxim

sometimes
feel ashamed
and guilty.

that "it's

o.k.

not to be o.k.,"

they

6. The physical conditions under which the training takes place steadily

become

more

in a cool

day
instructions

Thus,

unusual:

to leave

able

sit through a 15-hour

their chairs only at the trainer's

the trainees will

four hours). These

conditions
elicit real dis
(approximately
to
and
More
back, rump,
bladder).
(especially
important, they press the
to experience
are
internal sensations
that
both uncomfortable
and un

comfort
trainees
usual ?

rigorous and more

room (68? - 72?F.),

every

indeed, that most trainees will

the trainees have no well-learned

before.
rarely if ever have encountered
or coping with the
skills for defense

situation, nor have they any basis for predicting whether their situation will

become

worse,

how much

worse

itwill become,
etc. They may well become
to
yet not in a way that they can readily confess,
seems to be systematically
discomfort
useful to the
control over some of their behavior
by the trainer.

scared,
scared,
increasingly
others or to themselves.
This
induction

of

instructional

in the course of four days' experience,

However,
learn that they can cope with these conditions,

many of the trainees also will

severe
and with even more

conditions, and (in some cases) with virtually any conditions theymay ever
encounter.

7. The
designed

trainer begins
to maximize
his

to apply a set of techniques

that, in our opinion,
control over them:
instructional

are

a. Knowing
how they feel, he tells them in various ways
that they feel
seem
that.
like
it
will
to
the
that
trainees
the
trainer
is always
Thus,
just
right.
b. The trainer begins to suggest that, inways that he can explain but are
still obscure,

the trainees

have
50

a unique

worth

after all.

In fact, he

A Description

of the Erhard Seminars Training

that in a way,

suggests

they are perfect. The

possibility

of understand

ing thisway of being perfect is held out as an outcome thatmight be

in exploring
themselves.
by following his instructions
trainer is not open to countercontrol
the
trainees, apparently,
by

achieved
c. The

because of his prior training.That training is designed to make the

terms. That means
in est (and Buddhist)
that
to hold very little in personal
to have no
esteem,
status at risk, and to have no strong motivations
that could be
personal
one
a
frustrated.
element of
trainer's prior training may
(It is said that
to
include a protracted
tasks, to demonstrate
period of doing menial
trainer "unattached,"
the trainer has learned

the trainer

that reliance
When

irrelevant.)

on his worth,

are
status, rank, and power
own
the
trainer's
successful,
training

thoroughly

establishes that the traineeswill not be able to finda way to shape his
toward

behavior

their ends.

d. The trainerdemonstrates the futilityof counterattack by pointing out

at the outset

that he already

that he came

all

for?the

trainees'

thathe is simplygoing throughwith his job and does not

money?and
care much

has

what

happens

in the course

of that. During

the training, he

also skillfullydemolishes or ignoresany attacks thatare aimed at thim.

He

appears

to be an intriguing, self-confident,

ing figure.
e. At the same

and potentially

punish

to us that the trainer offers selective

time, it seems
in the form of the
of the trainees'
self-disclosure,
the conclu
"thank you" with which he acknowledges

reinforcement
nonevaluative

he has with a trainee. The trainer then acknowl

sion of any exchange
as a contribution
for
(not necessarily
edges the trainee's contribution
to
the
with
all
trainer's
its content).
According
prior agreement

trainees at the outset of the training, this is a signal that the trainees
are instructed

from the start to acknowledge

of their con
with applause
all contributions
by trainees,
regardless
tent. In practice, however,
the signal to applaud
iswithheld
generally
the trainee and the trainer is completed.
between
until the exchange
in the course of
Often the trainer shapes a trainee's verbal behavior
should

applaud.

Trainees

their interchange.He does so by withholding his acknowledgement

until the trainee

that seems
something
and
relevant
non"act"-asserting,

tells the group

self-revelatory,
to the trainee,

self-exploratory,
rather than to any other trainee or to the trainer. Then,
by saying
a potentially
"thank you," or "f got it," the trainer commands
power

ful formof social reinforcement, the applause of 200 to 300 peers, all

presumably

in the same

receiving the applause.

f. The
trainer continues

uncomfortable

situation

as

is the

trainee

the applause may well be much valued.

Thus,
to select from the trainees
this kind of self
in
est
effect
terms, "sharing"),
shaping more
(in

response
exploratory
and more of it in increasingly

diverse
51

ways.

Each

trainee apparently

is

Baer

Stolz

inner experience;
exploring
putting it into words for the other trainees
and the trainer is reinforced.
numbers of the trainees are
Increasing
in somewhat
different ways.
each
reporting their self-explorations,
to an extremely thorough set of models,
Thus, each trainee is exposed
fostering an induction by the trainees of an intuition of self that is

over

extremely difficult to put into words, and thus difficult to teach in any
way other than inductively.
In doing all this, the trainer seems to be maximizing
his instructional control
some

But, in our opinion, he is using that control

diverse
of self-exploratory
and self
only
examples
increasingly
in the trainees. The increased participation
by
revelatory behavior
("sharing")
the trainees parallels
their growing confidence
in the validity of their own experi
of the trainees.

behavior

to establish

in contrast
to their conventional
beliefs about what
ences,
they are, how the
as the trainees begin increasingly
world works,
to
and how they work. Also,
on
model
their self-explorations
for one another,
the trainer
their dependence
should

become

does

begin
themselves.

The

the trainer
less; and indeed, as the training progresses,
less of a didactic
the trainees to teach
role, programming

less and

to play

est Curriculum

The ostensible formof the est trainingis a great deal of talkby the trainerand

the trainees.
questions,

The

evokes

is in charge;
he presents
statements,
poses
clearly
from the trainees,
from the
recognizes
questions
or another)
answers
them. The progress
of this inter

trainer

answers

and (one way

is
random: The trainer has a curriculum
to accomplish.
Its
by no means
change
not
seem
in
to
be
the
major components,
order,
chronological
following:
1. Solipsism.
The proper criterion of knowledge
ought to be a personal
trainees,

of its totality. But much of externally

received
is ac
experiencing
knowledge
that
without
and
is
confirmed
the
basis,
cepted
way subsequent
by
experiences
are perceived
received knowledge
by the knower. Thus, much of the externally
on which personal
rumor and convention.
behavior
is predicated
is essentially
don't know what they think they know as they enter training.
Trainees
Corollary:

This

lesson

leads

their receptivity
2. Experience:

trainees
to new

to question
lessons.

Undefinable.

their prior status,

Characterizable

and

this is important

to

as

internally created knowl

ege, intuition, awareness,
self-awareness,
feeling, or what you find in yourself.
It is, for esty the only proper criterion for personal
truth: If you have experienced
it.
you accept
something,
1+2 = 3. Self-validation:
the conviction
that experience
Building
(intuition,
is to be trusted (often a contradiction
of trainees'
feeling, etc.)
prior beliefs);
that only experience
is to be trusted.
subsequently,
4. The experience
A
series of self-exercises
algorithms:

each

to new or unusual

potentially
leading
and most
important, current

and past

awareness

contingencies
52

called

"processes,"
of self, body, and, finally

previously

unrecognized,

A Description

unrecognized

as

such

the Erhard

of

Seminars

or forgotten

(miscoded),

fulfilling).

