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An E-meter is an electronic device manufactured by the Church of Scientology at their Gold Base production facility. It is a modified form of one of the three most typical components of the modern polygraph lie detector, and is designed to measure galvanic skin response. The pre-modified device used in typical lie detectors is known as an "electrodermal-activity-meter". The e-meter operates under the same electronic principles as the electrodermal-activity-meter. While electronically the two devices are quite similar, the aims and methodologies of the primary users of the two different instruments are quite different. While the primary aim of users of the typical electrodermal-activity-meter is to determine the honesty (or lack thereof) of a given interviewee, the Church of Scientology's intended use of its e-meters is to supposedly measure the "psyche, the human soul, spirit or mind."

Dianetics and Scientology counselors and counselors-in-training perform such "measurements" in a therapeutic format, which the Church of Scientology refers to as auditing. These Scientology auditing sessions incorporate the many unique theories, teachings and spiritual beliefs as found in Scientology Dianetics and auditing literature. The device is formally known as the Hubbard Electrometer.

A 1971 ruling of the United States District Court, District of Columbia (333 F. Supp. 357), specifically stated, "The E-meter has no proven usefulness in the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of any disease, nor is it medically or scientifically capable of improving any bodily function."

Description and use

The E-meter measures changes in the electrical resistance of the human body by inducing a tiny electrical current through the body. The device's primary component is an electrical measuring instrument called a Wheatstone bridge, functioning much like a galvanometer, that indicates changes in the subject's resistance. According to Scientology doctrine, the resistance corresponds to the "mental mass and energy" of the subject's mind, which change when the subject thinks of particular mental images (engrams). These concepts have no recognition among scientists outside of Scientology; the action of the E-meter is more commonly attributed to galvanic skin response, an effect used in polygraph tests.

E-meter sessions are conducted by church employees known as auditors. Scientology materials traditionally refer to the subject as the "preclear", although auditors continue to use the meter well beyond the clear level. The preclear holds a pair of cylindrical electrodes ("cans") connected to the meter while the auditor asks the preclear a series of questions and notes both the verbal response and the activity of the meter. Auditor training describes many types of needle movements, with each having their own special significance.

The meter has two control dials. The larger dial, known as the "tone arm", adjusts the meter bias, while the smaller one controls the gain. Auditors manipulate the tone arm during an auditing session to keep the E-meter needle on a marked reference point.

History

The E-meter has undergone many changes since it was invented in the 1940s by Volney Mathison, an early collaborator with Hubbard. The Mathison Electropsychometer (as it was then called) was produced for use by psychotherapists and chiropractors. It was adopted for use in Dianetics by Hubbard in the early 1950s, before being temporarily dropped in 1954 during a dispute with Mathison.

In a quote from Bent Corydon's "Messiah or Madman?",

It was the Mathison E-Meter, and Mathison was determined to keep it that way. So in late 1954 the use of the E-meter was discontinued by Hubbard. Wrote Hubbard: "Yesterday, we used an instrument called an E-Meter to register whether or not the process was still getting results so that the auditor would know how long to continue it. While the E-Meter is an interesting investigation instrument and has played its part in research, it is not today used by the auditor... As we long ago suspected, the intervention of a mechanical gadget between the auditor and the preclear had a tendency to depersonalize the session..."

In 1958 when Scientologists Don Breeding and Joe Wallis developed a modified, smaller battery-operated version, which they presented to Hubbard, he again used it. This was christened the Hubbard electrometer. Hubbard patented it on December 6, 1966, as a "Device for Measuring and Indicating Changes in the Resistance of a Human Body" (U.S. patent 3,290,589). The patent is now expired and in the public domain. The Church of Scientology continues to make, sell, and teach its use in auditing.

Mathison never litigated the appropriation of his invention, but was bitter and disillusioned about Hubbard. In 1964 Mathison stated: "I decry the doings of trivial fakers, such as scientologists and the like, who glibly denounce hypnosis and then try covertly to use it in their phony systems."

Today, models of the E-meter include the Mark V, the Mark VI and the Mark VII. As of 2015, the newest model E-meter, the Hubbard Mark Super VII Quantum- Planetary Dissemination Edition E-meter was listed on the Scientology website, Jezebel.com as a "bargain" at US $5,500.00 The 1995 price for the same item was US $3,850.00. Scientologists of the Free Zone have developed their own E-meter models which are available at much lower prices. They offer also circuit diagrams and instructions for building a meter. (Hilton, 2001)

Proposed mechanism of operation

L. Ron Hubbard's teachings propose a commonly held humanistic philosophical duality: that a human being consists of a physical body and an aware spiritual entity. He set out his theory of how the E-meter works in his book Understanding the E-Meter:

For the meter to be read, the tiny flow of electrical energy through the preclear (person) has to remain steady. When this tiny flow is changed the needle of the E-Meter moves. This will happen if the preclear pulls in or releases mental mass. This mental mass (condensed energy), acts as an additional resistance or lack of resistance to the flow of electrical energy from the E-Meter.

Hubbard claimed that this "mental mass" has the same physical characteristics, including weight, as mass as commonly understood by lay persons:

"In Scientology it has been discovered that mental energy is simply a finer, higher level of physical energy. The test of this is conclusive in that a thetan "mocking up" (creating) mental image pictures and thrusting them into the body can increase the body mass and by casting them away again can decrease the body mass. This test has actually been made and an increase of as much as thirty pounds, actually measured on scales, has been added to, and subtracted from, a body by creating "mental energy." Energy is energy. Matter is condensed energy."

This text in Understanding the E-Meter is accompanied by three pictures. The first shows a man standing on a weighing scale, which reflects a weight of "150" (the units are not given but are presumably pounds). The next shows the man on the same scale, weighed down under a burden of "Mental Image Pictures", and the scale indicates a weight of "180". The last picture shows the man standing upright on the scale, now unburdened by "Mental Image Pictures" and with a smile on his face, while the scale again indicates a weight of "150".

