While Training In Power borrows heavily from multiple other groups and organizations, including Scientology and Landmark Forum, one specific example of that is the Level 6 conference, which many may not realize follows the model of Large Group Awareness Training (LGAT), which were most popular in the 70s and 80s, but which still remain prevalent today.
As Dr. John Hunter explains in this article about LGATs,
Large group awareness training (LGAT) is the generic term used to describe a type of “transformational” seminar that typically takes place over a few days to a week. At least four million people on six continents have participated in some form of these trainings since they were popularised in San Francisco in the 1970s. While there are superficial differences between LGATs – and while they often do not acknowledge being related to one another — a comprehensive review reveals that their structure, processes, results, and influences are astonishingly similar.
Speaking on the Indoctrination podcast, Dr. Hunter explained some of the notable consistencies of LGATs, which are also present in the Level 6 conference:
- Participants have no idea what to expect / what will occur during the LGAT (✔)
- Participants are introduced to various stressors, such as:
- sleep-deprivation (✔ – during the L6 conference, participants are urged to get little sleep, and sessions run late into the evening, and begin early in the morning)
- information overwhelm (✔)
- cognitive overwhelm via use of unfamiliar language, or familiar language used in unfamiliar ways (✔)
- a leader who will sometimes berate participants (✔)
- The LGAT relies on a team of unpaid volunteers, some of which sit on a panel at the front of the room (✔)
- After an initial “stressor” period, which primes dopamine into heightened sensitivity, the stress is removed and is replaced with goal attainment and love, usually in some kind of “graduation ceremony”. Psychologically, because of the dopamine mechanism, this can result in euphoria or even mania and often feels transformational. (✔ – in L6, this is a literal party, which starts with intense love-bombing of students)
- Participants are encouraged to participate in recruiting (✔)
LGATs like Level 6 also typically rely heavily on peripheral route persuasion (vs. central or core route persuasion). Core route persuasion is persuasion using facts that a person is given time and space to cognitively process. However, peripheral route persuasion bypasses critical thinking, and is triggered by factors like:
- Limited energy / fatigue
- Compressed time to process
- Information / cognitive overwhelm
- Social pressure (other people seem to be agreeing)
- Mood
- Motivation – motivation away from critical thinking (encouraged to “feel” what’s right, and trusting the process)
- Demonstration of authority – the leader establishes themselves as all-knowing, and the participants as fundamentally at a lower tier of comprehension (in TIP, as in Scientology and others, these tiers are explicit)
Other staples of LGATs:
- Participants sending their energy to the leader
- Regression / remembering a younger self
- Celebratory rituals / singing
- Giving participants something to battle against – (Author Chuck Palahniuk participated in an LGAT in 1989, which inspired Fight Club)
Takeaways
It’s important to note that while the dangers of cult indoctrination are already known, and the Training In Power curriculum exemplifies those dangers, the Level 6 Conference, as an LGAT, has an additional concern (or concerns) which is the focus of Dr. John Hunter’s work:
Graduates report seeing the world in a new and profoundly positive way, experiencing sudden confidence and sociability, having more energy, being more productive, requiring less sleep, and feeling elated, euphoric, or “high”. While some report greater “decisiveness”, their behaviour is often described by others as impulsive, or reckless, and those intimately familiar with the symptoms of hypomania and mania should have little difficulty noting the parallels. LGATs, therefore, incorporate established bipolar triggers and appear to elicit bipolar symptoms in (ostensibly healthy) participants.
LGATs, beyond triggering bipolar-like symptoms, can produce psychosis in some. The potential harms of LGATs are well-documented, and are worth learning about if you, or someone you love, is considering taking “Level 6” as a course in Training In Power Academy.