Training

(but still functioning,

often

self

are perhaps nine processes,

or experience
that trainees do
algorithms,
their eyes closed,
a
more
and
few
done with their eyes open. For the most
seem to have
a probability
in common
of enhancing
self
part, the processes
in terms of the potential
awareness;
that est may have for behavior
this
change,
can mean an ability to recognize
or
in
the
past
present
controlling contingencies
of the trainee/graduate.
environment
There

with

of the algorithms
the flooding
Many
greatly resemble
used
in
of behavior
various
forms
1976,
pp.
148-152)
berg,

techniques

(Leiten
(and other

therapy
immerse the person
in feelings, attitudes,
and judg
sensations,
therapies): They
ments that might otherwise
be avoided.
of what
Thus,
they allow an appreciation
these experiences
some of them are, and how
in fact consist of?
how pleasant
readily

tolerated

and

dispersed

others

are,

in.contrast

to the supposed

over

whelming power that the individual has endowed themwith previously. Through

the process-algorithms,
to free themselves
from
people potentially are supposed
control by those feelings and their environmental
sources.
For example,
if the
feeling is embarrassment,
people normally see its source as in the environment,

i.e., the reactions of other people;

what was fearful was the trainee's

in a process,

the trainee may come to see that

of others and the expectation
of
experience
actual reactions.

their reaction,
rather than others'
That the processes
may sometimes work in this manner
we all know the contingencies
belief,
controlling behavior,

suggests that, in fact,

and fear in our lives.

our early experiences

teach us to look for contingencies
of all sorts.
the accurate
of
or to our
those
to
others
However,
reporting
contingencies,
a
is
from
the
and
of them.
selves,
response
separate
easily
recognition
analysis
a
a
one
on
whenever
is
Thus,
avoidance,
fear, escape,
(based
painful
contingency
Presumably,

etc.), despite our skill at noting it and learning to behave as itpresses us to, there
or to others, either
is no certainty that we will report the contingency
to ourselves
or
at
all.
The
most
accurately
experience
important function may be
algorithms'
that they constitute
to activate
effective
self-instruction
of
just that response

the full nature of the contingencies

under which we
accurately
self-reporting
have been operating, despite their embarrassment,
or pain potential.
humiliation,
are designed
to demonstrate
Some of the algorithms
that such sensations
and
beliefs are in fact not nearly as severe as we seem to fear, or are not even real any

(if they every were).

the processes
work
is not clear. Perhaps
Why
they are indeed intrinsically
functional and must be just the algorithms
that they are, to work. Perhaps
any
or
use
est
In
would
of
after
the
induction.
process
work,
algorithm
general, any
longer

complex
usually
desired

and detailed

ritual usually enhances

instructional
control, and
ongoing
as
as
and complex
and leads to a
be arbitrary,
it is detailed
long
end product. Through
the processes,
the trainees may begin to discrimi
can

nate

and monitor

Thus,

they may

their own

become

behavior,

independent

its long-term consequences.

and predict
on their own
of the trainer and dependent
53

Baer

Stolz

to be to
thus seems
The function of the processes
en
an
to
to learn and later be able
the trainees
provide
practice
opportunity
skills.
and self-analysis
hanced or expanded
awareness,
self-awareness,
or acceptance:
5. Change
of
may lead to
Analysis
controlling contingencies
new
ones
to
that usually
of
from
those
exit
them, entry
change
contingencies,
and

experience

intuition.

or acceptance
but now
of the old contingencies,
behavior,
("better")
as a self-initiated bargain rather than an imposed one.
4 + 5 + 6. Self-confidence:
Fuller analysis
of controlling
contingencies,
some
to
with
the
and
accept others, leads to contentment
coupled
change
ability
can always be continued,
and several
intuitive realizations:
(a) that the process
await

new

(b) that trapswill be avoided or sufferedonly briefly in the future,and (c) at the

extreme,

that the universe

adventitiously
better.

is the trainee's

in an environment

to use, a realization

that the trainee experiences

that is reinforced

as going better and

a psychology
inwhich the key agent is a
a
a
or
reinforce
to
Freudian
behavioristic
"mind,"
ego
corresponding
roughly
ment history. est's psychology
in recording past
how this mind works
describes
the meaning
and instigating be
of new experiences,
experiences,
determining
7. Determinism:

havior. The mind

est offers its trainees

is a record of memories

self is characterized
At some point
receives

an

relevant

to the survival

of the self. (The

in est as "what

you really are.")

to est^s psychology,
the mind
history, according
from the self which
to a definition of what
is tantamount

in anyone's

instruction

the self considers itselfto be, and a parallel definitionofwhat the self fears itself

to be. For example,

you are in perpetual
also often convince

in your early history, you may have become

that
convinced
to be stupid, and that you can
danger of being discovered
other people that you are exceptionally
intelligent, especially

if you are a good student. Thus, your self instructs your mind to record experi
ence and control behavior
in defense
of your knowledge,
always
Tightness,
and
to other people.
intellectual
cleverness,
general
superiority
Thenceforth,
your mind will remember selectively what itneeds to, in service

of that goal.
It also
to
require
perpetuate

as much behavior
as current environments
generate
that identity in them, whether
that be information, various
else the situations encountered
need. In
insult, or whatever

will

skills, humor, verbal

this paradigm,
the mind

will sacrifice
to its
of the person
any other aspect
If
even
to
death
will
be
necessary,
(or perhaps
assignment.
preferred
public
amount
of personal
private)
stupidity, and any
readily
tragedy and sacrifice,
as
or health, will be allowed,
love, family, wealth,
including loss of friendship,
is maximized.
long as personal
"Tightness"
est
in
whatever
the self
terms,
Indeed,

instructs the mind that the self is,

or "stupid,"
it is "intelligent"
the subsequent
in
actions of the mind
are
that identification
called "being
certain
perpetuating
right." For example,
to the realization
as inescapably
trainees come
that they identify themselves

whether

stupid. They discover

failures and invariable

that they derive

inverse comfort from their invincible
and
thus
in
fact
feel right only when they are once
losses,
54

A Description

of the Erhard Seminars Training

inwhatever
their current
again wrong,
a
is
est
wrong
frequent
paradox.

adventure

may

be. Being

right by being

In behavioral

terms, instruction of the mind by the self as to what the self

itself to be and wishes
to be is tantamount
to the establishment
of a class of
the
reinforcers:
all
of
evidences
and
potent
cleverness,
intelligence,
knowledge,
as in the first example,
or all the signs of loserhood,
as in the second.
Equally
in examples
encountered
in the est training, are cases of the
pertinent,
commonly
fears

mind receiving instructionstobe independent or to be dependent, to be dominant

or to be submissive,
be accident-prone,

or to be disorganized,
to be well organized
to be lucky or to
to be sensual or to be frigid or impotent.
Behavioral
of positive and nega
invokes the concepts
psychology
generally
to explain the establishment
tive conditioned
reinforcement
of such personalized
est seems
to use the same paradigm,
motivation,
but not the same
language.
in explaining
the content of the mind, est apparently
invokes only one
However,
of these two basic classes of contingencies:
It uses only the escape
and avoidance
a
the
content
ostensible
of
the
mind
is
Thus,
great deal of escape
contingencies.

