Brock K. Kilbourne
University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg
James T. Richardson
University of Nevada, Reno
A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF HEALING
Journal of Integrative Psychotherapy, 1988, 7, 20-34
Abstract
Despite allusions to the similarity between psycho-therapy and other healing practices, no
empirical studies have been conducted by psychologists to identify a common structure of healing or
common change mechanisms. A basic problem is the absence of a general theoretical model to guide
such an undertaking. The present paper attempts to remedy that problem by proffering a social
psychological model of healing based on three assumptions: a universal healer role, a universal healee
role, and an underlying deep structure of healing. Finally, implications for understanding some of the
social psychological processes of therapeutic change are addressed as well.
Introduction
The limitation of comparative research on psycho-therapy is evident in the typical study
comparing different forms or techniques (Klein, Zitrin, Woerner & Ross, 1983; Smith & Glass,
1977; Sloan, Staples, Cristol, Yorkston & Whipple, 1975; Stiles, Shapiro & Elliot, 1986). Few
theoretical and virtually no empirical investigations attempt to systematically compare either the
diverse forms of healing of different cultures or those within the same culture. Despite common
allusions to the similarity of psychotherapy and other healing practices (Frank, 1974; Rappaport
& Rappaport, 1981; Watts, 1981) no serious effort has been directed towards empirically
identifying the common structure, if any, underlying different healing practices, or towards
identifying specific change principles (Elliot, 1983; Horowitz, 1982; Rice & Greenberg, 1 9 8 4 ) .
A basic problem is that comparative psychotherapy researchers are perplexed with the
discovery of the non-specific therapeutic effect: Different forms of psycho-therapeutic
intervention are equally effective in benefiting their patients (Smith & Glass, 1977; Stiles et al.,
1 9 8 6 ) . Some believe it is a matter of identifying the common class of behaviors and
imperatives shared by all psychotherapists (Farkas, .1980; Goldfried, 1980) that presumably
account for the similar success of different forms of psychotherapy. Others are less confident with
the methodology used to ascertain the similar success and recommend, alternatively, a strategy of
greater specificity in comparative procedures (see Stiles et al., 1986, for a summary of this
perspective).
Complicating the above is a kind of professional ethnocentrism: If "scientifically-oriented"
psychologists have been unable to identify a common underlying structure or a specific change
principle, then certainly "non-scientific" healing practitioners can do no better. Such professional
ethnocentrism often tends to equate alternative healing practices with ignorance and superstition,
even in some cases with quackery and exploitation (see, for example, Rappaport & Rappaport, 1981;
West & Singer, 1 9 8 0 ) . The anti-research and anti-empirical attitudes of many clinicians does not
help the situation (Bednar & Shapiro, 1970; Kelly, 1961; Kelly, Goldberg, Fiske & Kilkowski, 1978;
Stiles et al., 1986).
Nevertheless, research directed toward the systematic comparison of different healing
practices can facilitate our understanding of the general structure of healing as well as the particular
strengths of psychotherapy. Such research could conceivably identify particular therapeutic strategies
for particular client populations and clinical problems. Yet, no systematic conceptual or theoretical
framework for initiating and guiding such a research enterprise has emerged in the literature.
The purpose of the present paper, then, is to proffer a social psychological model of
healing in diverse social and cultural contexts. The following analysis, while not intended to be
complete or definitive, begins with three basic assumptions: a) there is a universal social role of
healer with unique attributes, 2) there is a universal social role of healee with complementary
attributes, and 3) there is a common underlying deep structure of healing.
The Healer Role
A particular social role consisting of a learned sequence of behaviors, a particular
identity, expectations, role partners and audience( s )  establishes an individual as a healer
within a particular group, culture or society. Whether we cali the healer a psychologist, shaman,
guru, occultist, witchdoctor, voodoo priest, faith healer, or cult (new religious) leader, that
social role is generally characterized by the following key attributes: 1) special knowledge or
ability, 2) knowledge or ability that is acquired or received during a period of training, initiation,
or visitation from special powers, 3) idealization of the personal traits of the healer, 4) a belief
system of diagnosis, etiology, and treatment, 5) a suggestive effect upon the naturally occurring
process of adjustment in the individual ( e . g . , arouses expectations of help, hope, and healing),
and 6) confirmation of the assumptive world o f the group or culture.
