Editing Margaret Singer (section)

== Career ==
After obtaining her PhD in clinical psychology, Singer worked at the [[University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center|University of Colorado]]'s [[Medical School|School of Medicine]]'s department of psychiatry for eight years.<ref name="Lancet" /> In 1953, she started working at [[Walter Reed Army Medical Center]], where she specialized in studying the returned [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] who had been [[Brainwashing|brainwashed]] by their captors into denouncing the [[United States]] and supporting [[North Korea]] and [[China]].<ref name="McLellan2003" />

In the scientific community, Singer was best known and respected for her studies in [[schizophrenia]] and [[family therapy]].<ref name="arti_Marg">{{Cite web
| title = Margaret Singer, Expert On Cults, Brainwashing
| work = Sun Sentinel
| date = 29 November 2003
| access-date = 2015-02-20
| url = http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2003-11-29/news/0311280481_1_group-s-revolutionary-ideology-cults-and-brainwashing-margaret-thaler-singer
| archive-date = February 20, 2015
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150220231834/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2003-11-29/news/0311280481_1_group-s-revolutionary-ideology-cults-and-brainwashing-margaret-thaler-singer
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> She conducted research with the [[National Institute of Mental Health]], the [[United States Air Force]], and the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]].<ref name="McLellan2003" />  Singer was a guest lecturer of [[psychology]] at [[University of California, Berkeley]], from 1964 to 1991, and she served as a faculty member and lecturer at other [[University of California]] campuses as well as the [[Albert Einstein College of Medicine]], the [[University of Rochester]], and other institutions.<ref name="leading" />

Singer's work on family communication won her a place as one of the pioneers in the developing field of family therapy.<ref>Nichols, M., & Schwartz, R. (2005). Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods (7th Ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.</ref> As noted in one [[obituary]], her collaboration with [[Lyman Wynne]] was particularly important. 

Singer began to study [[brainwashing]] in the 1950s at [[Walter Reed Army Medical Center|Walter Reed]] in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington, DC]], where she interviewed United States soldiers who had been taken prisoner during the [[Korean War]].<ref name="McLellan2003">{{Cite web
| title = Margaret Singer, 82; Expert on Brainwashing, Cults Testified at 1976 Trial of Patricia Hearst
| author = McLellan, Dennis
| work = Los Angeles Times Articles
| date = 28 November 2003
| access-date = 2015-02-20
| url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-nov-28-me-singer28-story.html
}}</ref><ref name="sfga_PSYC">{{Cite web
| title = PSYCH SLEUTH / Margaret Singer has made history delving into the psychology of brainwashing
| author = Fagan, Kevin
| work = SFGate
| date = 26 May 2002
| access-date = 2015-02-20
| url = http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/PSYCH-SLEUTH-Margaret-Singer-has-made-history-3306807.php
}}</ref> Beginning in the late 1960s, she expanded her studies in the field of [[cult]]s and published a number of articles on [[Brainwashing|mind control]] ("psychological coercion") and similar areas. She developed theories about how cults recruit and retain members (such as her Theory of Systematic Manipulation of Social and Psychological Influence) and was on the board of many of the major [[Anti-cult movement|anti-cult]] groups and organizations in the United States. At one point, Singer interviewed [[Charles Manson]].<ref name="Lilienfield">{{cite journal|last1=Lilienfeld|first1=Scott O.|title=In Memoriam: Dr. Margaret Thaler Singer|journal=The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice|date=23 November 2003|volume=3|issue=1}}</ref>

By the 1970s, Singer was a leading researcher in the field of [[psychosomatic medicine]], and became the first female and first psychologist President of the American Psychosomatic Society in 1974.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Singer|first1=Margaret Thaler|title=Presidential Address|journal=Psychosomatic Medicine|date=February 1974|volume=36|issue=1|pages=1–17|doi=10.1097/00006842-197401000-00001|pmid=4810834}}</ref> She also served as a member of the [[Kaiser Permanente|Kaiser Foundation Research Institute]] review board and the [[American Family Foundation]] board.<ref name="sfgate.com">{{Cite web
| title = Margaret Singer -- expert on brainwashing
| author = Rubenstein, Steve
| work = SFGate
| date = 25 November 2003
| access-date = 2015-02-20
| url = http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Margaret-Singer-expert-on-brainwashing-2547767.php
}}</ref>

Singer testified as a brainwashing [[Expert witness|expert]] at the trial of [[Patty Hearst]], presenting her conclusions that Hearst had been brainwashed, but outside the [[jury]]'s presence.<ref name="McLellan2003" /> Singer described Hearst as "a low-[[Intelligence quotient|IQ]], low-affect [[zombie]]" and testified that by using speech patterns, she determined that Hearst was reading statements prepared by her captors.<ref name="McLellan2003" /> [[Prosecutor|Prosecutors]] argued that Singer's testimony should not be presented to the jury because brainwashing had never before been accepted as a field of expertise upon which expert testimony could be presented.<ref name="McLellan2003" /> The judge decided in favor of the prosecution, and Hearst was convicted.<ref name="McLellan2003" /> Singer's testimony was widely reported, which increased her reputation as a brainwashing expert.<ref name="McLellan2003" />

Singer played a role in the "[[Hillside Strangler]]" trial of [[Kenneth Bianchi]]. Singer concluded that Bianchi had faked symptoms of [[multiple personality disorder]], in order to escape responsibility for the murders of several women in [[Los Angeles]].<ref name="Lilienfield" /> Later, she spoke about the trial on ''[[PBS Frontline]]'' in a special show entitled: "The Mind of a Murderer." Singer asserted that Bianchi was a [[psychopath]], and stated: "He may simply be evil."<ref name="Lilienfield" />

Her expert testimony was no longer accepted after the report of the [[APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control]], of which she was chair, was rejected by the Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP) of the [[American Psychological Association]].<ref>J. Gordon Melton, "Anti-cultists in the United States: An historical perspective," in ''New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response'', edited b Bryan R. Wilson and Jamie Cresswell, 213–33. London and New York: Routledge, 1999. p. 227.</ref> Melton has written that afterward, courts began to shift toward accepting the position held by the great majority of scholars studying [[new religious movement]]s, moving away from the minority perspective of Singer and others sympathetic to her brainwashing claims.<ref name="Gallagher">{{cite book|editor1-last=Gallagher|editor1-first=Eugene V.|editor2-last=Ashcraft|editor2-first=William Michael|title=Introduction to new and alternative religions in America|date=30 October 2006|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn.|isbn=978-0275987121|page=137}}</ref> According to Melton, this had significant consequences later on, since it meant that brainwashing could no longer be used as a defense for the practice of [[deprogramming]].<ref name="Gallagher" />