of physical pain or deprivation

and
learning relevant to avoidance
events,
est
associated
of conditioned
the establishment
reinforcers
ignores
reinforcement
through positive
techniques.
if not all, positive
theorists may recall that many,
reinforcement
Learning
and avoidance

or avoidance
can be translated
into escape
contingencies
by a
contingencies
or
shift. For example,
semantic
stimuli that signal the acquisition
water
of food
to signal escape
also can be considered
from hunger or thirst; stimuli associated
love and approval may signal escape
of abandonment,
from or avoidance
or
shame.
to
estys
self-restriction
the
and avoid
Thus,
apparent
escape
neglect,
ance cases may not necessarily
prevent it from fitting the great majority of life's

with

learning experiences

into its epistemology.

The functioning of an <?srianmind is also characterized by a concept of

In est's

of whatever
the mind learns is
formulation, generalization
resistant to extinction
through heightened
(except
extraordinarily
to all
and extremely
self-awareness),
symbolic. Thus, your mind may generalize
women
to your father.
to your mother, and to all men its reactions
its reactions
generalization.

widespread,

And although the object that hit you on the head early in lifewas a softball, in
or someone's
eyes
light bulb, the moon,
similar one).
then (or a symbolically
evoked
to
in amplification
that according
of this principle,
same
as
not
but
is
the
everything else,
"everything

an orange,
circumstances,
evoke the same reaction as was

suitable

may
The

trainer says repeatedly,

the logic system of the mind,
In the est epistemology,
when
always."
not is explicitly unknowable
by anyone

occurs
generalization
but the generalizer.

and when

it does

By assuming that this learningdoes not extinguish and that itgeneralizes

as new
of generalization
the recording
of all instances
widely,
by assuming
as
reinforcement
effects
instances of such learning, and by ignoring positive
to escape
and avoidance
such, est arrives at a portrait of a mind totally dedicated
in their operation
that are totally deterministic
and totally inevitable.
reactions
55

Baer

one

Indeed,

to most
lessons,
initially unpalatable
apparently
lawfulness of behavior. Most
trainees (nonbehaviorists)

final

is the absolute

trainees,
resist

of esfs

Stolz,

restates and dramatizes

it.
and the trainer repeatedly
est trainees find
the possiblity of this principle,
however,
they accept
seems to
themselves
in an epistemology
from which the only prospect of escape
as auto
so
own
to
that
their
lie in somehow
themselves
observation,
opening
this conclusion,

Once

emerge in their behavior,

they are aware of and experience
generalizations
as just that?automatic
themselves
the trainees are also told
Yet,
generalizers.
are
not
to be learned, so
and
that
self-observation
firmly
experiencing
techniques

matic

as an enlightened

much

state

inwhich

they already

they don't

exist?unless

(the

usual est paradox); that it is a state inwhich theymay well exist in the future
that their alternative
is not to become
they don't);
to
to
be
and
that
try to be "en
"enlightened,"
"enlightened";
are
is
the
not.
that
lightened"
only guarantee
they
as
Some
trainees may become
of their own minds,
est'mn psychologists
characterized
for them in gross outline by est's formulation,
and as fleshed out
of course,

(except,

but

when

rather

for them in their own particular case by themselves

and their self-realizations
to become
their "act."
To be that kind of psycholigist,
for esty is mainly
self-observer
of the "act,"
the "act"
such that whenever
enlightened

of

an
is

a special
inner voice (the self) remarks that what is being done is the
reenacted,
"act"
In
that voice may speak
less and less often, presumably
time,
again.
because
the "act"
will be performed
less and less often. In the est system, the
cannot survive such self-observation.
"act"
If a voice like this does make such remarks, that is, if self-monitoring occurs,
then the maintenance
continued

occurrence

an issue. Its
as behavior,
of that self-monitoring,
becomes
a
of the
be
function
of
the
differential
may
experiences

on the use of the voice. Fewer

and fewer occur
trainee/graduate,
contingent
rences of the voice may represent what the est epistemology
posits as inevitable:
the disappearance
of the particular "act"
In behavioral
under self-observation.
terms,

reduced

occurrence

of the voice,
representing
rate of what
from a reduced

may result
monitoring,
the "act").
behaviors
comprising

a reduced

rate of self

is being monitored
(the
is indeed an
hand, if the voice
then a reduction
in its rate may also indicate
or
events
nonevents
the
by
contingent on its

On

the other

operant
response,
self-monitoring
or extinction
either its punishment
use. Thus,
reduction
in the rate of self-monitoring
considered
alone.

is an ambiguous

outcome,

This is not a process amenable

to observations
and research by anyone other
than the person possessing
that voice and that "act,"
and while any of us may
make
those observations
none of us is obliged
in our own personal
to
cases,
believe anything the rest of us report about
usual criteria of public science.

Common

Conclusions

1. Troubles

are

and/or

Supplementary

self-imposed,

not
56

that line of reasearch,

according

to the

Lessons

externally

imposed.

True,

the events

A Description

regarded as
those events
own

the trouble

often

the Erhard

Seminars

Training

are

but
imposed externally,
as
or
rather than
acceptable
positive

as trouble,

behavior.

do not create

of

of
the experiencing
is your
happenings,

even though you

Thus, you are not the victim of circumstances,
the circumstances:
Status as "victim"
that you create
is something

for yourself.
2. Agreements

are to be kept. Agreements

inherently are based on personal
intention is an integral part of experience,
and in particular
of self
intention;
are
and awareness
al
broken
awareness;
Thus,
agreements
requires honesty.
are
at
the
of
and
unless
with
broken
awareness,
expense
ways
experience
they
the consent

and agreement
of all other parties to the agreements.
3. You
should stay open to new experience;
you should not
consequently,
as unsurpassable.
shut yourself off from that by exalting some past experience
4. Effortful avoidances,
all represent
and boredoms
hatreds, fears, disdains,

an expense

of consciousness,
most

present contingencies,
you from the expense

and

and escape
likely) which,
trouble of all

from some

realization

if experienced,
that avoidance

would
behavior.

