What They Are, How They Work, and Why They Are Destructive
Left: The Manson Girls, Middle: Charles Manson, Right: Sharon Tate & Roman Polanski, victims of the Manson Family Murders
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"You got to realize; you’re the Devil as much as you’re God." - Charles Manson
In the 21st century, cults are nothing new. We have all seen those hour-long TV specials, tuned in for the shocking documentary films about popular cults such as Jonestown, Heaven’s Gate, Family International (formerly the ‘Children of God’), Scientology—the list goes on and on. While each and every cult operates by its own set rules and objectives, and disseminates its own unique teachings and message, these notorious groups have one thing in common: they all employ tactics of psychological manipulation to aid in “thought reform”. A “Thought Reform Program”, “is a behavioral change technology applied to cause the learning and adoption of an ideology or set of behaviors under conditions” (1).
But don’t worry, I’ll break down this complex idea later.
By now you’re probably wondering, “what exactly is a cult, anyway”? Well, it depends who you ask. In the most basic terms, a Cult is defined as being any or all of the following (Oxford Dictionary):
“a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object”
“A relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister”
“a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing.”
If you’re anything like me, definition #1 left you with one question: “does that mean every religion is a cult?”—seeing as definition #1 seems to apply so generally across the board. While the answer to this question would, again, depend on who you ask, the general consensus is that no, not all religions would be technically classified as cults. It is also important to remember that not all cults are religious, there are many cults that do not center around religious teachings, but instead around admiration for a specific person or an ideology (ie. The Manson Family Cult), a specific type of practice (ie. meditation cults), or even around an object or consumer good (think, pyramid schemes). In this piece, the term “cult” will be utilized in the context of definitions #2 and #3—which I believe to be the most helpful in understanding what exactly a cult is, and how the notion of a “cult” differs from that of an established/recognized “religion” in the larger socio-cultural lexicon.
IF YOU’VE EVER SAID, ‘I’D NEVER JOIN A CULT’, THINK AGAIN
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While most of us would like to think we would never join a cult ourselves—and that we would be sure to see the signs from a mile away—the truth is, people who join cults don’t know they're joining a cult. In other words, many cults operate in a way that is much more covert and camouflaged than we would like to believe. In her groundbreaking book entitled, Cults in Our Midst, renown clinical psychologist and cult researcher, Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph. D, states the following:“Today’s cultic groups have professionalized their approaches and techniques of persuasion [and] they are moving well beyond the fringe and into the mainstream. They want you” (Singer 6) (2). In other words, the targeted techniques of cults and cult leaders have shifted since the 1960s, 70s, and 80s; the “unaffiliated” members of society, the “misfits” formerly so sought after by these groups, are no longer the only ones at risk— we are ALL at risk of falling victim to cults and cult-like practices. In fact, “relatively healthy people going through stressful periods, are [a cult’s] prime targets” (3). The reason for this, is that cults know that people going through a difficult time or a time of drastic change— the death of a family member, the move to a brand new city, the loss of a job— are easier to manipulate because they are more impressionable. Furthermore, in her TED Talk, Sociologist, Dr. Janja Lalich shares that, in fact, “more than two-thirds of cult members are recruited by a friend, family member, or co-worker whose invitations are harder to refuse” (4). And let’s face it— we are more likely to trust those close to us, making it harder and sometimes even impossible, to notice when we are actually being swindled into something more than meets the eye.
There is no single reason for why people are drawn to cults, however, one reasonable explanation is that cults provide people with “the answer” (or more specifically, the illusion of “the answer”) to whatever question it is they may be asking. For example, those of us eager to understand the meaning of life and make sense of our existence may be unwittingly drawn to certain faith-based cults, hoping they will provide us with those answers we’ve been hoping and searching for. This is nothing new—for centuries, human beings have philosophized and theorized about the origin and purpose of human existence until we’re blue in the face; in other words, the ages-old questions surrounding existence continue to ponder us to this very day. These existential uncertainties are enough to leave many of us feeling fickle and in need something to hold onto, something to claim as our own. With so much conjecture and uncertainty at the core of these discussions, people may find solace in cults claiming to have “solved” the ages old question—and who wouldn’t like to know “the answer”, after all? As Lalich says, “loneliness and a desire for meaning make one susceptible to friendly people offering community” (4).Cults thrive on our questions and our uncertainties, they thrive on our desire for acceptance and community building too. By providing the illusion of “absolute answers”, many cults are able to offer a certain degree of perceived comfort.
