Cult Persuasion

1
Cult Persuasion

• brainwashing, mind control, cult conversion,
  and deprogramming

2
Roots of cultic research

• POW camps in the Korean war emergence of the
  term brainwashing
• When Prophecy Fails Festinger, Riecken,
  Schacters 1956 analysis of an end-of-the earth
  cult
• 1960s popularity of Hare Krishnas and
  transcendental meditation

3
Modern day cults a sad, brief chronology

• 1978 Reverend Jim Jones and 900 followers,
  including children, commit suicide in Jonestown
  Guyana by drinking cyanide-laced punch.
• 1991 a Mexican minister and 29 followers
  suffocate after he instructs them to keep praying
  and ignore toxic fumes filling the church.
• 1993 At least 80 Branch Davidians, followers of
  David Coresh, perish in a fire and shoot-out with
  the BATF at their compound in Waco, Texas.
• 1993 53 Vietnamese tribal villagers commit
  suicide with primitive weapons in the belief they
  will go straight to heaven.
• 1994 67 members of the Order of the Solar
  Temple, cult are found burned to death in the
  French alps in Switzerland and in Quebec, Canada.
• 1995 Shoko Asahara Aum Supreme Truth released
  Sarin gas in five Tokyo subway stations killing
  12 people (one dying a year after the attack) and
  sickening more than 5,500 others.

• 1997 39 members of the Heavens Gate cult, led
  by Marshall Applewhite, commit suicide in
  California. They die so they can join the Mother
  Ship following the Hale-Bopp comet.
• 2000 More than 900 members of a reclusive
  Christian doomsday cult in Africa were murdered
  by their leaders. Many burned to death, others
  were buried in mass graves.
• 2003 Members of the Raelians, a cult founded by
  Claude Vorilhonnow known as "Rael" claimed that
  with the assistant of Clonaid, a human cloning
  company, they had cloned two or more infants.

Rael and Brigitte Boisselier, Raelian bishop
and CEO of Clonaid
4
Omnipresence of cults and cult activities

• Some estimates suggest there are over 5000 cults
  in the U.S. alone (including militia groups,
  extremist religions, and new age sects)
• The new millennium rekindled interest and
  membership in cults.
• Some estimates suggest upwards of 185,000
  converts per year
• Not all cults are religious or spiritual in
  nature. Modern cults include large
  group-awareness trainings, psychotherapy,
  business, political, and "New Age" groups

5
What is a cult? Definitional considerations

• Difficulty of defining cults precisely
• One persons cult is another persons religion
• Europeans call them sects
• cult is a pejorative term, usually used by one
  group to brand another.
• Singer Lalich (1995) a cultic relationship is
  one in which a person intentionally induces
  others to become totally or nearly totally
  dependent on him or her for almost all major life
  decisions, and inculcates in these followers a
  belief that he or she has some special talent,
  gift, or knowledge.

6
More problems with defining cults

• What is the difference between a cult and a
  social movement, or an extremist group or a
  club.
• Which, if any, of the following are cults?
• Unification Church (moonies)
• Church of Scientology
• Mormonism
• Amish
• the Manson family
• Masons or Shriners
• Militia groups
• Hells angels
• Suicide bombers
• Fraternities
• Amway
• Trekkers and Trekkies
• Boy Scouts of America

7
brainwashing, a misnomer

• People cant be brainwashed. There is no
  science of brainwashing that allows people to be
  programmed, deprogrammed, or reprogrammed like a
  computer.
• A cult convert has to be a willing participant in
  his/her conversion. He or she may not be aware
  of a persuasive effort, but he or she has to go
  along with the process.
• Cults use the same basic techniques of persuasion
  as other persuaders, but in addition, they rely
  on many unethical strategies
• Cults employ many strategies at once physical
  isolation, ego-reinforcement, sleep deprivation,
  deception, etc.
• Cults control the physical environment of members
  as well (that is why cults often live away from
  the rest of society in a compound, commune, etc.

8
Robert Liftons (1987) 8 marks of mind control

• milieu control control of the environment,
  communication, access to information
• Mystical manipulation the leader gets to
  reinterpret events and history as she/he sees
  fit.
• demand for purity society is corrupt, members
  must be purified. The desire to become mentally
  and physically pure makes members susceptible to
  guilt, fear, and other moral appeals used by the
  leader.
• cult of confession control of shame and guilt
  members must confess any wrongdoing to the
  leader, including mental infractions
• sacred science reliance on dogmatic principles
  the leader has all the answers. Only the leader
  is privileged to know the absolute truth.