(about

past

probably
Thus,

or
free

you
and become
free of whatever
you fear, hate, or
(experience)
of something
avoidance
is itself an imprison
avoid.
Unexamined,
systematic
ment. Nevertheless,
If you walk
into
still operate:
the inevitable contingencies
will
hurt.
walls, you
get
should

examine

you do; your self is different from your

and so on. What
behavior,
actions,
you are is dif
feelings, bodily sensations,
ferent also from any concepts,
beliefs, points of view,
attitudes, considerations,
5. What

memories,

you are is different from what

The
and so on, that you have, and from your history of reinforcement.
"I
have
to assist you to recognize
this. Thus, you would
say:
rather than "I am upset."

is designed

training
an upset,"
6. You

are already a perfect person. You cannot be any way other than the
You are complete;
way you are; you are what you have to be at any moment.
in
the
Thus, "nothing happens"
your self is already actualized.
training, i.e., the
is no
self does not change, nor does the training modify who you really are. There
such thing as a fall from grace, to which you then return. Past errors, even present
over: What
errors, are not to be agonized
you do (did), you do (did), in response
want
if
it to be different, change
to the contingencies
of the moment;
it, but do
you
not wallow
is an est aphorism
in remorse.
"It's o.k. not to be o.k."
(Erhard,
1973).
7. Since

yourself to see whether

you are perfect, you do not have to evaluate
no
are
some
such
and
there
is
standard,
you
thing as being "better."
meeting
is
what
that
you have to be. Con
Accept
yourself for what you are, because
because
meet
do not evaluate whether others
you do
your standards,
sequently,
them as they
not need to set up standards. Rather than evaluating
others, accept
are.

can plan

8. Acceptance:
have to take it as

it comes.

this is in no sense

despair,

You

the future, but you cannot

with self-confidence
Coupled

but rather an amused

57

determine

it.You

will

above),
(as described
that very little goes
recognition

Baer

as

Stolz

itwas

to go, or hoped for, but even so, given the proper self-analysis
planned
skills, it can always be enjoyed.
9. Not much
is as important as it used to be. A great deal of what used to be
seen as inescapable,
irresistible, or worth any sacrifice now may be seen very
as
differently,
falsely magnified
by prior failures of consciousness
(self-analysis),
or as valuable

to the self.
yet never essential
are
10. Satisfaction
and survival: There

two basic paradigms

for living
one
as
est
In
of
life.
known
in
from
them,
satisfaction,"
you
everyday
"coming
are thoroughly open to your own experience,
aware that the meaning
and value of
on your reaction to it, and secure in your experi
what happens
to you depends
ence

of yourself

as complete

as

and perfect,
or disastrous

so that even

that are conven

events

are

as

and
judged
negative
acceptable
experienced
as
or
rather than
"o.k.,"
destructive,
catastrophic,
diminishing. Thus,
defeating,
are
loss of a loved one, defeat
or unpredicted
in competition,
deprivations
as
a
as
events
natural
in
reasons
determined
rather
for
than
accepted
universe,
or
to
events
tend
be
depression
despair.
Conversely,
conventionally
positive
more
is
than
conventional.
enjoyed
(One critic of est's effects complained
petu
tionally

lantly ina TV discussion thatest graduates were "turned on by thejelly on their

toast at breakfast.")
The alternative,
from survival,"
is very nearly the opposite:
"coming
being
in
own
touch
with your
to know
its actual content;
insufficiently
experience
that the meaning
and value of events are inherent in the events, rather
believing
than in your reaction to those events;
can be separated
from your situation
survival"

and being unsure that your personal worth

and your roles in life. Thus, "coming
from
on
the predicted
circumstances,
dependent
and in consequence,
you are always at risk of

makes

you thoroughly
of your plans, and "luck,"
to a loved one from satisfaction,
disaster.
you can say, "I am complete
Speaking
inmyself and I derive value from you";
from
survival, you will say, "I
speaking
on you to complete me; without
need you and depend
you, I am incomplete,
outcome

and without
heart-broken,
two paradigms
These
constitutes

satisfaction

and

purpose."
are assumed
survival

the trainer, instance by instance, and

is the trainee/graduate's,
any instance,

to be

trade-offs

for each

other. What

is defined

not by
by the trainee/graduate,
or
to be satisfied
the choice
to survive, in
and not the trainer's.

Although itmight seem from the choice of terms that est implicitlyvalues

over survival, in fact it explicitly denies any such evaluation,

at least
in the sense that itdoes not proclaim
one
that
should choose
satisfaction.
Indeed,
if itwere "better"
to be satisfied than to survive, i.e., ifone had to be satisfied,
then one would
be coming from survival about satisfaction.
satisfaction

Analysis
In focusing first on the procedures
that we assume are intended to accomplish
instructional control over some behaviors
of the trainees, our analysis of est will
both
and
to
contrasts
suggest
Next, we
comparisons
procedures.
brainwashing
58

A Description

will

of

the Erhard

Seminars

Training

two possible
conclusions
about
the nature of est. Then, we will
est may and may not be amenable
in which
the ways
to research.
we
a
a
will
offer
in
the
form
of
disclaimer
summary position
Finally,
clarifying
what this document
is and is not.
describe

consider

and Contrast

Comparison

of est's Instructional

Control

with Brainwashing

over

the trainee achieved

by the est trainer appears
we have characterized
it above as probably
process;
if
to
to
the
in
succeed
the
trainees
trainer
is
attempt some very
important,
getting
unusual and difficult actions. Whatever
the form of that induction
its necessity,
The

instructional

control

to result from an induction

contrasts with that used in hypnosis

and brain
sometimes
parallels,
can
to
A
be
instructive.
comparison
brainwashing
washing.
a somewhat
to describe
is a term used
variable
Brainwashing
family of
core
to
alter
In
behavior.
methods
its
of
rigorous procedures
designed
general,
sometimes

seems to include the following:

of pain and fear,

of previous
repertoire,
punishment
invalidation
of personal
status,
induction

techniques,
stripping of self-defense
of a specific pattern of new behavior.
reinforcement
seem to approximate
est procedures
several of these procedures
Some
topo
are
our
in content and
there
in
however,
major differences
opinion,
graphically;
important exceptions:
Pain is not what

one may feel in 15-hr

with
back
and
rump and an overfull
setting,
aching
are
own
fears
and heartaches
More
personal
importantly, the trainee's
rather than imposed by the trainer.
is induced,

but rather the discomfort

in a rather cool

sessions
bladder.
evoked,

Asserting

that part of one's

previous

repertoire

called

"the

act"

by est

is

met by instantanalytic exposure, coupled with mild ridicule and lightobscenity

("you asshole");
form of personal

a potential
thus, this constitutes
punishment
status. When
trainees
volunteer
("share")

of reliance

their act,

on a
this

punishment is public, to boot. When they evoke theiract only in imagery, then

the trainer would

the same analysis
if the trainee applies
punishment will occur
used by the
in
the
that
will
if
it
be
have applied, and,
so,
techniques
private. But,
ones,
trainer seem to be, on the face of it, rather weak
easily
presumably
as
the
most
effectiveness
their
withstood
represents
trainees,
punishment
by
trainees'

self-invalidation,

which

the trainer has

invited but not required.