Let us consider some examples of the just-listed attributes of the healer role.
Psychiatrists and psychologists are considered by some as today's secular priests who prescribe
scientific cures for contemporary ailments (Gross, 1978; Kilbourne & Richardson, 1984;
London, 1964). Their status as socially sanctioned healers depends on a formal and ritualized
process of training and certification: 1) they have developed diagnostic systems (e.g . , DSM-III
and ICD-9) , 2) they have applied different theories to explain mental disorders (e.g . , biological
versus psychological), and 3) they have used various techniques to remedy or cure such disorders
(e.g , behavior therapy, psychoanalysis, drug therapy, etc.). Psychiatrists and psychologists also
arouse expectations of help, hope, and recovery in their patients, thereby setting into motion the
naturally occurring process of adjustment and hence con-firming a particular world view (e. g.,
scientific, rational, and materialistic).
As indicated in an early report by the American Psychological Association Committee
on Training in Clinical Psychology ( 1 9 4 7 ) , there is a pronounced tendency for clinicians to
idealize themselves in their role of socially sanctioned healer. That is evident in the report's list
of desirable qualities for clinicians: 1) superior ability, 2) originality and resourcefulness, 3)
curiosity, 4) interest in persons as individuals, 5) insight into one's own personality
characteristics, 6) sensitivity to the complexities of motivation, 7) tolerance, 8) ability to
establish warm and effective relationships with others, 9) industry and ability to tolerate pressure,
10) tact, 11) integrity and self-control, 12) sense of ethics, 13) broad cultural background, and
14) deep interest in psychology, especially the clinical aspects. Similar qualities are claimed by
and for psychiatrists as well (Holt & Lubersky, 1 9 5 8 ) .
Not surprisingly, becoming a shaman is no less idealized or less difficult an undertaking
in certain groups or cultures. The prospective shaman, for example, is often required to study
for years and then pass an examination by a group of established shaman who will review the
candidate's personality make-up, his family background, and his general fitness to be entrusted
with power (Gaddis, 1 9 7 7 ) . A demanding initiation ritual usually precedes entry into the
shaman vocation: illness, dreams, isolation, visitation from other world, ecstasy, and even
torture are just some of the many means of achieving the status of shaman (Eliade, 1964; Fields,
1976; Trask, 1 9 6 4 ) . Similar to the psychiatrist and psychologist, the shaman develops an elaborate
belief system 'of diagnosis, etiology, and treatment. He provides the patient with a myth or
worldview by which to integrate his pain and suffering. In brief, the shaman's magico-religious
world view treats illness as the result of some imbalance (a Hippocratic theme) that naturally sets
itself back into balance. Lastly, shaman place special value on their ability and idealize their personal
traits. Shaman generally claim or are seen by others as having a great capacity for self-control,
superior concentration, inexhaustible energy, keen intelligence, a perfectly supple body, tact, humility,
persuasive appeal, a better-than-average memory, unusual erudition, and perfect health (Trask, 1964).
Occult or spiritual healers (we use these terms here in a broad sense to describe those
individuals who subscribe to a metaphysical or mystical system of belief and practice), too, are
distinguished by their special training, long practice, and their purported techniques of cure
(Bailey, 1953). Initiates, for example, are generally instructed to master the development and
channeling of some alleged vital force. Training may be extended across generations, even ages.
A system of diagnosis, etiology, and treatment (e.g., mental disorders and laws of nature)
usually underlies the occult or spiritual healer's efforts at conscious healing. Individualized
treatments are available for a wide variety of psycho-logical complaints, to include: the laying
on of hands, the use of soul energy, spiritual healing, telepathic healing, water-therapy, healing
by color, sound, and radiation, psychometry, soul alignment, electro-therapeutics, and
radiaesthesia (Bailey, 1953; The Medical Group, 1958). Regardless of their effectiveness, such
techniques function to confirm, as do psychiatric and psychological cures, a particular world
view. They reinforce a belief in an absolute reality beyond the sensations and perceptions of
ordinary humans (Sepharial, 1911).
Again, we see the tendency to idealize the personal traits of a particular healer. For
instance, the ideal traits of some occult or spiritual healers have been summarized as follows:
the power to command the will, telepathic rapport, exact knowledge, the power to reverse the
consciousness of the patient, to direct soul energy into the necessary area, the ability to express
purity, self-control, complete harmlessness, love, and to wield the very law of life (Bailey,
1953). The suggestive effect' of these ideal traits and purported cures probably counter-act
negative affective states in adherents by arousing expectations of help, hope, and healing.