Controversy

The E-meter became the subject of a major controversy with the US Food and Drug Administration in the early 1960s, when the FDA became concerned that the church was using the E-meter to practice medicine without a license.

On January 4, 1963, more than one hundred E-meters were seized by US marshals at the "Founding Church of Scientology" building in Washington, D.C. The church was accused of making false claims that the devices effectively treated some 70 percent of all physical and mental illness. The FDA also charged that the devices did not bear adequate directions for treating the conditions for which they were recommended.

Prolonged litigation ensued, with a subsequent jury trial finding that the E-meter had indeed been misrepresented. The church's contention that its literature was exempt from legal action because it was issued by a religious organization was rejected by the court as irrelevant. However, the Court of Appeals reversed the verdict on the basis that the government had done nothing to rebut the church's claim that Scientology was a religion. A new trial was ordered which upheld the findings and verdict of the first trial.

Judge Gerhardt A. Gesell found that:

Hubbard and his fellow Scientologists developed the notion of using an E-Meter to aid auditing. Substantial fees were charged for the meter and for auditing sessions using the meter. They repeatedly and explicitly represented that such auditing effectuated cures of many physical and mental illnesses. An individual processed with the aid of the E-Meter was said to reach the intended goal of 'clear' and was led to believe that there was reliable scientific proof that once cleared many, indeed most, illnesses would successfully be cured. Auditing was guaranteed to be successful. All this was and is false.

The judge ordered use of the E-meter be confined to "bona fide religious counseling" and the device be prominently labeled with a warning notice:

The E-Meter is not medically or scientifically useful for the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of any disease. It is not medically or scientifically capable of improving the health or bodily functions of anyone.

The church has adopted a modified version of this statement, which it still invokes in connection with the E-meter. The current statement reads:

By itself, this meter does nothing. It is solely for the guide of Ministers of the Church in Confessionals and pastoral counseling. The Electrometer is not medically or scientifically capable of improving the health or bodily function of anyone and is for religious use by students and Ministers of the Church of Scientology only.

Critics point to a lack of scientific basis for the E-meter and associated practices. They claim that at the time Hubbard began claiming the E-meter to be an accurate and precise instrument for detecting mental tension, no attempt had been made to scientifically validate this hypothesis by comparing the E-meter readings of individuals under tension to the readings of a control group.

A Californian student of American Studies, Laura Kay Fuller, claimed in a 1999 thesis that the E-meter furthers totalitarian tendencies in Scientology: :"Scientology insists that the E-meter is the final indicator of the truth, consistently relying on the "scientific proof" of this machine to further its ideology. ... In addition to this, Scientology uses the E-meter as a lie detector, gradually building a state of fear and paranoia for its members."

See also

• List of Scientology Security Checks
• Rehabilitation Project Force
• Ohmmeter
• Polygraph
• Pseudoscience

In line references

1. Bonafidescientology.org: The Electropsychrometer – An Aid to Auditing Published by the Church of Scientology, 2014, accessed 6/6/2015.
2. Skeptic's Dictioary: E-meter (electro-psychometer) by Robert Todd Carroll, 2014, access date: 6/6/2015.
3. ^ The Mind Game, by Norman Spinrad, 1980, published by Bantam Books, ISBN: 0553250612.
4. ^ Understanding the E-Meter by L. Ron Hubbard, Publisher: Bridge Publications, 1982, ISBN: 0-88404-078-X.
5. Scientology.org: What is the e-meter and how does it work? An explanation of te e-meter as presented on the Scientology.org website, accessed 6/6/2015.
6. Livescience.com: How Much Does the Soul Weigh? by Benjamin Radford, 2012, accessed 6/6/2015.
7. Scientology, by James R. Lewis, published by Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN: 0195331494, see page 45.
8. ^ Skeptic History: Scientology's Summer of Hell? by Tim Farley, 2012, published by Randi.org, access date: 6/6/2015.
9. Messiah or Madman By Bent Croydon, and L. Ron Hubbard Jr., 1998, see page 313.
10. Dianetik und Scientology in ihrem Anspruch als Wissenschaft, by Tilo Müller, published by GRIN Verlag, 2010, ISBN: 978-3-640-58010-1.
11. Jezebel.com: Scientology e-meter catalog sales listing, 2015, accessed 6/6/2015.
12. The Health Robbers, A Close Look at Quakery in America, by Wallace Janssen, 1993, published by Prometheus Boooks, Buffalo NY, ISBN: 0-87975-855-4, see pages 321 - 335.
13. Cults of Unreason, by Christopher Riche Evans, publihed by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1974, ISBN: 0-374-13324-7, see chapter 6.
14. Bare-faced Messiah: The true story of L. Ron Hubbard, by Russell Miller, published by Key Porter Books, 1987, ISBN: 1-55013-027-7, see chapter 15.
15. A Study of E-meter Frequency Response by Perry Scott, 2015, published by Carnegie Mellon University, accessed 6/6/2015.
16. Scientology and Totalitarianism, Chapter 4: Technology by Laura Kay Fuller, 1999, accessed 6/6/2015.

General refences

• Victory for the Scientologists by Time (Magazine), 1969, accessed 6/6/2015.
• Clear Thinking by Mark Pilkington, 2005, accessed 6/6/2015.

External links

• Official Church of Scientology site of the E-Meter
• What is Scientology: The E-Meter
• Scientology Today: What is the E-Meter and how does it work?
• Build your own E-meter
• The Scandal of Scientology
• The E-Meter Papers
• Secrets of Scientology: The E-Meter, David S. Touretzky
• E-Meter Patent