1. Cults and New Religious Movements Cults and New Religious Movements Conversion and Commitment: The Brainwashing Model

2. What is Brainwashing?  Refers to a process by which persons are involuntarily caused to adopt a belief system  The charge of brainwashing is primarily a way of discrediting NRMs –Makes them appear illegitimate and dangerous

3. Origins of the Concept  Korean War defections –Defections resulted from the Chinese using the methods of “thought reform” they created to coerce conformity among their citizens –British Journalist, Edward Hunter, used the term to characterize this process Hunter’s was a CIA operative whose work was used as a propaganda

4. Traits  Irresistible  Undetectable  Irreversible

5. Brainwashing and Popular Culture  Quickly became part of popular culture –Helped by the highly acclaimed movie “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962)

6. Assessing The Brainwashing Thesis  After the Korean War, the U.S. Government commissioned four independent studies on brainwashing –One was a secret study by the CIA, the second never published –Two others authored by Robert Lifton Edgar Schein

7. Summary of Lifton’s Research  “Behind the web of semantic… confusion lies an image of ‘brainwashing’ as an all-powerful, irresistible, unfathomable, and magical method of achieving total control over the human mind. It is of course none of these things, and this loose usage makes the word a rallying point for fear, resentment, urges toward submission, justification for failure, irresponsible accusations, and for a wide gamut of emotional extremism. One must justly conclude that the term has a far from precise meaning and of questionable usefulness” –Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism (1961)

8. Summary of Schien’s Research  “The experiences of the prisoners did not fit such a model… hence we have abandoned the term brainwashing and prefer to use the term coercive persuasion… basically what happened to the prisoners was that they were subjected to unusually intense and prolonged persuasion in a situation from which they could not escape; that is, they were coerced into allowing themselves to be persuaded” –Coercive Persuasion: A Social-Psychological Analysis of the “Brainwashing” of American Civilian Prisoners of the Chinese Communists (1961)

9. Assessment Continued  Perry London searched Psych Lit for the years 1974-89 –Found 50 articles but only 2 presented empirical data One refuted the “brainwashing” concept One supported, but did not contain a control group  Professional Associations –At least four have reviewed and found the brainwashing thesis lacking in scientific merit  Margaret Singer, a psychologist who supports the brainwashing thesis, has: –Never produced empirical data, nor have any other scholars –Been severely criticized by colleagues in her own field

10. Criticisms of Brainwashing  Most of the anti-cult literature lumps all NRMs together  There seems to be an ideological bias when applying the thesis to NRMs  Logic and empirical data are absent when claiming that only the brainwashing could possibly believe the doctrines of some NRMs  The original theories of brainwashing contradict one another  Singer and others rely on anecdotal, not empirical proof

11.  Few, if any, studies suggest that any NRM has held members against their will or hurt them  The anti-cult literature is distorted by sampling bias  The anti-cult literature on conversions is largely dependent upon ex-cult members  NRM’s suffer from low recruitment and high defection rates  Psychological traits like “suggestibility” are largely absent from members

12.  The scientific study on NRMs suggests that members are not passive, but active –Sudden conversions are rare –Many engage in some form of seekership before joining –Conversions are largely social –Converts are more thoughtful about their situation while in the NRM than previously believed –Converts learn how to pass for a member before they join They learn and play the convert role to explore the group in more detail

13. Conclusions  The use of hypnosis or mind control are not supported  Aggressive propaganda combined with isolation, manipulated peer pressure, torture or the threat of torture produce limited, but temporary, behavioral conformity