Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Seed Discussion Forum

Questions about Arthur R. Barker and the Seed

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Ursus:
Most all of the old Seed newspaper articles that I've read, which touch upon what Barker's methodologies were derived from, mention the terms "peer pressure" and "love."

Sometimes peer pressure is further defined as "positive peer pressure," and sometimes even further differentiated as being the antidote to "negative peer pressure." The negative peer pressure is characterized as being derived from that incentive to fit in with one's pals which supposedly got all these kids to become immersed in the drug culture in the first place.

This theme of substituting a "positive" milieu for a "negative" one, and using peers in a form of group therapy as the crowbar, is what Guided Group Interaction is based on.

In fact, I did come across one article which specifically mentioned that Art Barker's methodology was based on "guided group interaction," as well as some other methods including AA/12-Step, but that article has now disappeared from Google's archive (I've made note of the date and newspaper; hopefully it may return to circulation).

Ursus:
Guided Group Interaction was primarily developed by psychologist Lloyd McCorkle while he was director of a military prison (Fort Knox, Kentucky) in the mid 1940s. This prison was specifically for enlisted men who had committed crimes or gone AWOL, but who were still considered fit enough to be "rehabilitated" and returned to service. A substantial part of their rehabilitation was based on GGI group therapy.

After the war, McCorkle became a prison warden in New Jersey and introduced GGI into certain prisons of their system in the late 1940s. Later, he went on to introduce it into the juvenile system, starting with the founding of the Highfields Residential Treatment Center in 1950.

By the 1960s, GGI and its spinoffs were in quite a few places all over the country. Note that by this time it was mostly still in the juvie system, its private contractors and institutions of that ilk.

In 1967, Florida recruited an out of stater to head up and rehab their juvenile system. The egregious abuses of Marianna and other such institutions had gone beyond the pale. They picked Oliver Keller, who was then head of the Illinois juvie system, to close Marianna for good. Keller also had lots of academic training under his belt in the new psychological methods of behavior modification, then considered to be a kinder, gentler means of turning kids' lives around. GGI was one of those methodologies.

Ursus:
Personally, I kinda doubt that Lloyd McCorkle was some evil genius who cooked up Guided Group Interaction completely on his own. That's think tank material. However, he put said concepts into an operational format, gave them a name, and put them into practice. He also published his findings, guaranteeing his place in all this.

Fwiw, two GGI spinoffs / descendants you might more easily recognize:

William Glasser's Reality Therapy, and
Harry Vorrath & Larry Brendtro's Positive Peer Culture.[/list]

none-ya:

--- Quote ---Ursas wrote;
". The egregious abuses of Marianna and other such institutions had gone beyond the pale"
--- End quote ---


What is it with this state?
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/marianna/

seamus:
no shit....id just as soon stick my head in fire as live in florida again.I only miss the seafood. :nods:

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