Robert Jay Lifton
9
Liftons 8 markscontinued

• loading the language reliance on
  thought-restraining phrases and language serves
  to isolate members from the outside world and
  constrict members thinking
• doctrine over person the causes doctrine takes
  precedence over the individual. Members
  character and identity have to be reshaped.
• dispensing of existence Outsiders are unworthy
  unless they join the group. Members fear being
  expelled from the group.

http//www.csj.org/studyindex/studymindctr/study_m
indctr_lifton.htm
Go to the above link for more detail on Liftons
8 marks of mind control
10
Recruitment techniques the cult conversion
process

• How it starts
• Windows of vulnerability targets are most
  susceptible during an emotional crisis (divorce,
  death of loved one, serious illness, etc.)
• targets judgment may be confused, impaired
• target is looking for an answer to lifes
  problems
• Befriending the target
• Ingratiation strategies (compliments, flattery,
  especially about sources of insecurity)
• Lure of forming a serious or close relationship
• Invitation to attend a meeting or retreat
• isolation from friends, family
• control over environment
• Difficult to leave
• Deception withholding the true identify of the
  group, withholding the purpose of befriending
  another, etc.

11
Psychological techniques of persuasion

• Unconditional positive regard
• love bombing,group hugs, etc.
• Meditation, chanting, and other mind-numbing
  techniques
• Peer group pressure
• Pressure to conform, be part of the group
• Verbal abuse

• Confession
• Fear, guilt appeals
• Sacrifice personal, financial
• Loyalty tests
• Demonizing (doubts are the Devil at work)

12
Physical techniques of persuasion

• Physical isolation
• Sleep deprivation
• Fasting
• Control of the persons time (rigorous schedule,
  no free time)
• Loss of privacy
• Constant praying or witnessing of beliefs to the
  group

• Repetitive motion (chanting, dancing)
• Hallucinations (via hyperventilation,
  hallucinogens, chanting, etc.)
• Body manipulation
• Extreme dress codes
• Loyalty tests

13
Warning Signs Checklist of cult characteristics

• The group is focused on a living leader to whom
  members seem to display zealous, unquestioning
  loyalty
• The group is preoccupied with bringing in new
  members
• The group is preoccupied with bringing in money
• Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged,
  or even punished
• Mind-numbing techniques like chanting, speaking
  in tongues
• denunciation sessions are used to suppress doubts
  about the group or its leadership
• The leadership dictates in great detail how
  members should think, feel, act. (permission to
  come and go, where to live, how to discipline
  children, etc.
• The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted
  status. The leader is considered the Messiah
• Extra-biblical revelation God communicates
  directly to the groups leader.

For more information, see Dr. Margaret Singers
excellent book, Cults in Our Midst (1996).
14
More warning signs

• The group exhibits a polarized us-them
  mentality. Outsiders are evil and must be
  shunned.
• The groups leader is not accountable to any
  authorities, inside or outside of the group
• The group teaches that its ends justify the means
  (such as collecting money for phony charities)
• The leadership induces guilt, fear, in group
  members in order to control them
• Members subservience to the group causes them to
  cut ties with family and friends, and to give up
  personal goals in the interests of the group
• Social encapsulation Members are encouraged to
  live with, or socialize with the group
  exclusively

15
A warning and advice

• Beware of the self serving bias
• Most people think they are smarter than average
• Most people think they are better looking than
  average
• Most people think they are more skilled than
  other drivers
• Most college students think they will outlive
  their peers
• People tend to think they are immune to cult
  influence
• Im too smart to be duped by a cult
• People with low self esteem join cults
• Only 5 to 6 percent of cult members demonstrate
  major psychological problems prior to joining a
  cult (Singer, 1995).
• Once involved, it can be difficult to take ones
  exit
• psychological commitment
• the need to save face
• the vast majority of cult recruits are normal,
  productive people--people confident in their
  ability to shrug off cult influence tactics
• the single most important defense against cult
  influence is the realization that we are all
  vulnerable

16
Examples of Destructive Cults

• Aum Shinri Kyo
• Branch Davidians
• The Family (Charles Manson)
• Heaven's Gate
• The People's Temple (Jim Jones)
• Order of the Solar Temple