10 Things to Know About the Psychology of Cults Both terrifying and utterly fascinating, cults have a tendency to capture the attention of just about everyone. Questions abound: Where do these people come from? What are they really doing inside those secluded compounds? Most interesting, perhaps, are the psychological components of cult life, questions such as: Who in the world would fall for that? In an effort to answer these questions and more, we’ve listed 10 things to know about the psychology of cults. Cults are attractive because they promote an illusion of comfort. Humans desire comfort, and in a fearful and uncertain world many turn to cults because they tend to promote exactly that. Jon-Patrik Pedersen, a psychologist at CalTech, has pointed out that cult leaders often make promises that are totally unattainable, but also offered by no other group in society. Such things might include financial security, total health, constant peace of mind, and eternal life — the things every human desires at the deepest level. Cults satisfy the human desire for absolute answers. Today’s world is a tough one, with more abstract issues than there are issues that are black and white. As Dr. Adrian Furnham describes in Psychology Today , humans crave clarity. Many people join cults because they believe they’re being offered solid, absolute answers for questions such as good vs. evil, religion, the meaning of life, politics, etc. Many cult leaders promote messages that are simple and seem to make sense, the exact opposite of what we’re often provided with in typical, everyday life. Those with low self-esteem are more likely to be persuaded by a cult environment. People are often surprised to learn that those who join cults are, for the most part, average people. They come from all backgrounds, all zip codes, and all tax brackets. But research done in the past two decades has found an interesting pattern: many people successfully recruited by cults are said to have low self-esteem. Cults generally do not look to recruit those with certain handicaps or clinical depression. However, people with low self-esteem are easier to break down, then build back up in an effort to teach them that the cult is the supportive environment they’re looking for. New recruits are “love bombed.” Once people have been recruited by a cult, they are often “love bombed.” This odd phrase is commonly used to describe the ways in which someone with low self-esteem is consistently flattered, complimented, and seduced in order to train their brain to associate the cult with love and acceptance. Women are more likely than men to join a cult. According to various research, women make up a whopping 70% of cult members around the globe. Psychologists have different ideas about why more women than men join cults. Dr. David Bromley of Virginia Commonwealth University points out that women simply attend more social gatherings, either religious or otherwise. This makes wom.

1. 10 Things to Know About the Psychology of Cults
Both terrifying and utterly fascinating, cults have a tendency to
capture the attention of just about everyone. Questions abound:
Where do these people come from? What are they really doing
inside those secluded compounds? Most interesting, perhaps,
are the psychological components of cult life, questions such as:
Who in the world would fall for that? In an effort to answer
these questions and more, we’ve listed 10 things to know about
the psychology of cults.
Cults are attractive because they promote an illusion of comfort.
Humans desire comfort, and in a fearful and uncertain world
many turn to cults because they tend to promote exactly that.
Jon-Patrik Pedersen, a psychologist at CalTech, has pointed out
that cult leaders often make promises that are totally
unattainable, but also offered by no other group in society. Such
things might include financial security, total health, constant
peace of mind, and eternal life — the things every human
desires at the deepest level.
Cults satisfy the human desire for absolute answers.
Today’s world is a tough one, with more abstract issues than
there are issues that are black and white. As Dr. Adrian
Furnham describes in
Psychology Today
, humans crave clarity. Many people join cults because they
believe they’re being offered solid, absolute answers for
questions such as good vs. evil, religion, the meaning of life,
politics, etc. Many cult leaders promote messages that are

2. simple and seem to make sense, the exact opposite of what
we’re often provided with in typical, everyday life.
Those with low self-esteem are more likely to be persuaded by a
cult environment.
People are often surprised to learn that those who join cults are,
for the most part, average people. They come from all
backgrounds, all zip codes, and all tax brackets. But research
done in the past two decades has found an interesting pattern:
many people successfully recruited by cults are said to have low
self-esteem. Cults generally do not look to recruit those with
certain handicaps or clinical depression. However, people with
low self-esteem are easier to break down, then build back up in
an effort to teach them that the cult is the supportive
environment they’re looking for.
New recruits are “love bombed.”
Once people have been recruited by a cult, they are often “love
bombed.” This odd phrase is commonly used to describe the
ways in which someone with low self-esteem is consistently
flattered, complimented, and seduced in order to train their
brain to associate the cult with love and acceptance.
Women are more likely than men to join a cult.
According to various research, women make up a whopping
70% of cult members around the globe. Psychologists have
different ideas about why more women than men join cults. Dr.

