Agenda

1. Agenda • To Get: • Handouts from back shelf • To Do: • Opener review • Lecture – Cults • Video – TED Ed – Why do people join?

2. Opener • Name the three compliance techniques and explain how each work. • Many people will put up with almost anything to avoid a confrontation. This is an example of what type of compliance? • What was the “elephant in the room” during the film on Milgram’s obedience studies? (what motivated him to do it?) • What social concept resulted from the Lost Letters experiment.

3. 1. Foot in the Door – small then large request Door in the Face – large request then small Low Ball Technique – get someone to agree to something then change requirements 2. Passive Compliance 3. He was Jewish, concerned about how Nazis convinced people to commit mass murder 4. Six Degrees of Separation

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

5. What is a “cult?” • Originated from the word “culture” • A system of beliefs and behaviors that make a person part of a group • Typically has a negative connotation today • cultic relationship: a person intentionally induces others to become totally or nearly totally dependent on him or her for almost all major life decisions • 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.

6. More problems with defining cults • What is the difference between a “cult” and a “social movement,” or an “extremist group” or a “club.” • A CULUTRE of beliefs, a way of living • 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 CONTROL over others is the defining characteristic of a modern day cult.

7. Unification Church

8. “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 or commune

9. 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

10. 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. http://www.csj.org/studyindex/studymindctr/study_mindctr_lifton.htm

11. 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 identity of the group, withholding the purpose of befriending another, etc.

12. 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) Psychological Techniques of Persuasion

13. Cults as Power Structures • Four interlocking dimensions make up the framework of a cult’s social system and dynamics. • Charismatic Authority • Transcendent Belief Systems • Systems of Control • Systems of Influence

14. Charismatic Authority • This is the emotional bond between a leader and his or her followers. It lends legitimacy to the leader and grants authority to the leader’s actions while at the same time justifying and reinforcing followers’ responses to the leader and/or the leader’s ideas and goals. Charisma could be identified as the “hook” that links a devotee to a leader and/or his ideas. The general purpose of charismatic authority is to provide leadership. The specific goal is for the leader to be accepted as the legitimate authority and to offer direction. This is accomplished through privilege and command. The desired effect, of course, is that members will believe in and identify with the leader, as well as regard that person as someone special, someone to be revered.

15. Transcendent Belief System • This is the overarching ideology that binds adherents to the group and keeps them behaving according to the group’s rules and norms. It is transcendent because it offers a total explanation of past, present, and future, including the path to salvation. Most importantly, the leader/group also specifies the exact methodology (or recipe) for the personal transformation necessary to travel on that path (and be an accepted member of the group). The goal of the transcendent belief system is to provide a worldview that offers meaning and purpose through a moral imperative. This imperative requires each member to subject himself or herself to a process of personal transformation. The desired effect is for the member to feel a sense of connection to a greater goal while aspiring to salvation. This effect is solidified through the internalization of the belief system and its accompanying behaviors and attitudes.

16. Systems of Control • This is the network of acknowledged—or visible—regulatory mechanisms that guide the operation of the group. It includes the overt rules, regulations, and procedures that guide and control members’ behavior. The purpose of the systems of control is quite simply to provide organizational structure. The specific goal is to create a behavioral system and disciplinary code through rules, regulations, and sanctions. The effect is compliance, or better still, obedience.

17. Systems of Influence • This is the network of interactions and social influence that resides in the group’s social relations. This interaction and resultant group culture teach members to adapt their thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors in relation to their new beliefs. The purpose of the systems of influence is to shape the group culture. The specific goal is to create institutionalized group norms and an established code of conduct by which members are expected to live. This is accomplished by various methods of peer and leadership pressure, and through social-psychological influence and modeling. The desired effect is conformity and the self-renunciation that is required not only to be part of the group but also to achieve the professed goal.

18. 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 Physical techniques of persuasion

19. 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.

20. 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

21. TED Ed. Why Do People Join Cults? • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB-dJaCXAxA&t=75s

22. Chart and Viewing Examples • Use the provided chart to take notes and explain for the following: • Name of Cult/Leader • Ideas promoted and goal of the cult • Eventual downfall or result of fanatical belief system.

23. Charles Manson criminal, cult leader and musician. 1967 formed the Manson Family, a commune based in California on an old movie set followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in July and August 1969. convicted of murder in 1971 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Edw-ftS2Jo

24. Jonestown • Reverend Jim Jones • 1978 • 900 followers, including children, commit suicide in Jonestown, Guyana • drank cyanide-laced punch. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zI9ub9AgF0

25. Branch Davidians – Waco, Texas 1993 At least 80 Branch Davidians, followers of David Koresh, perish in a fire and shoot-out with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) at their compound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhKmRtBfxjo

26. Shoko Asahara & The Supreme Truth 1995 released Sarin gas in five Tokyo subway stations killing 12 people sickening more than 5,500 others followers (about 10,000 people) believed that the end of the world would come in 2000 Asahara was captured and sentenced to death. https://youtu.be/-UANRNUk6Uo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqHjQjr5O-0

27. Exit Slip

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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. 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.

32. 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