Key Question

Question 1

Q.

Answer 1

Can psychology help our understanding of extreme cult behaviour?

Question 2

What is a cult?

Answer 2

A cult is:

(a) a group of people following a strong, living leader;
(b) a group making absolute claims about the leader’s abilities, character, or knowledge;
(c) a group accepting the leader’s claims;
(d) a member demonstrating complete loyalty to the leader
(e) a membership dependent on total willingness to obey the leader

In a cult there tends to be compliance with a group, dependence on a leader, avoidance of dissent, devaluing of outsiders, Members of a cult are often financially dependent on it. They usually break off ties with everyone outside the cult, which means they are even more dependent on the group, making it easier to manipulate and exploit them

Examples include situations like the people’s temple which resulted in mass suicide and the Manson family which resulted in multiple murders (and an attempted assassination of the president)

Question 3

Agency theory

Answer 3

• Autonomous: The state seen before they join the cult
• Agentic: Having went through the agentic shift they obey the orders and instructions of the leader and the higher ups within the cult i.e. Manson family committed murder under the orders of the authority

Question 4

Social impact theory

Answer 4

• Strength: The cult leader has this sort of power because he is seen as having some divine power over them
• Immediacy: Living with the cult they are constantly exposed to members and the beliefs of the cult
• Numbers: You are surrounded and largely outnumbered in the cult by the members

Question 5

Social identity theory

Answer 5

Group formation goes through three stages:

Social Categorisation: You sort yourself into in-groups and out-groups based on those in the cult and those not

Social Identification: You take on the beliefs, attitudes and dress of the cult i.e. you might wear a certain style of clothing as part of the cult

Social Comparison: Everyone outside of the cult is seen as ‘less’ than those in the cult through social denigration because they are not ‘chosen’, ‘special’ or can’t see the truth in how the world is i.e. Heaven’s Gate believing that aliens were going to take them away from Earth