Another expression of the healer role worth considering is that of the new religious
leader or guru. The Reverend Sun Moon and the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, for example, are
considered by their respective followers to be the en-lightened founders of their own new
religious movements (Bryant & Richardson, 1978; Amitabh, 1982). Moon's follower's consider
him to be the second "Christ, while the Bhagwan has been called a living Buddha by his followers. Both
claim special abilities Moon purports to have received a revelation from God and the Bhagwan
purports to have reached the state of sublime enlightenment. Each have, in turn, diagnosed what they
consider the common ailments of our times, identified specific manifestations in particular followers,
prescribed particular cures (e.g . , fund-raising, prayer, fasting, meditation), advocated the harnessing
of natural healing processes within each individual, and confirmed vis a. vis successful group
conversions a world view based on some variant of self-growth, personal responsibility, and
expressiveness (Joshi, 1982; Bryant & Richardson, 1978).
And, similar to other healers, there is the tendency for both the Bhagwan and Moon and their
respective followers to idealize the personal traits of the religious leader. For instance, Swami Prem
Amitabh ( 1 9 8 2 ) , a clinical psychologist, has described the Bhagwan as: a mań of bliss, an
enlightened being, capable of seeing through others psychologically, having a great capacity for love
and com-passion, intuitive, a master of therapeutic stage management, telepathic, a vehicle, detached,
an inspiring speaker, prophetic, and a source to each new moment.
Many other examples of self-change agents functioning in the healer role in different social
contexts could, of course, be given: the astrologer, exorcist, palmist, faith healer, voodoo priest,
witch, magician, sorcerer, even coercive persuader (Bailey, 1953; Besant, 1914; Grad, 1976;
Hali, 1944; Hartmann, 1893; Leadbeater, 1913; Levi, 1958; Lewi, 194O; Lifton, 1963; Schultes,
1972; Shapiro & Morris, 1978; Waite, 1886; Westcott, 1911). The important point is that
whatever name or label we assign to the healer role, or regardless of the degree to which it is
socially sanctioned, it is characterized by some special knowledge/ability, idealized personal
traits, a training or initiation period, a belief system of diagnosis, etiology, and treatment, a
suggestive effect upon the recipient, and confirming as a consequence. of its enactment the world view
of a particular group, society, or culture.
Interestingly, Ullman and Krasner (1969) have discussed the special characteristics of the
healer in relation to the placebo effect. They claim that the healer should be dignified and
efficient, provide services in impressive surroundings, and manipulate symbols of healing and
ritualistic paraphernalia, some of which might include mysterious charts and long waiting lists.
From this perspective, then, expectations of help, hope, and healing are elicited in any healing
relationship and are analogous to placebo effects in medical contexts.
The Healee Role
The recipient of the healing process, the healee, is an inseparable role partner of the
healer, thereby establishing a complementary set of expectations and behaviors. Complex lines
of social interaction between healer and healee emerge on the basis of shared meanings, similar
social locations and time-frames, distinct communication patterns, recognized statuses, and
power relations, etc. The unique, but complementary role attributes of the healee are indicated
by the following: 1) some lack of knowledge or insight, 2) a designated period of emotional
trauma, illness, stress, or ignorance that is the counterpart of the healer's period of training or
initiation, 3) the deprecation or absence of personal traits, 4) some degree of acceptance of the
healer's belief system of diagnosis, etiology, ad treatment, 5) suggestibility and expectations of
help, hope, and healing, and 6) a world view similar or compatible with the world view of the
healer.
The complementarity of the healer and healee social roles insures a high degree of
clarity, consistency, and consensus of interactions between these two role partners (Sarbin &
Allen, 1968). There is a literal fit between the behaviors and expectations of healer and healee.
Indeed, a kind of shared reality develops, whereby the scripted behaviors and cognitions of
healer and healee become inseparably intertwined and reified. Whether seeking solace or cure
with the psychoactive drugs of psychiatrists, the "talking cure" of psychologists, the charms and
incantations of witchdoctors, shamen, or gurus, the astral projections of occultists, or the
readings of palmists, numerologists, astrologists or Tarot card adherents, one sees the same
general pattern. Healees generally express some lack of knowledge or insight and a period of
unhappiness, illness, or stress. They deprecate themselves to various degrees, embrace some
belief system of diagnosis, etiology, and treatment, attempt to restore their expectations for
recovery and health, and embrace the world view of the healer or social group.