Defensive verbal techniques used by the traineeswill be defeated by an

trainer, almost inevitably; neverthe

highly skilled, very self-secure
can always
leave the training (and, at several times during the two
can even recover the fee when doing so). The trainer attempts to show
weekends,
the trainees that their defensive
ought to be put aside in their own best
techniques
the
are
it is when
not
the
interests, because
Again,
truly needed.
techniques
impregnable,
less, trainees

59

Baer

Stolz

trainees themselves put aside theirdefensive techniques that the est training is
effective.
maximally
A new pattern of behavior

is reinforced

by the trainer, but it is not chosen

by the trainer: It is the trainee's choice. This is perhaps themajor point of dif

est procedures
The term brain
and brainwashing
procedures.
we
influ
outcome
if
of
the
behavioral
is
used
of
washing
generally
disapprove
are more likely to be called
those precedures
ence; ifwe approve of the outcome,
is especially
initiation, or school, or the team, or the Marine Corps. Brainwashing
new
to
to
be
be
when
reinforced
invoked
the
represents a new
likely
repertoire
between

ference

in est
But any new repertoire
established
Marxism).
ifat all, by them, not by their trainer. The trainer has tried to
is specified,
and what
lead them to self-examination;
what they find in that self-examination,
stance

political
trainees

(e.g.,

(ifanything) theymay do about itsubsequently, is formallyup to them,and infact

variable

is widely

Two Possible

across

Conclusions

graduates
About

(if change

the Nature

occurs

at all).

of est

so complex a collection
as est, a great variety of evaluative
of procedures
is
from
admiration
1976;
(Bry, 1976; Hargrove,
interpretations
possible,
ranging
For

Rhinehart, 1976; Smith, 1975) tomoderate or severe criticism (Brewer, 1975;

Fenwick, 1976;Kornbluth, 1976;Marks, 1976).Two conclusions characterizing
here.
of the est training as a psychological
process will be presented
our
sense
of
in
worst
the
in
the
conclusion,
represents,
possible
judgment,

the nature

One

the most

of est

characterization

that seems

(without
possible
1976). The second conclusion
fantasy, cf. Kornbluth,
represents our best opinion and evaluation.
First and worst possible
In our opinion,
conclusion.
the worst realistically
one
evident
in
media
is that est
possible
interpretation,
already
commentary,
no new repertoire of self-analysis
establishes
nor
nor
awareness
skills
heightened
being

negative
to unwarranted

resorting

shift in epistemology

in its graduates.

It simply

scares

them badly

and

impresses

them with inscrutable Eastern philosphy that cannot be analyzed by them,

considering

their state during

the training. But even

so, the trainees

can boast

of

est to theirneighbors as a mind-opening experience (that iswhat theywere told it

was),
may

and can be one

indeed
Besides,

in the awareness-of-life
up on their neighbors
game. That
and confusion.
$300 and four days of paradox
there have been occasional
These
have been
feelings of exaltation.

be worth

facilitated by the physical conditions and some suggestions from the trainerthat

to them from time to time. They believe

this is exactly what will happen
this, as
to believe much of what
est
induced
the trainer says. Thus,
they have been
trainees rarely will complain
later; they more often will boast of their exceptional
in personal
that they are now experienc
fulfillment, and will be positive
bargain
run
or
own
to
their
past. The alternative
ing life rather than being
by others
claiming

this is to admit

that they were

conned

and didn't

even

towalk out in themiddle. Very few people will admit to that.

60

have

the courage

A Description of the Erhard Seminars Training

and more

Second

accurate

est

in fact allows,
undependably,
the establishment
of a new reper

conclusion,

across

and

trainees,
variably
an
awareness
as
of shift in
of their experience
increased
only
specifiable
an
one
or
which
be
increased
of
context,
may
component
personal
epistemology
under
which
the behavior-controlling
skill in recognizing
they
contingencies
unpredictably,
toire,

have

been

long-past

some
in the present environment,
living (some
events and operating as self-fulfilling prophecies).

from
still operating
extent
To whatever

the ability to analyze the contingencies under which they are laboring lends a

ability to alter them or accept

subsequent
extent
in better control of their lives or
The

control.

of degree

variability

may be to that
them, est graduates
in better harmony with the current

of this outcome

in different

trainees,

and more

important,the variability of what differenttraineeswill find in examining their

to state a uniform topography

of out
it impossible
make
environments,
common
as a test of est's worth. The only
outcome
come that could be measured
with
life.
the
increased
satisfaction
should
trainee's
the
be
method
works)
(when

own

The testimonyof increased satisfaction does not in itselftestifyto its truthor

to the desirability of the method that produced the testimony. That kind of

some of them
in a variety of ways,
testimony can be induced, often groundlessly,
The only persons who can
quite unattractive
(cf. the first, worst conclusion).
are the
est has occurred,
derived
from
the satisfaction
know whether
potentially
individual

trainees.

Conceivably,
satisfaction

with

And

there is no point

in asking

them, because

some

of them

lie (like some of us), and we will not be able to know which ones are lying.
an increased
none of them is. Perhaps
all of them are; conceivably,
other than ver
in some
indirect outcomes,
life can appear

bal report; we shall comment later on how some such possibilities might be
investigated.

When

est Fails
Our

observations

distinctive

group with

are
of graduates
behavior
changes

survey of them as a
to the est training, and are

far from a formal

attributable

very far frombeing able to specify thedistributionof such changes among them.

Nevertheless,

we

can describe

sider to be est failures:

some

patterns

that we

have

observed

and

con

rebel in the course of the training; sometimes,

they condemn
or
the
entire
at
the
the trainer, the process
time,
they
enterprise. When
ongoing
In
are offered a refund of their tuition, they may accept,
leaving at that point.
of the training may be sufficiently
some cases we have seen, the characteristics
1. Some

trainees

the trainee
in other cases,
to explain
or uninteresting
their rebellion;
to
be
too
some
distasteful
self-discoveries
be
further,
pursued
may
encountering
an
from
but
that:
from the training represents
and the escape
escape,
just
the training
or not). In these latter cases,
(accurate
self-analysis
unacceptable
distasteful

may be said to have failed, in that the analysis

the training may be said to have succeeded,
61

was

not completed;
alternatively,
the trainee to a
in that it brought

Baer

Stolz

(accurate or not), even though the trainee chose not to pursue itor
at
at that time. From est"s point of view, trainees are never given a
least
it,
accept
new epistemology;
one for
to discover
they are only offered the opportunity
est claims only to make
themselves.
That opportunity
need not be accepted;
self-realization

the offer.
2. Some

trainees finish the training, but it seems to us that for them, est is only
or a new peer group. In some cases,
it represents
simply an
of importance
not to them but to other trainees whom
they know,

a new entertainment
organization
and with whom
"inside"
ously

to possess
to improve their status by seeming
they attempt
and other graduates.
information on est personnel
Sometimes,
previ
act as if they had learned nothing but a small new
lonely graduates

which
is their pass
into an exciting and stimulating group of new
vocabulary
as such mainly by virture of that shared vocabu
friends, who can be maintained
that anyone who uses
it shares the experience
of
lary and their presumption
personal
needed

insight and different

to maintain
friendships

epistemology.
are substituted

for the skills ordinarily

Thus,
the est vocabulary
and the est

presumption of fellowship, aided by the trulyenhanced abilities of at least some

even such shallow friendships,
est graduates
to maintain
given their per
area.
in that
We
of their prior difficulties
consider
this not an
analyses

other
sonal

unfavorable

outcome,
trainees.

