More handpicked essays just for you.
The rise of cults
Sociological theories applied to cult members
Sociological theories applied to cult members
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
CULTS I. Introduction Thesis: The forces that draw individuals into cults can be explained by psychological doctrine. II. What is a cult A. Brief description B. Types of cults 1. religious 2. psychotherapy or personal growth 3. political 4. popular or faddist III. Popular cult groups A. People's Temple B. David Koresh C. Heaven's Gate D. The Family IV. Charismatic group A. Brief desciption B. Characterization V. Sigmund Freud's beliefs A. Belonging to a group B. Super-ego VI. Thought Reform A. Brief description B. How thought reform works VII. Effects of a cult A. Stress B. Isolation C. New lifestyle D. Dissociative E. Anxiety F. Personality disorders VIII. Conclusion IX. References CULTS What makes a person join a cult? What happens in a person's life to make them completely change they way they used to talk and act? Many are puzzled about the mysterious happenings in a cult member's life. They wonder how one could become involved in such a group. The forces that draw individuals into cults can be explained by psychological doctrine. Many in the psychology field have sought to provide answers to the various questions that society has. A cult is a structured group, most of whose members demonstrate unquestionable loyalty to a dynamic leader. The cult leader governs most, if not all, aspects of the lives o... ... middle of paper ... ... Cults entice people whom by nature want to belong to a group and make it hard for them to leave by altering their thought processes. Those in the psychology field have defined what makes up a cult, have determined what draws individuals in and have recognized the effects that a cult can have on one's life. These attempts have been made to enlighten society about a taboo topic that is rapidly forcing itself into the lives of all. REFERENCES Galanter, M. (1989). Cults Faith, Healing, and Coercion. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. Lifton, R., foreword, Cults In Our Midst, by Margaret Thaler Singer & Lalich (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995). MacHovec, F. (1989) Cults and Personality. Springfield: Charles C Thomas. Roth, M. (1998). Freud Conflict and Culture. New York: Alfred A, Knopf, Inc. Young-Bruehl, foreword, What Freud Really Said, by David Stafford-Clark (London: McDonald & Co., 1965).
...id Koresh will come back because he really is a prophet. It might not ever be know why people truly join cults, but they do.Cults are similar to a religion but they have more extreme ways of expressing themselves that society finds abnormal.
Throughout this reflective address, the relevance in our modern society of this issue explored in the novel will be analyzed and evaluated in regards to the representations of concepts, identities, times and places; ideas, attitudes and values; and the perspectives of both the past and present societies. It is asked that any questions and/or comments be saved until the end.
Some say that cults are all religious and work together, in fact the definition of a cult is “a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object”, yet this can vary. Cults are not all religious or trying to reach a spiritual goal and in a lot of cases it is mostly all about one goal that is completely derived off his followers. Most cult leaders are so infatuated with their goals that they truly believe the psychological damage they are causing is good for the world (Cults). As seen in Jonestown and Heaven’s Gate, cults tend to use psychological skills to torment, manipulate and brainwash their members to grow stronger and reach the leader’s ultimate goal.
Imagine driving in Marin County, you miss your turn, suddenly you find yourself surrounded by 40-50 men and women with shaved heads, wearing blue bib overalls, yielding ax handles, clubs, and baseball bats, shouting, “Kill Them, Let’s Get Them!” Sounds like a horror movie. The word cult, from the Latin word Cultus, means a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object (Oxford English Dictionary). Robert J. Lifton, M.D., a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at John Jay College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York defines the characteristics of a cult as: 1) a charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose their power; 2) a process called coercive persuasion or thought reform; 3) economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader (8.1) Numerous experts in both sociology and psychology supplementally include many other characteristics for cult classification, such as recruitment and isolation, but, the characteristics listed above prove prevalent amongst them all.