Although the present analysis is social-psychological in focus, it is certainly relevant to
comment, if only briefly, on some of the psychodynamics of the. healee. Work by Silverman,
Lachmann, and Milich ( 1 9 8 4 ) , for example, might help us to understand the sometimes
intense Identification of the healee with the healer. Symbiotic fantasies might manifest
themselves in several ways: blind acceptance of the healer's belief system, narcissistic
expectations of importance or self-degradation, and extreme suggestibility. The psychoanalyst's
(Freud, 1952; Smith & Vetter, 1982) recognition of the transference phenomenon might help to
explain, in part, why symbolic father figures in different healing relationships are adulated and
loved. Unconscious transference might account to some degree for the tendency of some
individuals to follow a guru, a swami, or a new religious (cult) leader.
The Underlying Deep Structure of Healing
More than ten years ago, Jerome Frank (1974) identified four common factors underlying
psychotherapy and religious conversion. More recently, Kilbourne and Richardson (1984) have
argued that these same four factors constitute the underlying deep structure of the healing
process in general. They are: ( a) a special supportive, empathic, and confiding relationship
between the healee and healer, (2) a special setting imbued with powerful symbols of expertise,
help, hope, and healing, 3) a special rationale, ideology, or indisputable myth that set of rituals
and practices that confirm the healee's assumptive world. These factors appear to combine to
counteract the healee's feelings of demoralization with positive feelings and expectations of
help, hope, healing, and self-mastery. Such positive feelings and thoughts emerge as a
consequence of the therapist or healer providing sympathetic listening, reassurance, corrective
experiences, and feedback (Bergin, 1971; Goldfried, 1980; Rachman, 1971).
There are several conceptual analyses in the clinical literature that suggest the idea of this
underlying deep structure of healing. In an unusual study of an American Indian girl presumably
possessed by spirits, Pattison (1973) implied a deep structure of healing in the following: 1) special
confiding relationship  a young Indian girl and her mother confided in the reservation
psychiatrist about the events leading-up to the girl's encounter with ghosts. The psychiatrist was
supportive, non-judgemental, and showed respect for religion and indigenous healing techniques, 2)
a special setting  the Indian girl and her mother first appeared at the psychiatrist's office to present
their problems. Later they initiated an exorcism ritual at a pre-selected tribal setting, 3) a special
rationale  the psychiatrist, recognizing the family history of shamanism and the persistence of
traditional Indian belief, supported the family's "spirit possession" interpretation and
recommended an exorcism ritual in the Indian tradition, and 4) a special ritual  an exorcism
ritual was carried out by the grandmother and other tribal women, such that the presumed spirits
retreated from the young Indian girl's body. Her previously reported strange behavior
disappeared, and she remained contented for many months afterward.
Pattison (1973) concluded that the problem was embedded in the traditional Indian belief
system. Despite the apparent plausibility of a psychodynamic interpretation, he expressed doubts
about the value of scientific psychotherapeutic intervention. It was the culturally appropriate
intervention strategy closely linked to the assumptive world of the family and tribe that appeared to
produce counteractive expectations of help, hope, and mastery for this young Indian girl. The
experience of exorcism had apparently convinced her of the retreat of evil spirits from her body,
consistent with tribal tradition and folklore.
A study of faith-healing in a sample of fundamentalist-pentecostal sects further suggests an
underlying deep structure of healing. Pattison and his co-workers (1973) indicated the following: 1) a
special relationship  a highly supportive, confiding, and cohesive relationship between Church
members. Most of their activities revolved around their religion with an average Church attendance
of three times a week, daily home worship/prayer, and an ascetic lifestyle, 2) a special setting  the
majority of individuals participated in just one healing episode in front of the entire Church
congregation, where hope and healing were directly linked to religious symbolism and meaning, 3) a
special rationale  illness and emotional distress were viewed by Church members in religious terms
(e.g . , the work of the devil or the result of personal sin). God was viewed as taking care of
everything, no matter how large or how small. Faith healing confirmed their personal belief system
and religious way of life, and 4) a special set of rituals  healing was pursued and presumably
obtained within the context of certain rituals, which included formal and informal prayer,
anointing with oil, laying-on-of-hands, and bedside prayer by another congregation member or
minister.
