by Hani Hamdan
Introduction:
Starting from the 60s onward, small closed groups with strange beliefs, either religious or political, start to emerge and rise, known as cults. Some of them were destructive to themselves or toward others, like in the case of mass suicide with Jim Jones and the Temple of the People cult, or killing Hollywood stars with the Charles Manson case and his cult. Such events and the broader phenomenon of cults have led psychologists and researchers to wonder what makes people join cults. What is the psychology of cult leaders? And what are the psychological underpinnings of cults overall? In this research, we will take a deep dive to answer all these questions and more.
Historical background:
Cults can be traced back to ancient times, but cults as we know them today, with their specific characteristics, are considered recent and can be divided into four main stages:
1) 19th to early 20th century: In this period, during the industrialization and immigration in the US, new religious movements derived from Christianity emerged (like Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses) that can be defined as cults.
2) From the 1960s to 1970s: this is the exhilaration period for cults, as a result of several social movements (Like civil rights and counterculture), influenced by Eastern philosophy, many cults, such as Scientology, grew big and attracted big number of followers.
3) From the 1970s to 1990s: Incidents like Jones Town and Heaven’s Gate sparked anticult movements, fueled by the media, leading to an increase in violent events, all of which created a polarization towards cults, resulting in an adaptation or decline.
4) From the 2000s to present: A diversity of new cults appeared, sometimes blending spirituality with new upcoming trends, happening amidst the decline of traditional religion in the West.
The psychological basis:
In pursuing an explanation for cult psychology, we have multiple theories, mechanisms, and techniques supported by several studies. First is the human need for self-entitlement, the bigger cause embedded in finding meaning for life and spiritual fulfillment, or more basic needs like safety seeking and belonging to a community, and in some individuals, due to certain circumstances like trauma as an example, these needs are unmet or deepened, creating psychological vulnerability that can be exploited and manipulated by cults, which can be done by complete controlling over the social environment and relationships by using techniques such as loaded language that reinforce group identity and love bombing in order to create strong emotional bonds. All these things can lead to mental health problems, including emotional distress, depression, anxiety, and identity confusion and dissociation, especially in cases of leaving the cult.
Cult’s structure:
For a more in-depth comprehension of cults, we should understand their structure. Starting with the cult’s leadership, which is marked by the trait of charisma, cult leaders use it to attract new members, and it helps them mask their toxic traits and also command members’ loyalty, but charisma is not necessarily bad overall; what makes it bad in cult leaders is that it is accompanied by other traits, including narcissism that appear in continuous seeking for admiration and praise by other, and often promote grandiose visions about their group of organization, another traits that can be found in cult leaders is Machiavellianism which exist in suing depiction and social manipulation to achieve full control, in addition to exploiting followers for personal interests, and finally psychopathy, characterized by absence of remorse, lack of empathy, and antisocial behavior which make leaders do anything they want without the moral deterrent. Now, to achieve their goal, cult leaders use manipulative techniques such as isolation, thought-stopping methods for doubt suppression, mystical manipulation and ideological purity for loyalty reinforcing, reshaping identity using language control.
The other aspect of cults’ structure is the factors that make people stick to their cults or leave them. It has been found that the presence of cults in the social environment, like in the family for example, and the group dynamics that can be represented in facing difficulties in questioning the cult beliefs, and the emotional dependence like the existence of romantic and family ties inside the cult, Also manipulative factors are found in cults, which include reassuring experiences, and the feeling of guilt and the fear from humiliation, besides that, sometimes leaving the jobs or studies make the cult member isolated form their original communities with increase the possibility of staying in the cult. Now, in the case of leaving the cult, the factors are loss of faith, external support that includes social interventions and family support, and negative experiences (psychological abuse or conflicts in the leadership).
A Model that explains cults:
In the final section, let’s take a look at the psychological model that tries to explain cults. In this context, we will consider the most scientifically approved one, which is the BITE model of authoritarian control by Steven Hassan:
– The BITE model:
1. Behavioral control: regulating and controlling the daily routines, social life, sexual life, and all the details regarding their environment using methods like reward and punishment, and strict rules.
2. Information control: restricting and maintaining all the information resources, and encouraging in-group reporting by using propaganda, rigorous doctrine, and manipulating the identity of the members.
3. Thought control: forcing a complete and unquestionable absorption of the cult doctrine, adopting a black and white perspective, and rejecting critical thinking and rational analysis. To achieve this, cults use loaded language and teach thought-stopping techniques.
4, Emotional control: prohibiting unwanted emotions, blame shifting to the individual and never questioning the group or the leader, and instilling guilt and fear. This also includes creating emotional rollercoasters (humiliation vs love bombing) and abusing phobias as a tool for guaranteeing members not to leave the cult.
Conclusion:
Throughout this research, we examined the psychological foundation of why people join cults, the structure of them, including the nature of their leadership, and what the determinants are that make people stay inside them, and finally, we took a look at a comprehensive model that explains cult psychology from a broad perspective.
Resources:
Cowan, D. E., & Bromley, D. G. (2015). Cults and new religions: A brief history (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
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Dubrow-Marshall, R. P., & Dubrow-Marshall, L. (2016). Cults and mental health. In H. S. Friedman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Mental Health (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 393–397). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-397045-9.00153-1
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Hassan, S. (2024). The BITE model of authoritarian control. Freedom of Mind Resource Center. https://freedomofmind.com