Scientology and Dianetics
Scientology, from the Latin scio, “knowing,” and Greek logos, “study of,” is a new religious movement founded by L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) based on his theory of the mind, dianetics (Greek dia, “through,” and nous, “soul”). Dianetics was first revealed to the public in a May 1950 edition of the periodical Astounding Science Fiction (Hubbard 1950). The article described a heuristic, psychological counseling technique – the editor, John W. Campbell, called it a “mental therapy” – for popular consumption (Campbell 1950, p. 4). Shortly after the article was released, a fuller description of Hubbard’s mental therapy was published as Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, which quickly topped the US bestseller list (Hubbard and Church of Scientology 1998, p. 106).
Dianetics theorizes that the human mind is divided between the “somatic,” “analytical,” and “reactive” minds. The somatic mind is thoughtless and performs only reflexive “actingness” (Hubbard 1976b...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Bibliography
Andersen, P. B., & Wellendorf, R. (2009). Community in scientology and among scientologists. In J. R. Lewis (Ed.), Scientology (pp. 143–163). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barrett, D. V. (1998). Sects, ‘cults’ and alternative religions: A world survey and sourcebook. London: Blandford Publishing Ltd..
Campbell, J. W. (1950). Concerning dianetics. In J. W. Campbell (Ed.), Astounding science fiction (pp. 4–5). New York: Street & Smith Publications.
Citizens Commission on Human Rights. (2004a). Chaos and terror: Manufactured by psychology. Resource document. Citizens Commission on Human Rights. http://www.cchrstl.org/documents/terror.pdf. Accessed 19 Dec 2016.
Citizens Commission on Human Rights. (2004b). Creating racism: Psychiatry’s betrayal. Resource document. Citizens Commission on Human Rights. http://www.cchrstl.org/documents/racism.pdf. Accessed 19 Dec 2016.
Citizens Commission on Human Rights. (2004c). Unholy assault: Psychiatry versus religion. Resource document. Citizens Commission on Human Rights. http://www.cchrstl.org/documents/religion.pdf. Accessed 19 Dec 2016.
Citizens Commission on Human Rights. (n.d.). CCHR public service message: The quiz. Citizens Commission on Human Rights. http://progmedia.akamaized.net/videos/cchr/en/cchr-commercial-quiz_640_en.mp4. Accessed 20 Dec 2016.
Hubbard, L. R. (1950). Dianetics: The evolution of a science. In Astounding science fiction (pp. 43–87). New York: Street & Smith Publications.
Hubbard, L. R. (1953). This is scientology. Journal of Scientology, 16, 2–16.
Hubbard, L. R. (1954). Scientology: A new science. Journal of Scientology, 28, 1–20.
Hubbard, L. R. (1976a). The technical bulletins of dianetics and scientology (Vol. 1). Los Angeles: Church of Scientology of California.
Hubbard, L. R. (1976b). The technical bulletins of dianetics and scientology (Vol. 2). Los Angeles: Church of Scientology of California.
Hubbard, L. R. (1976c). The technical bulletins of dianetics and scientology (Vol. 8). Los Angeles: Church of Scientology of California.
Hubbard, L. R. (2007a). Dianetics: The evolution of a science (Rev. ed.). Los Angeles: Bridge Publications.
Hubbard, L. R. (2007b). Dianetics: The modern science of mental health (New ed.). Los Angeles: Bridge Publications.
Hubbard, L. R. (2007c). Scientology 8-8008. (New ed.). Los Angeles: Bridge Publications.
Hubbard, L. R., & Church of Scientology. (1998). What is scientology?: Based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard. Los Angeles: Bridge Publications.
McCall, W. V. (2007). Psychiatry and psychology in the writings of L. Ron Hubbard. Journal of Religion and Health, 46(3), 437–447.
Melton, J. G. (2009). Birth of a religion. In J. R. Lewis (Ed.), Scientology (pp. 17–33). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Whitehead, H. (1974). Reasonably fantastic: Some perspectives on scientology, science fiction, and occultism. In I. I. Zaretsky & M. P. Leone (Eds.), Religious movements in contemporary America (pp. 547–587). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany
About this entry
Cite this entry
Beshears, K.R. (2017). Scientology and Psychology. In: Leeming, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200131-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200131-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27771-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27771-9
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences