Week 6 Flashcards
Cults
Range of definitions-
Religious worship to excessive devotion or dedication
Moonies
Korean minister Sun Myung Moon
Reverend of the “new messiah”
Mass arranged marriages
Strong political influence
The family (aka children of god)
Established by David Berg in the 1960s as the end-time prophet sent by god
New members encouraged to sever ties with family, donate all possessions and become full time evangelists
Women seduce new male recruits
Heaven’s gate
Leader Marshall Applewhite convinced 39 followers to commit suicide so their souls could ride the spaceship hiding behind the comet Hale-Bopp
Makes frank citrus juice to cleanse Theo bodies of impurities
Bodies were found covered with purple blankets and wearing brand new nike sneaker
Branch Davidians
Religious group originating from the 7th day activist church
Apocalyptic beliefs
Leader David Koresh
Compound burnt down in Texas after government raid
Aum Supreme Truth
Shoko Asohara
Peak 20000 followers, currently 7000
Sarin Attack in Tokyo
Solar Temple
Based off the Knights Templar from the 14th century
Mission to save the spiritual heritages of Earth and take it to planet Sirius
Mass suicide in Switzerland and Quebec
People’s Temple
Originally a Christian group lead by Jim Jones
Established a town in Guyana to avoid outside intervention
Deviant members were severely punished
Mass suicide by drinking poisoned Koolaid
Cult prevalence in the US
2000-5000 cults
2-5million involved with cults
PreCult characteristics
Normal people known as “seekers” seeking meaning as most feel lonely, rejected, sadness (43%), drifting, life is meaningless (41%), personal crisis (34%), actively been converted (30%)
Effects on current members
Mixed- both positive and negative effects
Well adjusted psychologically but may be misleading
Norms to be happy
Does not accurately represent the inner dynamics
Leaving cults
23% walked away
44% received exit counseling
25% were deprogrammed- holding cult member against their will and submitting them to long lectures about their group
Effects on former members
- Floating or dissociation (52%)
- Nightmares (40%)
- Inability to break mental rhythms of chanting (35%)
- Amnesia (21%)
- Suicidal or self harm (21%)
- Hallucinations/ delusions (14%)
- Violent outbursts (14%)
Effects on former members
Former cults members displaying clinical symptoms ranges from 27% to 95%
What’s the attraction to religious cults?
- Resolution of unresolved psychic needs- intimate father figure (god)
- Sense of meaning- seeking meaning of life and a cause
- Uncertainty reduction- clear set of guidelines for thinking and behaving
- Companionship and belonging
Recruiting techniques
- Invitation to open your mind- refrain from being judgemental
- Promise of answers- diagnose inner unhappiness and promise easy solutions and quick answers
- Love-bombing- enthusiastic display of unconditional love and inducing feelings if guilt and norm of reciprocation
- Invoking a sense of similarity- reduce the sense of strangeness and difference by invoking commonalities
- Encourage to participate in group activities- creates emotional ties
Tips of resistance
- practice being diviant at times; learn to accept rejection
- avoid taking uncertain actions
- insist on an understandable explanation without double speak (sign of deception)
- be tuned to the establishment of a host-guest relationship
- no such thing as unconditional love from strangers
- don’t get into total situations where there are no psychological or physical exits
- engage your mind into critical evaluation
- tolerate guilt as part of human nature- don’t rush to ease it via paths others lay out for you
Brain washing
To radically change a mind, so that a person becomes a puppet, a human robot without being visible on the exterior
Term “brainwashing”
Invented by CIA after American POWs were converted to communism during the Korean War
CIA perspective on brainwashing
- Places in altered state of consciousness through hypnosis and physical debilitation
- Resulting primitive state of consciousness and highly suggestible
- Submit to “conditioning” for maintaining original attitudes and rewarded for taking in communist propaganda
- Assume new personality that governs their actions and decisions, persists indefinitely
Alternative explanation for what happened in Korea
Gentle strategies to induce mild commitment to the communist cause. Trivial sentiments would be committed to paper and elaborated in such a way that the “betrayal” becomes increasingly sinister and large-scale
- the power of commitment in gaining compliance
- the need for people to feels they have chosen to change their attitudes
Brainwashing in China
Milieu control Mystical manipulation Demand for purity Use of confession Scared science Loading of language Dispensing of existence
Milieu control
Limiting all forms of communication with the outside world- difficult to “reality test”
Mystical manipulation
Convince that the group is working for a “higher purpose” and that they are instrumental in the attainment- they are chosen to carry out the “mystical imperative”
Demand for purity
The world is divided in to the pure (good) and impure (evil)
Philosophical assumption that absolute purity is attainable and anything done in the name of this purity is moral
The manipulator become the judge of good and evil
The use of confession
Effort to strive for ultimate purity- above shame and guilt
Establishing closeness with fellow confessors and surrendering to the environment
Private ownership of the mind is immoral and unnecessary
The “sacred science”
An aura of sacredness built around the group- ultimate vision for humanity
Results in illusion of logic and precision
Loading the language
“Thought terminating” cliché
Language is reduced to “god terms”, representing the ultimate good
Dispensing of existence
A sharp line is drawn between those whose right to existence can be recognised (social class) and those who cannot (imperialists)
Non-people can become people if they reform