Pattison et al (1973) concluded that faith healing helped these individuals gain control
over their lives. The one major change reported in the study an increase in the adherent's
religious belief and commitment--demonstrated how faith healing reinforced the recipient s
assumptive world with a consonant explanation.
Lester (1982) has similarly conceptualized astrologers, palmists, and psychics as
therapists. He provided suggestive support for the idea of an underlying deep structure of
healing in a participant observation study of three occult healers. This was evident in the
following: 1)  a special confiding relationship  each of the occult healers were generally
empathic, supportive, and encouraged the investigator to reveal personal information about
himself, 2) a special setting  the astrologer and psychic explicitly designated a particular setting
for the delivery of healing services which was imbued with special significance ( e . g . , an
office or special table at a restaurant), 3) a special rationale  a metaphysical belief system was the
basis for diagnosis, etiology, and treatment and was apparent in the use of astrological charts,
palm reading, clairvoyance, and prophecy, and 4) a special set of rituals  each of the three occult
healers engaged the investigator in a number of ritualized activities and practices. The astrologer, for
instance, drew-up an astrological chart, extracted a life history, and offered interpretations. She
explored the investigator's relationships, made future predictions, and suggested remedies (e.g . , begin
writing and avoid stress).
Most recently, Kilbourne and Richardson (1984) have applied the idea of an underlying deep
structure of healing to an understanding of conversion to new religions or cults and various self-help
groups in contemporary American society. That is evident in the following passage:
Galanter's 1980 study of the large group-induction techniques used by the Unification
Church can provide us with a good example of these common structural elements operative
in many new religious conversion settings... In his examination of three workshop periods,
Galanter found support for: 1) a special relationship between the inductees and their hosts
 a strong sense of cohesiveness developed during the workshops, especially in the close
relationship ( i . e . , constant supervision, shared reflections, and intense discussions)
between the guests and the hosts who invited them; 2) a special setting the workshop center is
typically located in a secluded rustic setting and is symbolically imbued with powerful
symbols of hope, healing, and spiritual growth; 3) special rituals the workshops are structured
around a number of activities ( e . g . , lectures, group discussions, group recreational
activities, and reflection periods) which indicate the way a person goes about
converting himself or her-self; and 4) a special rationale guests are exposed to and
are encouraged to learn the group s creed and religious beliefs which are offered to
explain the new recruits past and present experiences. The presence of these four
common elements appear related, in turn, to the improvement in the psychological
well-being of members long after joining and to have contributed to their strong
affiliative ties to one another.
Self-help and self-growth groups manifest the same common structural
elements. We can see this clearly in the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) movement. The
group meetings of AA provide alcoholics with .the intimate companionship and social
support that they once enjoyed in the bar. A special relationship with a group is
established that permits individuals to share their needs, hopes, problems, aspirations,
and innermost secrets. Such a relationship develops, usually, within special settings
created just for that purpose- (e.g . , in the homes of members or at an out-of-the-way
retreat). Consequently, these settings become imbued with the special importance and
meaning of hope and recovery. AA, furthermore, provides their members with an
explanatory rationale or indisputable myth ( e . g . , the craving for alcohol is stronger
than the person and only through external forces will they be saved) and specific rituals
(e.g . , confessions, restitution, and helping other alcoholics) for combating their illness
(p. 241).
Gaddis (1977) similarly relates a story of fire healing by a medicine man of the Mission
tribe of Cahuilla. Once again, the four common elements were: 1) a special relationship  two
young men suffering from war psychosis turned to the tribal medicine man after government
doctors had failed to cure them. They confided in the medicine man about their lives and
problems, 2) a special setting  the medicine man organized a night ceremony at a secret
ceremonial house hidden in the brush, 3) a special rationale  the medicine man said that the
boys were "victims of newly released spirits from some enemy they had killed. These spirits
had clamped onto their souls and were determined to live with them and torture them the rest of
their lives (p.142)," and 4) a special ritual(s)  prior to the fire healing ritual, there was a
preparatory ritual of chanting, singing, and cleansing. Then the medicine man handled burning
coals, placed them in his mouth, and blew sparks and smoke on the patients, etc. After the fire
ritual, a short speech was made to the patients and the cure was complete. Both patients
recovered.