3. David Bromley of Virginia Commonwealth University points
out that women simply attend more social gatherings, either
religious or otherwise. This makes women statistically more
likely to join groups that will ultimately victimize them. Others
suggest it has to do with the fact that women have been
oppressed for much of human history. Therefore they’re more
comfortable being under an authority figure. Still others write
this off as total crock. Emma Cline, the author of the bestselling
cult-themed novel
The Girls
theorizes that young women are often taught to seek the
attention of men and to wait for “rescue.” Joining a cult, says
Cline, is a way for many young women to feel as if they are
“seizing their destiny.”
Many cult members have rejected religion.
Dr. Stanley H. Cath, a psychoanalyst and psychology professor
at Tufts University, has treated more than 60 former cult
members over the course of his career. From this unique
firsthand experience, Cath has noticed an interesting trend:
many people who join cults have experienced religion at some
point in their lives, and rejected it. Perhaps this is surprising,
considering many cults tend to be religious — or at least claim
to be. But Dr. Cath asserts that this trend is a sign of something
deeper. Many of those who join cults are intelligent young
people from sheltered environments. Growing up in such an
environment, says Dr. Cath, often means that “many have a
history of failing to achieve intimacy, of blaming others for
their failures, and of constantly striving for perfectionistic
goals.” These characteristics make them prime targets for cult
recruitment.

4. Cults maintain their power by promoting an “us vs. them”
mentality.
Cults prove powerful because they are able to successfully
isolate members from their former, non-cult lives. One of the
ways cult leaders achieve this is to convince their followers that
they are superior to those not in the cult. This “us vs. them”
mentality ultimately leads to cult members isolating themselves
socially from friends and family. They replace those
relationships with new ones inside the cult.
Cult leaders are masters at mind control.
Cult leaders convince their victims to separate themselves from
society, give up personal possessions and sometimes huge sums
of money. They convince people buy into whatever they are
promoting. To do all this a cult leader must be a master at mind
control. Ways in which leaders gain control over cult members
vary, but some popular methods include:
Public Humiliation:
New cult members may be “love bombed” shortly after their
arrival, but once they are established members, cult leaders
often maintain emotional control through various exercises
meant to publicly humiliate a member. One such method
involves someone sitting in a chair surrounded by other
members, at which time they are required to admit their recent
failures, base thoughts, shortcomings, etc.
Self Incrimination:

5. A favorite tactic of the infamous cult leader Jim Jones, self
incrimination requires cult members to provide their leader with
written statements detailing their individual fears and mistakes.
The cult leader can then use these statements to shame
individual members publicly.
Brainwashing:: Cult leaders are known to repeat various lies
and distortions until members find it difficult to distinguish
between reality and cult life.
Paranoia:
To maintain a false sense of comfort, cults often rely on
paranoia tactics. Cult leaders convince their victims that a
group, their families, and/or the government is out to get them,
but that the cult can provide safety. Once a cult member comes
to the conclusion that their families and country cannot keep
them safe, they begin to worship and put all of their faith in
their cult leader. Jim Jones was especially skilled at this mind-
control trick. He would encourage members to spy on each
other, and consistently spoke through loudspeakers at all hours
of the day so that cult members would hear his voice whether
awake or asleep.
Cult members often have no idea they’re in a cult.
Although it can be obvious to those around them, people in
cults often don’t realize what they have become a part of.
Psychologist Dr. Margaret Thaler Singer spent most of her
career studying the psychology of cults and brainwashing. She
found that most people enter a cult willingly, without realizing
the power it is bound to have over them. Singer theorizes that
this is partly because some people are more willing to see the

6. perceived benefits than they are the potential dangers. She also
mentions that many people assume cults are only religious,
though in truth, cults can also be political groups, lifestyle
groups, or business groups.
Cult life can have a dangerous and lasting effect.
Cult victims often spend years overcoming the emotional
damage incurred during their time spent in a cult. Psychologists
who treat former cult members routinely describe the long-term
effects being in a cult environment can have on the human body.
Dr. John G. Clark, Jr., is a Harvard psychiatry professor and the
co-founder of a non-profit group which treats former members
and their families. He specifically mentions that the “symptoms
of temporal lobe epilepsy are similar to those seen or reported
as resulted from cult conversions: increased irritability, loss of
libido or altered sexual interest, ritualism, compulsive attention
to detail, mystical states, humorlessness and sobriety,
heightened paranoia.”
Read the following article about the psychology of cults. When
you think of joining a cult, perhaps you think of some of the
more extreme examples you read or heard about: The Branch
Davidians, The Manson Family, Heaven's Gate, ect.
What social psychological factors may be playing a role in cult
behavior both on the part of the members and the leader?
Review the above-linked article on the conditions that lead
people to join cults. Then answer:
1) What makes a person especially susceptible to psychological
manipulation?

7. 2) What groups (or institutions or policies or social trends) can
you name in Western life today that apply cultic methods and
techniques to unduly influence behavior and suppress freedom?
3) According to Margaret Singer, the effects of brainwashing
are very often reversible. What can ordinary citizens do to help
Americans – and especially students – keep their minds free of
undue influence?