WHAT IS ‘THOUGHT REFORM’ AND HOW IS IT USED BY CULTS?
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Having touched on it briefly earlier, “thought reform”, or more specifically a “thought reform program” is defined as: “ a behavioral change technology applied to cause the learning and adoption of an ideology or set of behaviors under conditions” (1). In layman’s terms, “thought reform” is the act of putting to use various strategies and techniques, in order to influence a group of people to adopt a certain set of beliefs and practices, and to act in accordance with such. Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph. D., the renown clinical psychologist and cult researcher mentioned earlier, has outlined the “Six Conditions for Thought Reform”, which are crucial in helping us form an understanding of how cults successfully operate on a psychological level.
The Six Conditions are outlined here:
Keep the person unaware of what is going on and how she or he is being changed a step at a time. Potential new members are led, step by step, through a behavioral-change program without being aware of the final agenda or full content of the group. The goal may be to make them deployable agents for the leadership, to get them to buy more courses, or get them to make a deeper commitment, depending on the leader's aim and desires.
Control the person's social and/or physical environment; especially control the person's time. Through various methods, newer members are kept busy and led to think about the group and its content during as much of their waking time as possible.
Systematically create a sense of powerlessness in the person. This is accomplished by getting members away from the normal social support group for a period of time and into an environment where the majority of people are already group members. The members serve as models of the attitudes and behaviors of the group and speak an in-group language.
Manipulate a system of rewards, punishments and experiences in such a way as to inhibit behavior that reflects the person's former social identity. Manipulation of experiences can be accomplished through various methods of trance induction, including leaders using such techniques as paced speaking patterns, guided imagery, chanting, long prayer sessions or lectures, and lengthy meditation sessions.
Manipulate a system of rewards, punishments, and experiences in order to promote learning the group's ideology or belief system and group-approved behaviors. Good behavior, demonstrating an understanding and acceptance of the group's beliefs, and compliance are rewarded, while questioning, expressing doubts or criticizing are met with disapproval, redress and possible rejection. If one expresses a question, he or she is made to feel that there is something inherently wrong with them to be questioning.
Put forth a closed system of logic and an authoritarian structure that permits no feedback and refuses to be modified except by leadership approval or executive order. The group has a top-down, pyramid structure. The leaders must have verbal ways of never losing. (Singer, 1995) (5).
All cults engage in “thought reform” practices— that is to say that all cults psychologically manipulate their members (victims) in order to benefit the larger organization and/or leader of the cult. Singer states that, “the personality and fantasies of the leader are key to how a group will evolve and how it will end up” (Singer 338) (2). Therefore, while the specific beliefs and practices of cults may differ, the psychological methods used to produce “thought reform” amongst members are always the same. Further, critical thinking is discouraged or dismissed in favor of “absolute faith”, resulting in, “internal conflict, known as cognitive dissonance, [which] keeps you trapped, as each compromise makes it more painful to admit you've been deceived” (Lalich) (4).
IT’S MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: HOW CULTS GAIN CONTROL THROUGH MANIPULATION & ‘THOUGHT REFORM’
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Now that we have discussed “thought reform” in a more comprehensive context, let’s dive into some of the specific methods used by cults to achieve the “six conditions of thought reform” mentioned above.
At the heart of every successful cult lies the desire to breed subservience—a subservience usually bound to a charismatic leader and their specific ideology. In order to breed subservience, you must first draw individuals in and convince them to stay, and to “buy” what it is you’re selling, metaphorically or otherwise. One common practice employed by many cults to draw people in is “love bombing”, where new recruits specifically are, “flattered, complimented, and seduced in order to train their brain to associate the cult with love and acceptance” (6). Psychologist, Sharon Farber, describes how this technique of “love bombing” can leave recruits feeling like they are receiving the attention and affection they may have been formerly craving (7). As a result, these people are more likely to begin forming positive associations with this new group, thus making them more likely to join. While “love bombing” may not sound like the worst thing in the world, it is nonetheless a form of emotional manipulation that is used to set cult victims up for the more sinister practices that are sure to follow.
