Indigo children
Encyclopedia
Indigo children is a pseudoscientific
label given to children who are claimed to possess special, unusual and/or supernatural
traits or abilities. The idea is based on New Age
concepts developed in the 1970s by Nancy Ann Tappe. The concept of indigo children gained popular interest with the publication of a series of books in the late 1990s and the release of several films in the following decade. A variety of books, conferences and related materials have been created surrounding belief in the idea of indigo children and their nature and abilities. These beliefs range from their being the next stage in human evolution or possessing paranormal
abilities such as telepathy
to the belief that they are simply more empathic
and creative than their peers.
Although there are no scientific studies to give credibility to the existence of any indigo children, or their traits, the phenomenon appeals to some parents whose children have been diagnosed with learning disabilities and parents seeking to believe that their children are special. This is viewed by skeptics as a way for parents to avoid proper (and generally pharmaceutical) pediatric treatment or a psychiatric diagnosis which implies imperfection. The list of traits used to describe the children has also been criticized for being vague enough to be applied to almost anyone, a form of the Forer effect
. The phenomenon has been criticized as a means of making money from credulous parents through the sales of related products and services.
and self-described synesthete
and psychic
Nancy Ann Tappe, who developed the concept in the 1970s
. Tappe published the book Understanding Your Life Through Color in 1982 describing the concept, stating that during the mid 1960s she began noticing that many children were being born with "indigo
" auras (in other publications Tappe has said the color indigo came from the "life colors" of the children which she acquired through her synesthesia). The idea was later popularized by the 1998 book The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived, written by husband and wife self-help
lecturers Lee Carroll
and Jan Tober. They describe the goal of indigo children to be a remaking of the world into one lacking war
, trash, and processed food. The promotion of the concept by Tober and Carroll brought greater publicity to the topic, and soon their book became the primary source on "indigo children".
In 2002, an international conference on indigo children was held in Hawaii
, drawing 600 attendees, with subsequent conferences the following years in Florida
and Oregon
. The concept was popularized and spread further by a feature film
and documentary
, both released in 2005, and both directed by James Twyman, a New Age writer.
Susan W. Whedon suggests in an 2009 article in Nova Religio
that the social construction of Indigo Children is a response to
an "apparent crisis of American childhood". Whedon explains that the crisis is evident in the increase in "diagnoses of ADD and ADHD in American children", and that "heightened awareness of youth violence" caused parents to "take matters in their own hands". Parents began medicating and diagnosing their offspring as Indigo Children as a means of "redeeming" them for their improper behavior stemming from ADD and ADHD.
, curious
, strong-willed
, independent, and often perceived by friends and family as being strange; possess a clear sense of self-definition and purpose; and also exhibit a strong inclination towards spiritual matters from early childhood. Indigo children have also been described as having a strong feeling of entitlement, or "deserving to be here." Other alleged traits include a high intelligence quotient
, an inherent intuitive
ability, and resistance to authority. According to Tober and Carroll, indigo children function poorly in conventional schools due to their rejection of authority, being smarter than their teachers, and a lack of response to guilt-, fear- or manipulation-based discipline.
(ADHD) and Tober and Carroll's book The Indigo Children linked the concept with diagnosis of ADHD. Their book argues that the children are a new stage of evolution rather than children with a medical diagnosis, and that they require special treatment rather than medications. Robert Todd Carroll
points out that labeling a child an indigo is an alternative to a diagnosis that implies imperfection, damage or mental illness, which may appeal to many parents, a belief echoed by many academic psychologists. He also points out that many of the commentators on the indigo phenomenon are of varying qualifications and expertise. Linking the concept of indigo children with the distaste for the use of Ritalin
to control ADHD, Carroll states "The hype and near-hysteria surrounding the use of Ritalin has contributed to an atmosphere that makes it possible for a book like Indigo Children to be taken seriously. Given the choice, who wouldn't rather believe their children are special and chosen for some high mission rather than that they have a brain disorder?"
Stephen Hinshaw, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley
, states that concerns regarding the overmedicalization of children are legitimate but even gifted
children with ADHD learn better with more structure rather than less, even if the structure initially causes difficulties. Many labeled as indigo children are or have been home schooled
.
, the New Age movement has yet to produce empirical evidence of the existence of indigo children, as the 17 traits most commonly attributed to them were akin to the Forer effect
(i.e., so vague they could describe nearly anyone). Many critics see the concept of indigo children as made up of extremely general traits, a sham diagnosis that is an alternative to a medical diagnosis, with a complete lack of science
or studies to support it. The lack of scientific foundation is acknowledged by some believers, including Doreen Virtue, author of The Care and Feeding of Indigos, and James Twyman, who produced two films on Indigo Children and who offers materials and courses related to the phenomenon. Virtue has been criticized for claiming to have a Ph.D.