Even in settings of coercive persuasion and control, where ideological healing may be
equated with harm, the idea of an underlying deep structure of healing is no less applicable.
This is evident in both anecdotal and biographical accounts of alleged brainwashing in
American POWs (Lifton, 1963; Meerloo, 1956; Sargant, 1957; Schein, Schneier, & Barker,
1961; Somit, 1968) and sensationalistic newspaper reports of alleged brainwashing of kidnap
victims (Fort, 1985). Consider a typical scenario of an American POW during the Korean
conflict: l) a special relationship  typically, a close confiding relationship developed between the
interrogator and the POW, 2) a special setting  the special relationship between the
interrogator and the POW was usually cultivated in a location apart from the place of
confinement or at a time when the POW and his peers were separated, 3 ) a special rationale  w
the North Koreans generally viewed the POW detention as punitive and therapeutic. The POW
was a capitalist aggressor, on the one hand, and, on the other, a victim of a violent system of
capitalist exploitation. Captivity constituted, then, the means of forcing a necessary cure upon
those sickened by alleged capitalist false consciousness, and 4) a special set of rituals  those
practices first identified, by Lifton (1963)  mystical manipulation, demand for purity, loading
the language, doctrine over person, and the dispensing of existence, etc.  were in effect
cognitive and behavioral rituals employed by the North Koreans to encourage the POWs
embrace of a new world view.
In sum, the four common elements identified by Frank (1974) special relationship,
setting, rationale, and ritual(s) to explain the similar therapeutic effects of diverse forms or
techniques of psychotherapy appear equally relevant in explaining the intended effects of
different forms of healing (The Medical Group, Theosophical Research Center, 1958).
Structurally, they are always present in diverse healing contexts.
Discussion
The present paper has proferred a social psychological analysis of healing in diverse
social contexts based on three basic assumptions: a universal social role of healer, a universal
social role of healee, and a universal underlying deep structure of healing. This analysis
provides comparative psychotherapy researchers with a basic taxonomy for identifying healing
relationships (e.g . , healer and healee). It. also provides a conceptual framework for empirically
investigating the relationship between the structural dimensions and salutary effects of healing.
What is evident, however, from the present analysis is that it is descriptive and
structural. It does not delineate the specific causal mechanism of self-change in diverse healing
contexts. While empirical studies of the relationship between the structural dimensions of
healing and the differential effects of healing should be helpful in this regard, several process
variables are nonetheless suggested by the present analysis. Some of these are: value and
belief compatibility, cognitive restructuring, social approval and norm adherence, and
social influence strategies.
As Rappaport and Rappaport (1981) have previously discussed, an individual uses his
values and beliefs ( i . e . , value and belief compatibility) as a basis for selecting particular
treatments and healers, depending on his socio-cultural context. Others have observed the
importance of values at each stage of the psychotherapeutic process (Kilbourne &
Richardson, 1984; London, 1964). In this regard, social psychologists have long known
that communicator credibility is influenced by expertness and trustworthiness (Birnbaum
& Stegner, 1979; Maddaux & Rogers, 1980; Walster & Festinger, 1962; Walster, Aronson,
& Abrahams, 1966), likeability (Eagley & Chaiken, 1975) , and similarity (Dembroski,
Lasater & Ramirez, 1978). Belief and value similarity. also influence the likelihood of
attraction developing between individuals (Byrne, Ervin, & Lamberth, 1970; Hill & Stuli,
1981; Newcomb, 1963, 1 9 6 5 ) . And when individuals are un-certain about their opinions
and attitudes, they are most likely to engage in a process of social comparison with similar
others (Bleda & Castore, 1973; Castore & DeNinno, 1977; Terborg & Castore, 1975). Taken
together, these experimental findings seem relevant to understanding the healer's influence
upon the healee, or what some refer to as the therapeutic alliance (Stiles, Shapiro & Elliot,
1986; Strupp, 1 9 8 6 ) .
