Margaret Singer
Margaret Thaler Singer (July 29th, 1921 – November 23rd, 2003) was a clinical psychologist and adjunct professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Singer's main areas of research included schizophrenia, family therapy, brainwashing and coercive persuasion of cults. Throughout her career Singer performed research at the University of Colorado’s School of Medicine, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the National Institute of Mental Health, the United States Air Force and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her groundbreaking research earned her the National Institute of Mental Health’s Research Scientist Award, the American College of Psychiatrists’ Hofheimer Prize, Stanley R. Dean Award, and the Leo J. Ryan Memorial Award. She was reported to have been nominated twice for a Nobel Prize for her work in schizophrenia.
Life
Margaret Singer was born in Denver, Colorado on July 29th, 1921. The only child of an Irish Catholic family, Singer’s father worked as the chief operating engineer at the U.S. Mint while her mother worked as a secretary to a federal judge. An avid cellist, Singer played the cello in the Denver Civic Symphony while attending the University of Denver where she would earn her bachelor’s degree in speech in WHEN, and later, a master’s degree in speech pathology and special education in WHEN. In 1943 Singer received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Denver. She would remain there for the next eight years working in the department of psychiatry at the University of Colorado’s School of Medicine.
In 1953 Singer began studying the effects of brainwashing at the Walter Reed Institute of Research in Washington, D.C. where she interviewed U.S. prisoners of the Korean War who had been coerced into denouncing the United States and embracing communism. Here she would emerge as a leading researcher in the field of psychosomatic medicine. While working in Washington, D.C., Singer met and married her spouse of 48 years, Jerome. In 1958 the couple would relocate to Berkeley, California where she would become an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley where her husband would also join the faculty of the physics department. Singer would remain at Berkeley until her death in 2003 at the age of 82. She was survived by her husband, two children, and five grandchildren.
Work
Upon her arrival in Berkeley, Singer found the college campus a prime location to study the New Age cult scene of the 1960s and 1970s where organizations such as Hare Krishnas sought to actively recruit university students. Here Singer noticed distinct similarities between the brainwashing techniques applied to Korean War veterans and those applied to prospective cult members. Singer would publish numerous articles in the field of cults and mind control, receiving a number of honors for her work. She developed theories about how cults recruit and retain members, which she entitled the Theory of Systematic Manipulation of Social and Psychological Influence. She was also active with the American Family Foundation, the major anti-cult group in the United States at the time. Singer's research also focused heavily on the areas of family therapy and schizophrenia. She conducted research with the National Institute of Mental Health, the United States Air Force and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Singer’s work with cult studies, schizophrenia and family therapy introduced her to more than 3,000 cult members and more than 200 court cases of which her professional opinion was sought. Her groundbreaking research often garnered the attention of lawyers who would use Singer as an expert witness in high-profile cases involving cult practices. Some of the more prominent cases of which Singer was influential involved the People’s Temple, the mass murder-suicide at Jonestown, Guyana, the Hillside Strangler of Los Angeles, and the Heaven’s Gate cult. Singer also interviewed Charles Manson and his followers. A member of the American Psychosomatic Society, Singer was elected its firs female president in 1972. She also served as a constructive member of the Board of Directors of Family Process, a board member of the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute Review Board and a member of President Gerald Ford’s Biomedical Research Panel.
In 1975 Singer became involved in the court case against Patricia Hearst, a newspaper heiress kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army who was encouraged by her captors to participate in an armed bank robbery. Singer was also influential in a 1977 hearing for five members of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. However in 1987 Singer’s expert testimony was not accepted in four cases of which she had been involved after the report of the APA taskforce on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control, of which she was chair, was rejected by the Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP) of the American Psychological Association. In 1992 she sued the APA for "defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy," but lost in 1994.
In addition to UC Berkeley, Singer also served as a faculty member and/or lecturer at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine, The Washington School of Psychiatry, The Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, the Department of Psychology at The University of California at Los Angeles, the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco, and various other institutions.
Legacy
Dr. Margaret Singer was often considered the world’s foremost authority on brainwashing. Her groundbreaking research garnered the attention of the world’s most respected psychological institutions. Her work as a premier researcher, psychologist, therapist and professor helped authorities, students and victims alike to better understand the psychological implications of organizations such as the Peoples Temple, Branch Davidian, and the Symbionese Liberation Army. The winner of the Hofheimer Prize and the Dean Award from the American College of Psychiatrists, and numerous lifetime achievement awards, Dr. Margaret Singer was often best known for her calm, authoritative, intelligent and unshakable personality, in addition to her unfailing ability to assist others.
Publications
- Singer, Margaret T. (Contributor, 1963). Personality Measurements in the Aged.
- Singer, Margaret T. (Contributor, 1995). Preface: Recovery from Cults. ISBN 0-393-31321-2.
- Singer, Margaret T. (Author, 1995). Cults in our Midst. ISBN 0-7879-0051-6.
- Singer, Margaret T. (Author, 1996). Crazy Therapies: What Are They? Do They Work? ISBN 0-7879-0278-0.
- Singer, Margaret T. (Contributor, 1998). Foreword: The Anatomy of Suicide. ISBN 0398068038.
- Singer, Margaret T. (Contributor, 2004). Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology: New Age Therapies. Pgs. 176-205. ISBN 1593850700.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- International Cultic Studies Association. Margaret T. Singer, Ph.D. Profiles, International Cultic Studies Association. Retieved 4 November, 2007.
- Singer, Jerome. Repression and Dissociation: Implications for Personality Theory, Psychopathology, and Health. University of Chicago Press, 1995. ISBN 0226761061.
- Noblitt, J.R. Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America. Praeger Paperback, 2000. ISBN 0275966658.
- Bromley, David. Cults, Religion and Violence. Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0521668980.
External Links
- Idea Journal. Margaret Singer, Ph.D.
- Biography. Margaret Singer, Ph.D.
- Brainwashing, Controversies and the APA.
- Obituary, Margaret Singer. [Center for Studies on New Religions, 2003.
Credits
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