Once an individual has committed to joining the cult, the practices quickly shift from more subtle forms of emotional manipulation like “love bombing”, to more destructive forms of psychological manipulation and “thought reform”. At this point, the cult leaders and other members will begin to brainwash the new recruit, through disseminating and, “repeat[ing] various lies and distortions until members find it difficult to distinguish between reality and cult life” (6). One way to facilitate this brainwashing is through isolation, or separating the recruit from friends and family, and immersing them in the cult experience (3). Initially, this isolation may take the form of a weekend retreat; however, over time, an individual may be persuaded by the cult to abandon life as they know it in favor of a new life with the cult, away from mainstream society—this is the ultimate move in isolating an individual from the real world outside of the cult.
One infamous example of this method of ultimate isolation can be found by looking at the practices of Jim Jones, leader of the People’s Temple Cult (famously coined, “Jonestown”). The People’s Temple was founded by Jones in Indiana in the 1950s, before relocating to California in the 1960s (8). Fearful of the negative media attention surrounding his organization, in 1977 Jones famously decided to move his entire congregation (around 1,000 people) to Guyana, a remote area in Central America, east of Venezuela (8,9). Less than a year later, Jones commanded his bout of loyal followers, now living cut off from the rest of the world in Guyana, to commit forced-suicide by ingesting Kool-Aid laced with Cyanide—over 900 people died that day at Jonestown (8). While this may represent one of the more extreme outcomes of isolation from the outside world, it nonetheless serves to illustrate the fact of how far some cult leaders are willing to go to further their agenda, whatever it may be.
In addition to brainwashing and isolation tactics, inducing paranoia is another popular technique used by cult leaders to maintain their authority over the group. One common way of inducing paranoia is through convincing members that anyone outside of the cult (friends, family, the government, etc) is “out to get them”. As a result, the cult comes to be seen as a kind of safe haven from the world outside, and ultimate faith becomes instilled in the cult leader who becomes a kind of “savior”(6).
Self Incrimination and Public Humiliation are other techniques commonly used by cults in order to induce shame in members (or, victims). For example, a keystone practice in the cult of Scientology is “auditing”, which is touted by the “church”, “as a way to ‘travel to higher states of spiritual awareness’ by answering ‘exact sets of questions asked or directions given by an auditor to help a person locate areas of spiritual distress’” (10). However, information about a person’s life, their secrets, and their most intimate moments—all of which is revealed during these sessions—is diligently recorded and held onto by the “church” in a personalized record which can be used against someone at any time if they dissent or disobey the “church” and its authority. (10). Oftentimes, when members try to leave the organization, the “church” will threaten to publicly shame these individuals by leaking their most personal confessions and secrets from their auditing sessions. In sum, Scientology convinces its members to confess all their secrets (self incrimination), then when someone does not obey, they blackmail them and threaten to publicly ruin their reputation. For those hoping to leave the “church”, the prospects are grim: stay, or leave and be made into a social pariah.
Pictured above is an image distortion of Heaven's Gate Cult Leader Marshall Applewhite. Image credit: Lordgamblor
After all, there is no telling what horrors each individual may have experienced at the hands of the cult they were formerly a part of. Here are just a few examples of the horrendous practices employed by certain cults:
Scientology: Swindles your money through charging extraorbitant fees for books, courses, and auditing sessions (which run about $800 an hour), in order to complete what they call “The Bridge to Total Freedom” and attain “spiritual actualization (11).
NXIVM: Forced female members into becoming sex slaves and branded them with the initials of the cult’s leader, Keith Raniere, during a ritual “ceremony” (12).
(NXIVM touted itself as a multi-level marketing company specializing in “professional development”, but later revealed itself to be a destructive Cult led by Keith Raniere) (12).
