My slides

1. Cults, religion, and brainwashing
1k20
Chris Stiff
c.stiff@keele.ac.uk

2. Overview
Religion
What is “religion”?
How is “religiousness” perceived?
Is being religious good or bad for you?
Cults
What is a cult?
Who joins cults?
How are people “brainwashed?”
How do people feel after leaving a cult?
Social psychology and cults
Underlined references are in Blackboard
These are questions to think about for your blog

3. Religion and well-being
“A search for significance in ways related to the
sacred”
Pargament, 2002 (pg. 169)
Literature offers mixed picture of religion
Altermeyer & Hunsberger (1992): fundamentalism
was associated with more right-wing political
views
Sethi & Seligman (1993): adherents have high
levels of well-being an optimism

4. How might religion benefit health?
http://padlet.com/psychology_expe/religionhealth

5. Religion and health
George, Ellison, & Larson (2002): why does
religion benefit health?
Health practices: religion often prohibits the
imbibing of harmful substances e.g. alcohol, or
the performance of detrimental actions e.g.
promiscuity.
Social support: sense of community and
relationship with others who share world-view
enhances well-being and coping

6. Psychosocial resources: enhancement of self-esteem,
self-efficacy which have health benefits
Sense of coherence/meaning:
Antonovsky (1980) – beliefs that make world
meaningful, predictable, and manageable make
stressful events easier to bear
Reduces stress-related health problems etc.

7. Why might religion be
problematic?
http://padlet.com/psychology_expe/religionproblem

8. Detrimental aspects of religion
Exline (2002): Religious feeling may lead to
several “stumbling blocks”
Religious arguments: aligning oneself explicitly
with a religious movements can lead to
arguments!
Negative relationships with “non-believers”:
individuals outside of the religious group may find
practices distasteful

9. Disappointment or anger towards deity: If things
go wrong, we may feel betrayed and disappointed
with “God”
Struggling with logical or ethical issues: Finding
flaws with religious beliefs, or finding their
practices inappropriate is disquieting
Confrontation with one’s own imperfections:
Failing at being virtuous can damage self-esteem
and cause depression

10. Summary so far
Religion has been show to have some benefits on
health and well-being
However, religion does not ALWAYS make people
feel better!

11. What is a cult?
http://padlet.com/psychology_expe/religioncult
Use online resources if you like, but NOT
WIKIPEDIA

12. What is a cult?
Definition: “any religion held together more by
devotion to a living charismatic leader who
actively participates in the group-decision making
than by adherence to a body of doctrine or
prescribed set of rituals” (Zablocki & Robbins,
2001 p. 5)
I.e. A group that does what a leader tells them to do
more than following a set of beliefs.

13. Definition issues
Woody (2009): The word “cult” has negative
connotations and should be used with caution
Olson (2006): substituting “cult” for “new religious
movement” decreased acceptance and positive
feeling
Word is laden with meaning, and usually pejorative
Members of cults most likely do not refer to them as
such!

14. Who joins a cult?
http://padlet.com/psychology_expe/religionjoin

15. Who joins a cult?
Curtis & Curtis (1993):
Weak “spirit” and emotional vulnerability
Tendency to dissociative states
Poor family relations and social support networks
Inadequate means of dealing with “hard knocks”
History of child abuse or neglect
Exposure to eccentric family patterns
Drug problems
Inability to manage stress
Poor socioeconomic conditions
All increase susceptibility to joining a cult

16. How would you recruit or
“brainwash” people to be in YOUR
cult?
http://padlet.com/psychology_expe/recruit-for-cult

17. Cult “brainwashing” techniques
Walsh (2001):
Stifling of communication between a member and
the outside world
Separation of friends and family
Relinquishing of job
Dictating how members should think, act, and feel
Keeping members tired assists with this
Demand for purity and conformity with group norms
NB This is purity for the group, not for society as a whole!

