Brief Summary of Research Findings
on Coherence-Creating Groups:
Reduced Terrorism, Crime and Social Conflict

Reduced War Deaths: A day-by-day study of a two-month assembly in Israel in 1983 showed that, on days when the number of participants in the assembly was high, war deaths in neighboring Lebanon dropped by 76%. During these two months, crime, traffic accidents, fires, and other indicators of social stress all declined in Israel. Other possible causes (weekends, holidays, weather, etc.) were statistically controlled for (Journal of Conflict Resolution 32: 776-812, 1988). These results were subsequently replicated in seven consecutive experiments over a two-year period during the peak of the Lebanon war. The results of these interventions included: war-related fatalities decreased by 71%; war-related injuries fell by 68%; the level of conflict dropped by 48%; and cooperation among antagonists increased by 66%. The likelihood that these combined results were due to chance is less than one part in 1019, making this effect of reducing societal stress and conflict the most rigorously established phenomenon in the history of the social sciences (Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 17(1):285–338, 2005).

Reduced Terrorism Worldwide: The global influence on terrorism of three large coherence-creating assemblies was studied retrospectively through an analysis of data compiled by the Rand Corporation. The data revealed a 72% reduction in worldwide terrorism during the three assemblies taken together, as compared to all other weeks during a two-year period. Each assembly had approached or exceeded the participation threshold (7000) predicted to create a global influence of peace. The study ruled out the possibility that this reduction in terrorism was due to cycles, trends, or drifts in the measures used, or to seasonal changes (Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 36(1–4): 283–302, 2003).

Reduced Violent Crime in Washington: A National Demonstration Project conducted in Washington, D.C., from June 7 to July 30, 1993, tested the efficacy of a coherence-creating group for reducing crime and social stress and improving the effectiveness of government. In this carefully controlled experiment, the group increased from 800 to 4,000 over the two-month period. Although violent crime had been steadily increasing during the first five months of the year, soon after the start of the study, violent crime (measured by FBI Uniform Crime Statistics) began decreasing and continued to drop until the end of the experiment (maximum decrease 23.6%), after which it began to rise again. The likelihood that this result could be attributed to chance variation in crime levels was less than two parts per billion (p < .000000002). The drop in crime could not be attributed to other possible causes, including temperature, precipitation, weekends, and police and community anticrime activities (Social Indicators Research 47: 153-201, 1999).

Reduced Crime in US Cities: A study of 160 US cities found that increasing the numbers of Transcendental Meditation participants in these cities over a 7-year period (1972-1978) was followed by reductions in crime rate. The study used data from the FBI Uniform Crime Index and controlled for other variables known to affect crime (Journal of Mind and Behavior 9: 457-486, 1988).

Reduced Violent Crime: Coherence-creating assemblies in Manila, New Delhi, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C., all corresponded with statistically significant declines in violent crime. In these studies, alternative explanations were explored and could not account for the findings (Journal of Mind and Behavior 8:67-104, 1987).

Scientists and Researchers Comment on Coherence-Creating Groups

“In the studies that I have examined on the impact of coherence-creating groups on conflict, I can find no methodological flaws, and the findings have been consistent across a large number of replications in many different geographical and conflictual situations. As unlikely as the premise may sound I think we have to take these studies seriously.”
—Ted Robert Gurr, Ph.D., Professor of Government and Politics, University of Maryland

“I think the claim can be plausibly made that the potential impact of this research exceeds that of any other ongoing social or psychological research program. It has survived a broader array of statistical tests than most research in the field of conflict resolution. This work and the theory that informs it deserve the most serious consideration by academics and policy makers alike.”
—David Edwards, Ph.D, Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin

“This is promising research. It is a non-traditional approach, but the methodology of these studies is sound and the statistical significance high. In a world as unstable and dangerous as ours, I believe that any approach with such consistent objective support deserves careful attention.”
—Ved Nanda, L.L.B./L.L.M., Director of the Legal Studies Program, University of Denver; formerly President of the International Association of Law Professors

“The hypothesis definitely raised some eyebrows among our reviewers. But the statistical work was sound. The numbers were there. When you can statistically control for as many variables as these studies do, it makes the results much more convincing.”
—Raymond Russ, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, University of Maine; Editor of the Journal of Mind and Behavior