Heaven’s Gate: Effectively convinced its followers, “that suicide would allow them to leave their bodily ‘containers’ and enter an alien spacecraft hidden behind the Hale-Bopp comet” in 1997. As a result, 39 people (including cult leader Marshall Applewhite) died from willingly ingesting vodka mixed with phenobarbital (13).
At this point, it should come as no surprise that cults are dangerous; they use insidious and duplicitous methods in order to psychologically manipulate their followers and gain control over their minds and their lives. The truth is, while many victims will never leave the cult they’ve devoted their alliance to, there are still people who manage to escape the horrors, and who live on to tell their stories. While finding the courage to leave a cult is an act of bravery worth celebrating, that doesn't mean there aren’t lasting effects. Mental Health Counselor and former cult-member, Steven Hassan, states: “anxiety disorders, panic attacks, sleep disorders, lack of trust, paranoia, sexual dysfunction, and feelings of alienation” are all common after effects of those who abandon cult life” (14). When an individual leaves a cult and is faced once again with the world outside of that cult, the emotional and psychological floodgates are bound to open up, as the individual is forced to readjust to life in our mainstream society. What these people need is our support, not ridicule.
I’ll leave you with this:
Be wary, my friends, of anything that sounds too good to be true—it probably is.
REFERENCES
Singer, Margaret Thaler, and Richard Ofshe. “Thought Reform Programs and the Production of Psychiatric Casualties.” Cult Education Institute , Cult Education Institute , Apr. 1990, culteducation.com/brainwashing/3208-thought-reform-programs-and-the- production-of-psychiatric-casualtiess.html.
Singer, Margaret Thaler. Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace . 2nd ed., Jossey-Bass, 2003.
Davis, Matt. “4 Psychological Techniques Cults Use to Recruit Members.” Big Think, Big Think, 23 Oct. 2018, bigthink.com/culture-religion/four-cult-recruitment-techniques.
Lalich, Janja. “Why People Join Cults.” TED-Ed. 2 Apr. 2020, www.ted.com/talks/janja_lalich_why_do_people_join_cults/transcript?language=en.
Singer, Margaret Thaler. “What Is Thought Reform?” Carol Giambalvo's Cult Information and Recovery, Weebly, www.carolgiambalvo.com/what-is-thought-reform.html.
“10 Things to Know About the Psychology of Cults.” Online Psychology Degree Guide, Online Psychology Degree Guide, www.onlinepsychologydegree.info/what-to-know-about-the-psychology-of-cults/.
Farber, Sharon. “Cults and the Mind-Body Connection.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 19 July 2014, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mind-body-connection/201407/cults-and-the-mind-body-connection.
History.com Editors. “Jonestown.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 20 Nov. 2019, www.history.com/topics/crime/jonestown.
Chiu, David. “Jonestown: 13 Things You Should Know About Cult Massacre.” Rolling Stone, Penske Business Media, 17 Nov. 2017, www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/jonestown-13-things-you-should-know-about-cult-massacre-121974/.
Buxton, Ryan. “Inside Scientology's Auditing Process: How Members Are Pushed To Reveal Their Private ‘Sexual Indiscretions.’” HuffPost, Verizon Media, 30 Mar. 2015, www.huffpost.com/entry/scientology-auditing_n_6971680.
Nededog, Jethro. “How Scientology Costs Members up to Millions of Dollars, According to Leah Remini's Show.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 14 Dec. 2016, www.businessinsider.com/scientology-costs-leah-remini-recap-episode-3-2016-12#scientology-has-a-detailed-and-costly-course-list-called-the-bridge-to-total-freedom-3.
Hong, Nicole. “Nxivm 'Sex Cult' Was Also a Huge Pyramid Scheme, Lawsuit Says.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 Jan. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/nyregion/nxivm-lawsuit-keith-raniere.html.
History.com Editors. “Heaven's Gate Cult Members Found Dead.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 23 Mar. 2020, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/heavens-gate-cult-members-found-dead.
Hassan, Steven. “Negative Issues Experienced by Former Members of High-Control Groups.” Freedom of Mind Resource Center, Freedom of Mind Resource Center, 13 Dec. 2018, freedomofmind.com/negative-issues-experienced-by-former-members-of-high-control-groups/.
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