, despite this being awarded by California Coast University
, a then-unaccredited
institution sometimes accused of being a diploma mill
.
Mental health experts are concerned that labeling a disruptive child an "Indigo" may delay proper diagnosis and treatment that could help the child. Others have stated that many of the traits of indigo children could be more prosaically interpreted as simple unruliness and alertness.
Nick Colangelo, a University of Iowa
professor specializing in the education of gifted children, stated that the first indigo book should not have been published, and that "...[t]he Indigo Children movement is not about children, and it is not about the color indigo. It is about adults who style themselves as experts and who are making money on books, presentations and videos."
s and conferences that are aimed at parents who believe their children are indigos. The two films produced on the subject were both by James Twyman, who sells a variety of indigo-themed courses, clothing, books, CDs and movies.
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
label given to children who are claimed to possess special, unusual and/or supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
traits or abilities. The idea is based on New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
concepts developed in the 1970s by Nancy Ann Tappe. The concept of indigo children gained popular interest with the publication of a series of books in the late 1990s and the release of several films in the following decade. A variety of books, conferences and related materials have been created surrounding belief in the idea of indigo children and their nature and abilities. These beliefs range from their being the next stage in human evolution or possessing paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
abilities such as telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
to the belief that they are simply more empathic
Empathy
Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...
and creative than their peers.
Although there are no scientific studies to give credibility to the existence of any indigo children, or their traits, the phenomenon appeals to some parents whose children have been diagnosed with learning disabilities and parents seeking to believe that their children are special. This is viewed by skeptics as a way for parents to avoid proper (and generally pharmaceutical) pediatric treatment or a psychiatric diagnosis which implies imperfection. The list of traits used to describe the children has also been criticized for being vague enough to be applied to almost anyone, a form of the Forer effect
Forer effect
The Forer effect is the observation that individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people...
. The phenomenon has been criticized as a means of making money from credulous parents through the sales of related products and services.
Origins
The term "indigo children" originated with parapsychologistParapsychology
The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...
and self-described synesthete
Synesthesia
Synesthesia , from the ancient Greek , "together," and , "sensation," is a neurologically based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway...
and psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
Nancy Ann Tappe, who developed the concept in the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
. Tappe published the book Understanding Your Life Through Color in 1982 describing the concept, stating that during the mid 1960s she began noticing that many children were being born with "indigo
Indigo
Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...
" auras (in other publications Tappe has said the color indigo came from the "life colors" of the children which she acquired through her synesthesia). The idea was later popularized by the 1998 book The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived, written by husband and wife self-help
Self-help
Self-help, or self-improvement, is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders...
lecturers Lee Carroll
Lee Carroll
Lee Carroll is an American channeller, speaker and author.Originally an audio engineer, Carroll claims that he began to channel communication with an entity from a higher dimension called Kryon in 1989...
and Jan Tober. They describe the goal of indigo children to be a remaking of the world into one lacking war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
, trash, and processed food. The promotion of the concept by Tober and Carroll brought greater publicity to the topic, and soon their book became the primary source on "indigo children".
In 2002, an international conference on indigo children was held in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, drawing 600 attendees, with subsequent conferences the following years in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. The concept was popularized and spread further by a feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
and documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
, both released in 2005, and both directed by James Twyman, a New Age writer.
Susan W. Whedon suggests in an 2009 article in Nova Religio
Nova Religio
Nova Religio is a peer-reviewed religious studies journal that focuses on New Religious Movements. The journal is published by University of California Press, in Berkeley, California...
that the social construction of Indigo Children is a response to
an "apparent crisis of American childhood". Whedon explains that the crisis is evident in the increase in "diagnoses of ADD and ADHD in American children", and that "heightened awareness of youth violence" caused parents to "take matters in their own hands". Parents began medicating and diagnosing their offspring as Indigo Children as a means of "redeeming" them for their improper behavior stemming from ADD and ADHD.
Characteristics
Descriptions of indigo children include the belief that they are empatheticEmpathy
Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...
, curious
Curiosity
Curiosity is an emotion related to natural inquisitive behavior such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human and many animal species. The term can also be used to denote the behavior itself being caused by the emotion of curiosity...
, strong-willed
Self control
Self control is the ability to control one's emotions, behavior and desires in order to obtain some reward later. In psychology it is sometimes called self-regulation...
, independent, and often perceived by friends and family as being strange; possess a clear sense of self-definition and purpose; and also exhibit a strong inclination towards spiritual matters from early childhood. Indigo children have also been described as having a strong feeling of entitlement, or "deserving to be here." Other alleged traits include a high intelligence quotient
Intelligence quotient
An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. When modern IQ tests are constructed, the mean score within an age group is set to 100 and the standard deviation to 15...