There are numerous different kinds of social groups in the world, but clearly not all of them are cults. So what makes a cult a cult? [So where is the distinction?] Where is the metaphorical line drawn and what has to be done to cross it? Cult psychological experts Joseph Salande and David Perkins say the differences between a cult and a group are the methods of control and the negative effects on its members (Salande and Perkins 382). They define cults as “groups that often exploit members psychologically
Religion doctrine discusses having pleasure in converting others to one’s religion because it supposedly saves others. As well, most religions talk about an afterlife or give ‘answers’ to questions like death and unexplainable circumstances (also known as miracles). It also promises an eternal life to people that are good (read: follow their religion’s doctrines). Religion also seems to serve justice in a fail-safe way by sending those who sin to hell and those who follow doctrine to heaven. Such appealing ideas of justice and eternal life, if you just follow the rules, are very easy to become viral if done correctly, Dawkins correctly
A cult society is an organization that basically disguises itself as a religion. In a cult, they normally perform rituals. There are usually many people in these societies. In Jim Jones’s cult, there were at least one thousand people in this community.
Cults Each year, hundreds of North Americans join one of the increasing, estimated 3000 unorthodox religions that exist across North America. The increasing number of cults, to date in North America, is due to the fact that cults are a social movement that attempts to help people cope with their perceived problems with social interaction. Cult recruiters target those who perceive themselves as different from the rest of society, and give these individuals the sense of belonging that they crave. Cult literature lures potential cult members by appealing to their desperate need to socially fit in. Cults provide a controlled family environment that appeals to potential cult members because it is a removal from the exterior society.
“A cult is a religious or semi-religious sect whose members are controlled almost entirely by a single individual or by an organization.” (“What”). Families are forced to leave their homes and life behind by a dream that the cult will take them to bigger and better places. Some of these cults also cost these members their lives. There is always that question of why they do it because it is far from believable. These leaders are manipulators dragging in their pray in like flies. Heaven’s Gate is a cult. People don’t just have their mind set and say “I’m going to go join a cult,” they are looking for a safe haven. They have different beliefs and rituals. A religious cult isn’t just a group of people left to their beliefs, but yet it is a threat to our nation and the people in it. “The mind of the fanatic” wants but more so “needs something to worship, even to the point of annihilation.”(Katherine Ramsland).
For many years, cult leaders always had a psychological hold on their followers' minds. Whether it was to kill other people or to kill themselves, they did it without question. Some cult leaders used fear, violence and guilt as a means of a weapon to control the minds of their followers. Other cult leaders used persuasive and spiritual speeches that made their followers believe they were doing good and fulfilling God's plan. Because cult leaders are powerful through psychological offenses, the people that belong to their cults are brainwashed into doing things they wouldn't normally do in their right state of mind.
Opinions vary as to why people are drawn to cults. “Martin Marty, professor of religious history at the University of Chicago, attributes the growth of cults to the frustrations of seemingly rootless people”(U.S. News and World Report 23). Marty’s classification of a rootless person is a person who is overly frustrated by modern life and is at a loss for direction. Often the rootless individual will “short-circuit and try to hook their lives to any guiding spirit” (U.S. News and World Report 23).
The mind is an amazing tool! Many philosophers believe that this amazing tool needs something to keep it distracted and fulfill a purpose. Philosopher Eric Hoffer believes that the fanatic mind needs something to worship. A fanatic mind will not only worship the idea or object that it is being directed to, but sacrifice all for the impossible dream. A fanatic mind is one that desirers an obsession for something. Some peoples’ fanatic minds come together to form what is known as a cult. A cult is simply a group of people who have the same belief system. They differ from other groups because they take a bi-polar approach to their teaching. They start changing who they are to fit the mold of what is right, but always reflect back to the old self and the shame it holds. Sometimes this cult desire is fueled to the point of disaster, announcing the world coming to an end, or even suicide. (The End Is Near)
Motivation is the key component in accomplishing or doing something; you can motivate yourself to do good things or bad things. Due to an abundance of motivation and hatred people decide to join hate groups, organizations that propose violence, and terrorist groups such as ISIS. There are a number of reasons why they join, one of which is they dislike an idea, or hate something very deeply. It’s not right to use violence to stop something you dislike.
Based on analysis of research of his own and that conducted by others, Michel Eysenck concluded in 1998 that no solid evidence exists to show a correlation between religion and extraversion and neuroticism, while evidence did manage to indicate a negative relationship between religion and psychoticism. Further, there was no determination of the definition of the source of the relationship, meaning whether low-psychotic personalities are attracted to religion, or whether religion has an impact on levels of psychot...