offer these
3. Some
had

chosen

but still a partial

failure of the process

that est intended

to

to the training as if they

graduates we have seen behave
subsequent
no
some particular
set of values
for
better reason
than that their
as

of the training. But

it
Instead,
points out that enhanced
sometimes
self-awareness
sometimes
results in value changes,
not; and that
when values do change as a result of est training, they sometimes
change in fairly
common ways,
for others' quirks,
tolerance
increased
e.g., increased
patience
more honesty, or more consistency
with frustrations,
in
increased assertiveness,
those
training had described
est, taken literally, preaches

values

sometime

outcomes

no values.

some trainees never encounter

the self-analyses
agreements.
Perhaps
are possible
believe
through the est training, but they are so favorably

keeping
that we

disposed toward est or its people that they adopt the supposedly appropriate

outcomes

of such analyses
lack of the process
that might have led them to
despite
It is much
to wear crucifixes
like pagans deciding
henceforth
no
for
better reason that that they have come to like some
themselves,

those outcomes.
and cross
Catholics.

an unfavorable
but
too, is not necessarily
This,
outcome,
a
of
the
est
failure
to
that
offer
trainees.
represents
purports
potential
some graduates
4. Finally,
the worst possible
may represent exactly

clusion

it still
con

to earlier

in this paper. For them, est was nothing but an uncom

pair of weekends,
by virture of which
they are able to play "one up"
their non-est peers more effectively than before.
referred

fortable
with

Amenability
What

of est to Research?

kind of changes

result from the est experience?

62

According

to documen

A Description

of

the Erhard

Seminars

Training

tation written

to testimony we have
(not by est staff), and according
are possible:
the following
Trainees
may
changes
that prior to training, they did not understand
much
of their own
but that subsequent
to training, they not only understand
more about

by graduates
from est graduates,

heard

conclude
behavior,
it, but also

have come to feel differently about it, experience

itdifferently, or hold
it in a different context,
even
are
and
able now to alter some of their cir
so as to behave differently from in the past, and, in their view, better.
cumstances
In est\ view, the training is not about behavior
or getting "better,"
change

that some graduates

often feel their lives are changed and
although est recognizes
better, est states no goals other than increased
and awareness:
experience
or wholeness."
"aliveness,
satisfaction,
fulfillment, awareness,
completion,
Four case histories may offer an inductive base from which we may then
draw some conclusions:

1. Phyllis realizes that her past lifehas been one of constantly finding and
out

the errors made

them wrong,"
in est
by other people
("making
a
that
feels
she
has
done
that
because
of
that
she
fear
parlance).
strong
can
herself might be found out to be wrong, and a long-standing
if
that
she
feeling
show others
that they are wrong,
she is right. Phyllis
sub
then, relatively,
pointing

She

now

finds that she no longer points out others'

errors; she also becomes
sequently
more expert at detecting when other people are motivated
to find others' errors.
2. Jack realizes
that his disdain
for alternative
lifestyles stems not from a

supposed superior knowledge of right or wrong, or of good tactics and bad

ifhe were to try to live in any of those

tactics, but rather from a fear of inadequacy
no
rants
He
and
criticizes
lifestyles.
longer
against these lifestyles, and he adopts
certain parts of them which now seem attractive
to him.

that her lifelong devotion

to a supposedly
is
helpless mother
not an act of love and charity, but instead an act of self-defense:
She actually has
3. Pat

realizes

feared that she would fail tomeet the challenges of independent living,and she

uses

her mother's

further realizes
competent

deficiencies
that she has

and more

dependent

as an excuse

for her not to be allowed

to make
found ways
continually
on her help than her mother's

to try. She
less
her mother

condition

in fact

justified, primarily tomaximize her own insulation from a test of her ability to
lead a successful,
perhaps because
the alternative.

to serve as her mother's

life. Pat continues
nurse,
independent
more
she is, after all,
than tempted by
satisfied with the defense
however.
She no longer complains
about her martyrdom,

4. Stewart
his loved ones,
realizes
that the jealousy
he suffered whenever
as positively
to whom
relate
etc., find other persons
friends, subordinates,
they
or completely
as they do to him, derives mainly
from his fear of his own
He recalls that in his past, he has dealt with a frightening world very
inadequacy.
for
so successfully
almost always
that he has won reinforcement
successfully,

being the best, not simply forbeing very good. He has acted as ifbeing the best

were

success
the only possible
pattern, and therefore he has implicitly required
to find anyone
else to be inferior to him; thus, his associates
all his associates
no longer is irritated when
to
not relate strongly
else. Stewart
should
anyone
63

Baer

Stolz

others are given honors or opportunities thatmight have come to him; he feels
increased

satisfaction

looks

longer

for new

with

the honors

already accrued
or teases his associates

honors

and with new ones,

about

their other

and no

relation

ships.
These

some of the problems making

into est
four examples
research
display
a
an
est
would
outcomes
outcome
difficult venture. For example,
study of
doing
a graduate
has changed
in which
that researchers
require
specify the ways
the results of
because
of the est experience.
As the four case histories exemplify,
can be summarized
in a least
the est experience
and are summarized
by graduates
two ways
(which
1. Graduates

after the training then they did

to prefer their new behavior;
more about their own behavior
and
say that they understand
to
has
them
its
affective
value
feel differently about
it, and that

before, and seem

2. Graduates
and

others',
changed.

are not mutually

exclusive):
seem able to behave differently

may

They

or may

not behave

differently.

Of these two outcomes, the first is not intended by est, although it is

as common
the second
is intended.
among graduates;
recognized
to consider
We
the possibility
of outome
studies of each
propose

of these

types of changes.
re
an outside,
Outcomes
Could
change.
objective
involving behavioral
searcher document
that any of the changes
described
in the four case histories
as an example
but only with difficulty. Take
really did occur? Conceivably,
who

Phyllis,

previously

had criticized

and

evaluated

other

people

as a way

of

allaying personal fears that shemight be found to be wrong. If itwere possible to

know

in advance

that this was

the realization

that Phyllis was

likely to reach as a

result of the training, then itwould not be difficultto establish her baselines of

the same
attack, criticism, etc., prior to the training, and examine
interpersonal
see
to
behaviors
the
to
if
in favor
indeed
had
decreased
subsequent
training
they
of less evaluative
and more positive
interpersonal
styles.
of all the characteristics
that a trainee may have,
there is no
However,

obvious way of predictingwhich of themwill be seen subsequent to the trainingin

a new light (i.e., as under the control of
previously
unrecognized
and of these, which will seem to the trainee as worth changing

contingencies);
to
(as contrasted

accepting); and of these, which will in fact prove possible to change in that
an objective
circumstances.
be
Thus,
particular
study of ^r-related
as
seen
often
be
will
been
in
but
change
retrospect;
having
only
possible,
by the time that one sees what the study should have been, it is too late to acquire
the necessary
baselines
in an objective manner.
(pretests)
a
An investigator who knew
number of trainees very well prior to their
trainee's

havior

in each
training conceivably
might guess in advance what changes were possible
trainee as a result of training and collect the corresponding
baselines
pretraining
a risky and inefficient research design, one that
(pretests). But this is obviously

would
cases

a sufficient number
require too much effort to acquire
could easily be doubted as typical, because
of their peculiar
64

of cases.

