Cult Manipulation

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Cults have always been associated with mental and psychological manipulation of members in what is commonly referred to as “brainwashing” (Ex-cult.org, 2016). Cult leaders strive to achieve mind control of members by promoting a system of beliefs that completely disorient the personal thoughts of an individual. According to Coon and Mitterer (2008), most victims of psychological manipulation may not even be aware of what may be happening and strictly follow what their leaders tell them. The followers have to conform to the cultish new belief system by reforming their personalities and training their minds to adapt to the new way of thinking (MacHovec, 2009). Cults are known for their utopian and idealist belief systems that are full of false …show more content…

The cult followers are trapped by the belief that they will be viewed as heroic by practicing the cult teachings. The only way cult leaders can ensure conformity and complete control is through frequent manipulation and followers and up believing everything their leaders tell them. According to Edmiston (2010), most cult leaders are manipulative and always demand for full submission from members and portray themselves as anointed apostles, God Himself or Prophets of God. The leaders teach their members that all practices outside the group are bad and that everything within the group is good (Kelley, 2002). The other interesting thing about cults is that they always avoid logical conclusions and only focus on feelings such as mystical insights, intuitions and emotions. Cults view any rational thought as evil and any independent thought as selfish and that is why they are always characterized by group psychology (Edmiston, 2010). This paper will review three articles that discuss the use of psychological manipulation in …show more content…

Cults are characterized by an authoritarian structure and member’s adulation of leaders. The other articles do not mention anything about the existing debate on whether cults in different locations have different levels of commitment and membership. However, Langone (2001) interrogates the issue that according to the growing body of empirical research and clinical evidence, cultic groups vary in different ways. Some cultic groups harm people while others are never interested in harming people. However, most cultic groups that adversely affect the society in general, including families and individuals. Langone (2001) asserts that the unfalsifiable assumptions about cultic groups are normally supported by most people who pay little attention to the empirical foundation of the cult issue. The groups are very extreme when it comes to their beliefs and that is why most see veil everywhere they while others do not see any evil. Most cults may not be harmful, but most people normally react negatively because they have grown up being told that cults cause a lot of harm to people including psychological harm. The psychological dimension of cult focuses on cult reform. However, thought reform is not necessarily a bad thing considering the fact the concept of physiological coercion to improve the performance of employees but critics of cult groups normally

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