A second process variable suggested by the present analysis concerns the psychological
need' for order, predictability, and self-mastery over one's physical and social environments
(Coleman, Butcher & Carson, 1984). The causal attributions that people give for the events in
their lives play an important role in this process (Kelly & Michela, 1980), From this perspective,
the rationale of the healer functions to convey to the healee, either explicitly or implicitly, a set
of expectations, reasons, and attributions (Mead, 1934) concerning the onset, cause, duration,
course, and outcome of the healee's illness. It serves as the basis for the healee's cognitive
restructuring of stressful life events (Meichenbaum, 1983). Interestingly, a kind of
misattribution process (Brodt & Zimbardo, 1981) may underlie various forms of healing and
thus account for the healee's new found sense of order and predictability.
Two additional processes are approval motivation and norm adherence. In general,
individuals differ in their degree of approval motivation (Crowne & Marlowe, 1964). They are
more likely to conform when seeking social approval (Moeller & Applezweig, 1957; Strickland
& Crowne, 1962) and are particularly susceptible to influence within a group context (Albrecht
& Warner, 1 9 7 5 ) . Factors which certainly must impact on the healee s readiness to change.
Similarly, the normative regulation of individual behavior in a group context ( i . e . , what
people should or should not do) is one of the most legitimate, yet powerful ways to induce
conformity (French & Raven, 1959; Jacobs & Campbell, 1961; Seashore, 1954; Secord &
Backman, 1974), even in a healing setting. In some cases, runaway norms may develop whereby
group members (e.g . , psychotherapy patients) try to impress upon one another that they excel on
some valued characteristic (Raven & Rubin, 1983).
The final process variable relates to the different social influence strategies employed by
healers. Two techniques from the social psychological literature on compliance induction are
relevant here. Consider, for example, the foot-in-the-door and door-in-the-face techniques
(Cialdini & Ascani, 1976; DeJong, 1979; Kilbourne & Kilbourne, 1984; Pendleton & Batson,
1979). The former indicates that under certain conditions a small request preceding a large
request increases the likelihood of compliance too the large request compared to a single large
request. The other technique indicates that a moderate request preceded by a large request is
more likely to induce compliance than a single moderate request. These two compliance
induction techniques are more commonsensical in some cultural settings than in others and can
be used by healers to induce a healee to change maladaptive behaviors and cognitions.
(Certainly the sequence and magnitude of requests is an important aspect of assertiveness
training, Bower & Bower, 1 9 8 4 . ) .
Other social psychological considerations that might affect the healer-healee relationship
are: 1) the sequence of affective evaluations made by the healer of the healee (e. g., the greatest
attraction in a cold-warm sequence, Aronson & Linder, 1 9 65) 2) the arousal of cognitive
dissonance in the healee and the justification of unpleasant therapy (Cooper, 1979), 3) mere
exposure to an object, word, or person tends to increase liking (Zajonc, 1970), 4) the
employment of an ecological manipulation strategy to alter the healee s environment
(Cartwright, 1965), 5) the influence of the halo effect upon the healee's evaluation of the healer
(Solomon & Saxe, 1977), 6) the development of referent power or the process by which the
healee identifies with the healer (French & Raven, 1959), 7) the process of self-confrontation
that motivates an individual to realign his inconsistent values with his self concept (Raven &
Ruben, 1983), 8) a focus on self-monitoring skills (Snyder, 1979) and how that increases
awareness of the impression one makes upon others (Goffman, 1959), 9) the role of the group
upon social facilitation (Allport, 1924; Zajonc, 1965, 1968), social inhibition (Allport, 1924),
and polarization (Moscovici & Zavalloni, 1969), 10) the delayed positive influence (e. g., "the
sleeper effect," Kelman & Hovland, 1953; Hovland & Weiss, 1952) of the healer upon the
healee after the termination of an unsatisfactory healing relationship, 11 the effectiveness-of
guilt arousal to induce compliance (Carlsmith & Gross, 1969; Freedman, .Wallington, &
Bless, 1967) , and; 12) the differential ability of individuals to engage in role-taking. and role-
making (Hewitt, 1984) .
In conclusion, people share certain biological, psychological, and social needs that set the
occasion for them to generate particular activities to satisfy those needs. When such needs are
not satisfied or life is threatened, the individual is receptive to help from others. The healer and
healee roles constitute the universal social response of the group or culture attempting to help
satisfy members' basic needs and to help them cope effectively. It would appear, then, that the
enactment of healer and healee roles are always embedded within a universal deep structure and
must be appreciated from a social-psychological perspective.
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