All

sampling

origin,

its

A Description

and

they also may

of

the Erhard

to some

represent,

Seminars

extent,

Training

regressions

to their means.

such persons

is conceivable,

This

latterpoint could be defended against only by parallel studies of similar persons

with similar baselines who did not undergo the training at that time in their
A multiple-baseline

baselines.

design

across

again, highly improbable of reification.

but

in which
There
is another way
involving a shift in epistemology.
a
to
outcome
have
that
be
said
become
of
may
target
changed
might
the preceding
of est outcomes.
In each case
research.
Recall
four examples
Outcomes

trainees

history, the trainee experienced

behavior
lying a long-standing

the supposedly
under
fundamental
contingency
out
to
of
of
found
fear
be
wrong,
pattern:
being

being unable to do well inan alternate lifestyle,of incompetence indealing with

or of personal
as
the extra-family
world
of accomplishment,
worthlessness
cases
we
evidenced
else.
In each of the
have described,
by honor to anyone
to
of the be
of
these
led
abandonment
presumably
self-analysis
contingencies

havior thathad developed as ways of avoiding or diminishing thefeared events in

each

case.

Phyllis:

It is as

if the trainees

"Other

people

then said:

being wrong

doesn't

make

me

right, so

it's o.k.

if

they're right."
Jack: "Other

so
people
living differently than I do doesn't make me wrong,
want
to
if
that
live
it's o.k.
they
way."
the family; it's not
Pat: "I'm
the one who doesn't want to be tested outside
it's o.k. if I don't want to be tested; there is
Mom who's
keeping me here. And
lots of satisfaction

in doing what

I do."

Stewart: "Other people doing well and being liked doesn't make me any

so it's o.k. for them to be good and for my friends to like them."
dumber;
now are different. Their
These
trainees'
epis
previous
epistemologies
in effect, they now see a different causa
entailed
certain
behaviors;
temologies
or interpretation of the contingencies
of
awareness
tion, permitting an expanded

their lives. That is, before, Phyllis thoughther criticisms stemmed from some

else had committed;

specific error someone
seen to be her interpretation
of events as

now,

the source
threats

is
of that criticism
to her own status.

seeming
and trivial, so that the
unreal,
self-created,
criticism dies stillborn. Before, alternative
lifestyles were seen by Jack as violat
or social pillar; now,
they are seen as simply a
imperative
ing some moral
to him, and so their condemna
different way of living that is of no real relevance
Before Pat's mother was seen as a duty requiring sacrifice; now
tion disappears.

These

threats

now

are

seen

as

she is seen as a person to whom a daughter may or may not devote her life rather
the other
than try the outside world,
Before,
i.e., as simply another vocation.
and affection were seen by Stewart as not
in life who gained distinction
people
in one
truly worthy
unbalanced
equation,

now, others'
way or another;
but simply one of the pleasant

are no longer
honors
facts of life inwhich we

an

all

share.

Thus, old behavior

patterns are seen now
and they have
line of causation,
nonexistent
65

in a different context, freed from a

a dramatically
different personal

Baer

Stolz

Prior to the training, the trainees may have found the contingencies
meaning.
too painful to recognize or report to themselves
under which they were operating
the
or others, even though those contingencies
controlled
their behavior. Now,
of self-reporting

avoidance
unimportant
periencing

is seen

the contingencies

in terms

consequences?unimportant
of them and their alternatives.

as a flight from actually

new ex
the trainees'

of

and report the

ability to recognize
a
frame
from
shift in epistemology,

This

derives fundamentally
existing contingencies
or source of personal meaning.
of reference, causation,
now "holds
or the trainee
them in a different context,"
or "comes
from a different place."

In est terms, the trainee

is "in a different space"

The shift in epistemology, or in context, posited by est as the only basic

outcome

of the est experience,

might become
common
what
results
becomes,
question

The

that could

produce

be measured

across

research.
the target of outcome
these shifts in epistemology

do

trainees?

The possible effectsof the shiftinepistemology on the trainees' views of the

of their lives are, as has already been seen, highly variable across
the other hand, the examples
cited were similar in that they reduce
even though what was
to changed
views of avoidance
being
contingencies,
was
case.
avoided
Yet in each case, why those diverse events
different in each
contingencies
trainees. On

were

the
inadequacy. What
being avoided was strikingly similar: fear of personal
to do was different in each case, but the fear
trainees feared they were inadequate
that this particular
reveal them as failures was common. Thus,
challenge would
in this type of common
fear might be cited as one measurable
personal
change

outcome

of the est experience.

such a change
Unfortunately,

is measurable
usually
primarily by personal,
sort
of testimony, as behavior
has shown
verbal,
testimony, and that
analysis
can be produced
in a given person
again and again,
by a wide
variety of
some
cases
this
will
accurate
truth
Of
represent
techniques.
variety,
simple,

telling,but others will represent conditioning histories that rob the testimonyof
for the observer

validity

who

knows

or suspects

that history.

In the extreme

case,

we know thatwe can hire people to tell other people that they are less fearful
or failure than they used to be. What
ismost trouble
personal
inadequacy
is the variety of coin that can be used to accomplish
such hiring, and the
ease with which the contract may go unrecognized
even by the worker. Thus,
in
our opinion,
this possibility
is unlikely to constitute a satisfactory proof, espe
about
some

cially

to a skeptical

audience.

But it is still possible that ifgraduates indeed have acquired a wider epis

temology

within

which

to contain

old

and

new

experience,

then despite

the

variability inoutcome of having thatnew epistemology, theymay display some

uniformityin thefact that theyactually do experience theevents of their lives ina
new context.

For

some people,

allows
recognition and reporting of a contingency
to
the
These
behave
may
differently
contingency.
graduates
or may put different contingencies
on others'
differently, may counterprogram,
or
own.
behavior
their
In behavioral
to the contingencies,
terms, responding
them

to respond

66

A Description of the Erhard Seminars Training

once recognized, isa kind of personal skill; thediscriminative stimulus or cue for
that skill is the recognition of the contingency, an observation skill that looks for
and notes them as rules.
contingencies
As a result of some graduates'
experiencing
a new way, "problems"
would
that previously

of their lives in
the contingencies
for
them
long periods of
plague
or
now
in
be
"solved"
short
of time, by
time,
very
may
periods
indefinitely,
or
new
the underlying
them in the
context,
seeing
epistemology
diagnosing
or finding the
event
the
avoidance
avoided,
being
experiencing
contingencies,
of the event

avoidance

not worth

the effort that it would

cost.