18. Public acknowledgement of “bad” former life
Symbolically shows relinquishing of previous
identity
Increases social pressure
Purveying the idea there are “deeper truths” that
can only be discovered through unquestioning
study
Cult-specific language to increase social identity
and division with non-members
Encouragement of new identity as part of the
group “organism”, rather than individual
Derogation of “non-believers”

19. Results of being in a cult
Walsh, Russell, & Wells (1995) – high levels of:
Neuroticism
(tendency to experience negative emotional states: e.g. guilt,
anxiety, depression etc)
Sociotropy
(high dependence and need to please others)
Autonomy
(preference for independent functioning)
In ex-cult members

20. What can social psychology tell us
about cults?
http://padlet.com/psychology_expe/social-psych-cults

21. Social psychology and cults
How does social psychology account for
attraction to, and behaviour within, cults?
Social identity theory
Social influence
Deindividuation

22. Social identity theory
Tajfel, 1978
Individual possess social identities – part of their
self-concept that derives from group membership
A social identity describes how one should think,
feel, and act as a “good” group member

23. Leader?
Rebel?
Brain?
Pet?
Interesting situations arise
from role conflicts or
confusions

24. Social identity theory
Tajfel, 1978
Individual possess social identities – part of their
self-concept that derives from group membership
A social identity describes how one should think,
feel, and act as a “good” group member
Individuals are motivated to maintain positive social
identities – this increases self-esteem and well-being
Categorisation of in-group and out-group assists
with this
If an individual lacks other meaningful identities,
a cult may provide one

25. Social influence
Two types of social influence (Deutsch & Gerard,
1955)
Informational social influence using others as a
guide when we are uncertain or in an ambiguous
situation

26. 1 2 3

27. 1 2 3

28. Social influence
Two types of social influence (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955)
Informational social influence using others as a
guide when we are uncertain or in an ambiguous
situation
If we feel like we are unsure what to do, or what is
appropriate, we may conform to the wishes of others
more
When feeling vulnerable or aimless, individuals may
welcome the structure and “normalcy” of a cult
Normative social influence doing things so others
like you!
Particularly powerful if friends also join a cult. Hard to
resist peer pressure to also join

29. Deindividuation
Anonymity within a large group leads to loss of
identity (Propst, 1979; Zimbardo, 1970)
May lead to deviant behaviour

31. Deindividuation
Anonymity within a large group leads to loss of
identity (Propst, 1979; Zimbardo, 1970)
May lead to deviant behaviour
Postmes & Spears (1998) Deindividuation may lead
to group-norm conformity
In a cult, the presence of others acting and looking the
same increases conformity and reduces incidents of
questioning and rebellion.

32. Summary
Cults are groups which venerate a living leader
Personality and socio-economic traits can influence
susceptibility to cult influence
Cults have a variety of techniques available to gain
new recruits
Membership in a cult can have far-reaching
consequences, even after leaving
Social psychological research can tell us a lot about
why people join cults and why cults are so influential

33. References not in WebCT
Antonovsky, A. (1980). Health, stress, and coping. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Curtis, J. M., & Curtis, M. J. (1993). Factors related to
susceptibility and recruitment by cults. Psychological
Reports, 73, 451-460.
Postmes, T., Spears, R., & Lea, M. (1998). Breaching or
building social boundaries? Side-effects of computer-mediated
communication. Communication Research, 25,
689 - 716
Tajfel, H. (1978). Differentiation between social groups:
Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations.
London: Academic Press.
Zablocki, B. & Robbins T. (2001). Misunderstanding cults:
Searching for objectivity in a controversial field. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press
Zimbardo, P. G. (1970). The human choice: Individuation,
reason, and order versus deindividuation, impulse, and
chaos. In W. J. Arnold and D. Levine (eds). Nebraska
symposium on motivation 1969 (pp. 237 – 307). Lincoln

34. REMINDER
Next session is ONLINE ONLY
Find the resources for it in Blackboard
Earworms and other creepy crawlies
(Alex Lamont)