1. “Brainwashing,” Mind Control, Cult Conversion, and Deprogramming
CULTS
“Brainwashing,” Mind Control, Cult Conversion, and Deprogramming

2. Modern day cults: a brief chronology
1978: Reverend Jim Jones and 900 followers, including children, commit suicide in Jonestown Guyana by drinking cyanide-laced punch.

3. 1991: a Mexican minister and 29 followers suffocate after he instructs them to keep praying and ignore toxic fumes filling the church.

4. 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.

5. 1993: 53 Vietnamese tribal villagers commit suicide with primitive weapons, led by blind man Ca Van Liem, in the belief they will go straight to heaven.

6. 1994: 67 members of the “Order of the Solar Temple,” under the control of Joseph Di Mambray are found burned to death in the French alps in Switzerland and in Quebec, Canada. One year later remaining members of the cult committed another mass suicide.

7. 1995: Shoko Asahara & The 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. His followers (about people) believed that their leader has the ability to levitate, and that the end of the world would come in Asahara was captured and sentenced to death.

8. 1997: 39 members of the “Heaven’s Gate” cult, led by Marshall Applewhite, commit suicide in California. On March 19, 1997, as the comet Hale-Bopp was passing Earth. They killed themselves with mixtures of phenobarbitol and applesauce, followed by vodka. They also put plastic bags over their heads to be sure of asphyxiating, in case the poison didn’t work.
Applewhite’s idea was to die so his spirit would ascend to the UFO following Hale-Bopp, which would then take him and his followers to another plane, both physical and spiritual.

9. 2000: More than 900 members of a reclusive Christian doomsday cult, under Joseph Kibvetere, in Africa were murdered by their leaders. Many burned to death, others were buried in mass graves.

10. 2003: Members of the Raelians, a cult founded by Claude Vorilhon now known as "Rael" claimed that with the assistant of Clonaid, a human cloning company, they had cloned two or more infants.
Members of the Raëlian Church consist of people who have been baptized by Raëlian clergy in quarterly ceremonies, and among the converts are members of Raëlian-founded free love groups such as the Order of Angels and Raël’s Girls. The organization—which preaches a sensual philosophy and a physicalist explanation of the origin of life—could have as many as sixty-five thousand members.
The Raëlian Church members follow a UFO religion that favors a strong version of physicalism – the belief that everything consists only of physical properties. Raëlians deny the existence of the ethereal soul and a supernatural god, and believe that the mind is a function of matter alone.

11. 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

12. What is a “cult?” Difficulty of defining cults precisely:
One person’s cult is another person’s 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.”

13. 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
Hell’s angels
Suicide bombers
Fraternities
Amway
Trekkers and Trekkies
Boy Scouts of America

14. “brainwashing”
Can people 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.

15. Robert Lifton’s (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

16. Lifton’s 8 marks…continued
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 cause’s 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.

17. 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.)
target’s judgment may be confused, impaired
target is looking for an answer to life’s 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.

18. 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)

19. Physical techniques of persuasion
Physical isolation
Sleep deprivation
Fasting
Control of the person’s 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

20. 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 group’s leader.

21. More warning signs
The group exhibits a polarized “us-them” mentality. Outsiders are evil and must be shunned.
The group’s 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

22. 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
“I’m 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 one’s 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