In est

terms,

graduates doing thatare "getting off it."What it is that they"get off" is infinitely
across

of course;
but the speed with which
they "get off"
graduates,
in
to
their
than
on"
be
better
may
past performance
they happen
"get
in
shift
from
the
which
result
all or most of their cases. This possible
may
change,
This
is clear from est's most
is indeed central to est's purpose.
epistemology,
variable

whatever

often

one-sentence

repeated

of the purpose

description

of the training:

The purpose of the est training is to transformyour ability to experience

livingso that the situations you have been tryingto change or have been
putting up with clear up just in the process of life itself. ("What is the

1976)
in est graduates
the
Conceivably,
speed of "getting off it" might be measured
before and after their training, and in controls, and found different. To do so will
purpose,"

require the development of reasonably objective definitions of problems and of

their solution or resolution. This in itselfrepresents a formidable difficulty,one

even
not already
solved
(nor, in our opinion,
now
available.
research
However,
techniques
such definitions

incorporating

could

approximated)
behavioral

in the behavioral
codes

observation

be attempted.

The development of satisfactory techniques for studying shifts inepistemol

ogy probably will come about by trialand error,ratherthancareful planning at this
point

in the development

of research

technology,

Nevertheless,

the graduate

still

appears tobe thebest judge ofwhen a problem isa problem (when thegraduate is

is "off it"). Still, one

it has been resolved
it") and when
(when the graduate
in quite
domestic
between
for
spats
couples
example,
recording
imagine,
both
and repetitions,
their durations
behavioral
ways and measuring
ordinary
"on

could

before

and after est experiences.

types of research questions.

could
Other
important research questions
nature of
concerns
the epidemiological
of questions
Is that changing with
Who
takes the est training? Why?
est as a social phenomenon:
events?
with
the
continue
time? To what extent do est graduates
postgraduate
reactions
Isest growing or shrinking? What are the media
Who are the drop-outs?
Other

be asked

about

est. One

class

to est? What do est graduates tell others about it? Is that changing? Does
interact with media
Another

of questions
are interesting

class

These
cesses").
and
outside
ing

treatment

of est?

concerns

the experience
both within

in themselves,

it. For est, these procedures

67

have

algorithms
the context

little essential

(the "pro
of the train

function

outside

it

Baer

Stolz

of the training; nevertheless,

of the purposes
perhaps
they can be viewed as po
tential behavior-change
and
if
studied
themselves.
For example,
procedures
by
were
find
that
would
under
experimental
subjects
placed
they
contingencies

difficultto detect ("conditioning without awareness") and theyfailed todescribe

those

contingencies

accurately

under

subsequent

questioning

(e.g., Rosenfeld

& Baer, 1969),would any of the est algorithms improve the subjects' ability to
If so, what variations
in the
so-far-unrecognized
contingencies?
content, form, or context of the algorthms would enhance or diminish this effect?
some form of preceding
In particular, would
induction of instructional control,
more or less resembling
that used in est, be important? Might the induction of
analyze

these

unneces
instructional
the algorithms
control, done adequately
enough, make
or
or
sary,
necessary
only in rudimentary
arbitrary form?
Some outcome
studies of est seem to be inherently impossible:
Summary.
those dealing only with entirely private outcomes
of the "aliveness
and satisfac

tion" variety. Some seem possible but inherentlyimprobable of being brought to

behavior
reality: those needing to know in advance what personal,
idiosyncratic
and
studies seem both possible
changes might result from est. Other outcome
in practical
attainable
of their need for
terms, although with difficulty because
new or better developed
their difficulty in recruiting appropriate
procedures,

etc.
subjects,
The more practical and realistic an outcome
the more distant
study, however,
it seems to be from the central goals espoused
est
the
Even so,
by
organization.
we do not believe
or of little value. As
that outcome
studies of est are useless
argued at the outset of this paper, the fact that est's central values and intentions
are not psychotherapy,
behavior
per se does not disbar
change, or "betterment"
it from being considered
from just those points of view; but itdoes mean that any
to the est organization,
study from those points of view will be of little relevance
to any of its graduates who did indeed derive from it the "aliveness
and satisfac
tion" outcomes
that est cites as central, or to any prospective
trainee seeking

exactly
Thus,
procedure
pendable,
"aliveness

that class

of private

experience.
as a company
should be viewed
that sells a
organization
a
est
an
in
unde
terms,
(or,
context) with
admittedly unspecificable,
and unguaranteed
intended product
of increased
(the possibility

the est

and

satisfaction"),

and

an

equally

undependable,

unguaranteed,

possibly specifiable, but unintended set of byproducts (behavior change, self

control

etc.).
techniques,
A comment on research
ability of est to outcome

of the amen
paradigms.
Implicit in this discussion
research
is a recognition
of at least two potential
research
We
in this paper, assumed
the objective
have,
paradigms.
paradigm
of behavior
characteristic
behavior
and
natural science
analysis,
ap
therapy,
in general.
we have discussed
In consequence,
the problem of study
proaches

to be examined
ing est as if itwere
researcher,
by a disinterested
acting as an
observer
and evaluator
of trainee/graduates
and controls.
But we have also

68

A Description of the Erhard Seminars Training

the possibility
themselves.

recognized

that the best-placed

researchers

are

the

trainees/

graduates
In this second

inside the
research would be conducted
essentially
paradigm,
on themselves,
heads of the researchers,
and out
i.e., on their own changes
comes. None
some
of it
of that need by observable
else,
anyone
by
although
we
to
not
to
be.
but
choose
This
latter
might prove
explore
paradigm
recognize,
here. It is related to the so-called
of psychology
and to the
humanistic
paradigms
work

1972; May,
(Bateson,
1976), and interested readers no doubt
it in those literatures. We do not have sufficient competence
in that

of Bateson

can pursue

to delineate

approach

its implications

for the present

A Final
At

Disclaimer

we

of behavior-controlling
that self-analysis
acknowledged
or intent of est?
is potential mest, but is not the central meaning

the outset,

contingencies
is not what est

problem.

it

By contrast, est is primarily about what the self is and

?
to be it. That is not a goal, a process,
how to be most perfectly in touch with it
or a lesson amenable
to verbal explanation.
We
offer no explanation
of this
is about.

we do not understand
it. It is tempting to dismiss est
aspect of est here, because
out of hand for just this reason. Not doing so results from the fact that whatever
a collection
of self-control
impressive
to
in making
be
effective
have seen, and
unusually
to some of its trainees. Whether
itoften is effective in fact, we are

est may

be about,
as we
techniques
them available

not certain;

it contains

within

it as

it seems

that it sometimes

can be, we
and otherwise,

are. That

can be said of almost any

est training is brief, the principles
by
of behavioral
in terms of the principles

psychotherapy,
respectable
can in part be analyzed
which
itoperates
it is possibly
science, and as an intervention,
unusually
for our interest in it.What
else it is, is its business.

effective.

That

accounts

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70