Book cover, 1972 hardcover ed. | |
Author | Gene Church Conrad D. Carnes |
---|---|
Cover artist | Antupit & Others (Jacket) Henry Wolf (photograph) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Subject | Mind Dynamics, Holiday Magic, Leadership Dynamics |
Genre | Non-fiction |
Publisher | Outerbridge & Lazard, Inc. |
Publication date | 1972 |
Media type | Hardcover |
Pages | 161 |
ISBN | 0-87690-087-2 |
Followed by | Circle of Power (film) |
The Pit: A Group Encounter Defiled is a work of narrative nonfiction concerning book on Mind Dynamics (a.k.a. Leadership Dynamics and Holiday Magic), written by Gene Church and Conrad D. Carnes. The book was published Outerbridge & Lazard, Inc., in 1972, and was republished in a paperback edition in 1973, by Pocket Books. The book was later the basis for the 1983 film, Circle of Power . [1] The title refers to the encounter group movement that was prevalent at the time, which evolved into what psychologists began to term Large Group Awareness Training. [2]
The Pit: A Group Encounter Defiled is listed in the 1987 edition of Best Sellers, at the University of Scranton archives. [3] The book was featured in The New York Review of Books, in 1973. [4]
Gene Church had previously studied psychology at Ohio State University and Ohio University. He had enrolled in the Leadership Dynamics coursework as a requirement of his association with Holiday Magic. [5] At the time of the book's publication, Conrad D. Carnes was an attorney practicing law with the firm of Carnes & Hornbeck in Columbus, Ohio. [5]
The authors later wrote a follow-up book, Brainwash , in 1983. [6] Gene Church also gave a related lecture series at universities, entitled: "An encounter group horror story." [7]
Events depicted in the book took place over four-days at the Hyatt House motel in Palo Alto, California, and included management executives from Holiday Magic. [5] The book revealed details of the events that went on during the coursework at Mind Dynamics and Leadership Dynamics. The book stated that Holiday Magic] participants in the Leadership Dynamics sessions were required to register in the coursework, at a cost of US$1,000, "..in order to get ahead in the company." [5] Golembiewski stated that the book described "illustrative chapter and verse" of the coursework, including such training aids as a cross, a coffin, oxygen bottles, and piano wire. [8] Participants that instructors deemed as "dead" to their lives, were told to stay in the coffin until they realized "..how much it means to be alive." [5] Leadership Dynamics instructors felt that by putting individuals in a cage, they would "..appreciate the value of the freedom that they already possess." [5] The cross was used to demonstrate what it felt like to be persecuted at work. There was also a "silver chalice", which was supposed to "..make each man face the truth honestly and so to understand himself and others better.." [5] [9]
The Pit: A Group Encounter Defiled has been cited in academic journal articles which analyze encounter groups and large group awareness training, including the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, [10] and more recently in Human Resource Development Review, in 2005. [11] The book has also been cited as a reference in other works which discuss these subjects, including Organization Development, [8] Approaches to Planned Change, [12] The Regulation of Psychotherapists, [13] Handbook of Organizational Consultation, [14] Managing Diversity in Organizations, [15] and Self Realization. [16]
Industrial and organizational psychology which is also known as occupational psychology, organizational psychology, or work and organizational psychology; is an applied discipline within psychology. Industrial, work and organizational psychology (IWO) is the broader global term for the field internationally.
Large-group awareness training (LGAT) refers to activities usually offered by groups linked with the human potential movement which claim to increase self-awareness and bring about desirable transformations in individuals' personal lives. They are noted for being unconventional and often take place over several days.
Lifespring, founded in 1974, was a private, for-profit, New Age-human potential organization. Lifespring stated they trained more than 400,000 people through its ten centers across the United States.
Mind Dynamics was a seminar company, founded by Alexander Everett in Texas in 1968.
Eric Berne was a Canadian-born psychiatrist who created the theory of transactional analysis as a way of explaining human behavior.
Dance/movement therapy (DMT) in USA/ Australia or dance movement psychotherapy (DMP) in the UK is the psychotherapeutic use of movement and dance to support intellectual, emotional, and motor functions of the body. As a modality of the creative arts therapies, DMT looks at the correlation between movement and emotion.
Holiday Magic was a multi-level marketing organization, founded in 1964, by William Penn Patrick (1930–1973) in the United States. Originally the organization distributed goods such as home-care products and cosmetics.
A T-group or training group is a form of group training where participants learn about themselves through their interaction with each other. They use feedback, problem solving, and role play to gain insights into themselves, others, and groups.
Kurt Lewin was a German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psychology in the United States. Exiled from the land of his birth, Lewin made a new life for himself, in which he defined himself and his contributions within three lenses of analysis: applied research, action research, and group communication were his major offerings to the field of communication.
Salutogenesis is a medical approach focusing on factors that support human health and well-being, rather than on factors that cause disease (pathogenesis). More specifically, the "salutogenic model" is concerned with the relationship between health, stress, and coping. The term was coined by Aaron Antonovsky, a professor of medical sociology.
The Pit may refer to:
Circle of Power, also known as Mystique, Brainwash and The Naked Weekend, is a 1981 film, co-produced by Gary Mehlman, Anthony Quinn and Jeffrey White, and based on the non-fiction book The Pit: A Group Encounter Defiled. It stars Yvette Mimieux in her final film performance.
Leadership Dynamics, also known as Leadership Dynamics Institute (LDI), was a private, for-profit company, owned by William Penn Patrick. The company focused on executive training, personal development and self-improvement. Leadership Dynamics was the first form of what psychologists termed "Large Group Awareness Training".
William Penn Patrick was an American entrepreneur and businessman. He was the owner of Holiday Magic, Leadership Dynamics, and Mind Dynamics. Patrick was a proponent of the sour grapes philosophy, and has been widely quoted as stating: "Those who condemn wealth are those who have none and see no chance of getting it."
Alexander Everett (1921–2005) was a British self-improvement and personal development consultant. He was the founder of the company Mind Dynamics, and author of the motivational books The Genius Within You and Inward Bound. Everett's coursework and teachings had an influence on the human potential movement.
Werner Erhard and his courses have been referenced in popular culture in various forms of fictional media including literature, film, television and theatre. The original course, known as est, was delivered by the company Erhard Seminars Training. Under the name The Forum, they were delivered by Werner Erhard and Associates. Also, the Landmark Forum, a program created by Erhard's former employees after purchasing his intellectual property, has had an influence on popular culture. Some of these works have taken a comedic tack, parodying Erhard and satirizing the methodology used in these courses.
The American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA) is a not-for-profit multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to enhancing the practice, theory and research of group psychotherapy.
Narcissistic leadership is a leadership style in which the leader is only interested in him/herself. Their priority is themselves – at the expense of their people/group members. This leader exhibits the characteristics of a narcissist: arrogance, dominance and hostility. It is a sufficiently common leadership style that it has acquired its own name. Narcissism is most often described as unhealthy and destructive. It has been described as "driven by unyielding arrogance, self-absorption, and a personal egotistic need for power and admiration".
Don Edward Beck is a teacher, geopolitical advisor, and theorist focusing on applications of large scale psychology, including social psychology, evolutionary psychology, organizational psychology and their effect on human sociocultural systems. He is the co-author of the Spiral Dynamics theory, an evolutionary human development model adapted from the work of his mentor and colleague, developmental psychologist Clare W. Graves, Professor Emeritus in Psychology at Union College in New York, with whom he worked for over a decade.