, an inherent intuitive
Intuition (knowledge)
Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason. "The word 'intuition' comes from the Latin word 'intueri', which is often roughly translated as meaning 'to look inside'’ or 'to contemplate'." Intuition provides us with beliefs that we cannot necessarily justify...
ability, and resistance to authority. According to Tober and Carroll, indigo children function poorly in conventional schools due to their rejection of authority, being smarter than their teachers, and a lack of response to guilt-, fear- or manipulation-based discipline.
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Many children labeled indigo by their parents are diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorderAttention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a developmental disorder. It is primarily characterized by "the co-existence of attentional problems and hyperactivity, with each behavior occurring infrequently alone" and symptoms starting before seven years of age.ADHD is the most commonly studied and...
(ADHD) and Tober and Carroll's book The Indigo Children linked the concept with diagnosis of ADHD. Their book argues that the children are a new stage of evolution rather than children with a medical diagnosis, and that they require special treatment rather than medications. Robert Todd Carroll
Robert Todd Carroll
Robert Todd Carroll , Ph.D., is an American writer and academic. Carroll has written several books and skeptical essays but achieved notability by publishing the Skeptic's Dictionary online in 1994.-Early life and education:...
points out that labeling a child an indigo is an alternative to a diagnosis that implies imperfection, damage or mental illness, which may appeal to many parents, a belief echoed by many academic psychologists. He also points out that many of the commentators on the indigo phenomenon are of varying qualifications and expertise. Linking the concept of indigo children with the distaste for the use of Ritalin
Methylphenidate
Methylphenidate is a psychostimulant drug approved for treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and narcolepsy. It may also be prescribed for off-label use in treatment-resistant cases of lethargy, depression, neural insult and obesity...
to control ADHD, Carroll states "The hype and near-hysteria surrounding the use of Ritalin has contributed to an atmosphere that makes it possible for a book like Indigo Children to be taken seriously. Given the choice, who wouldn't rather believe their children are special and chosen for some high mission rather than that they have a brain disorder?"
Stephen Hinshaw, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, states that concerns regarding the overmedicalization of children are legitimate but even gifted
Intellectual giftedness
Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is different from a skill, in that skills are learned or acquired behaviors...
children with ADHD learn better with more structure rather than less, even if the structure initially causes difficulties. Many labeled as indigo children are or have been home schooled
Homeschooling
Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...
.
Criticism
According to research psychologist Russell BarkleyRussell Barkley
Russell A. Barkley, Ph.D., is a Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University...
, the New Age movement has yet to produce empirical evidence of the existence of indigo children, as the 17 traits most commonly attributed to them were akin to the Forer effect
Forer effect
The Forer effect is the observation that individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people...
(i.e., so vague they could describe nearly anyone). Many critics see the concept of indigo children as made up of extremely general traits, a sham diagnosis that is an alternative to a medical diagnosis, with a complete lack of science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
or studies to support it. The lack of scientific foundation is acknowledged by some believers, including Doreen Virtue, author of The Care and Feeding of Indigos, and James Twyman, who produced two films on Indigo Children and who offers materials and courses related to the phenomenon. Virtue has been criticized for claiming to have a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
, despite this being awarded by California Coast University
California Coast University
California Coast University is a distance learning private university. It was established in 1973 and is located in Santa Ana, California. It has national accreditation from the Distance Education and Training Council . Since its founding, CCU has offered undergraduate and graduate programs in...
, a then-unaccredited
Accreditation
Accreditation is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented.Organizations that issue credentials or certify third parties against official standards are themselves formally accredited by accreditation bodies ; hence they are sometimes known as "accredited...
institution sometimes accused of being a diploma mill
Diploma mill
A diploma mill is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit...
.
Mental health experts are concerned that labeling a disruptive child an "Indigo" may delay proper diagnosis and treatment that could help the child. Others have stated that many of the traits of indigo children could be more prosaically interpreted as simple unruliness and alertness.
Nick Colangelo, a University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
professor specializing in the education of gifted children, stated that the first indigo book should not have been published, and that "...[t]he Indigo Children movement is not about children, and it is not about the color indigo. It is about adults who style themselves as experts and who are making money on books, presentations and videos."
Commercialization
According to Lorie Anderson's article "Indigo: The Color of Money", belief in indigo children has significant commercial value due to sales of book, video, and one-on-one counseling session for children, as well as in donations and speaking engagements. There are now a wide variety of books, films, summer campSummer camp
Summer camp is a supervised program for children or teenagers conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers....
s and conferences that are aimed at parents who believe their children are indigos. The two films produced on the subject were both by James Twyman, who sells a variety of indigo-themed courses, clothing, books, CDs and movies.