Why Individuals Conform to Cult Behavior Jesse A. G. Oakes Social Psychology ~ Fisher College Why Individuals Conform to Cult Behavior When answering the question why and how do individuals conform to cult behavior, one will perhaps better understand this scenario along with how it takes place by remembering and referring to the fundamentals of persuasion. Accomplished through not only the Central Route of persuasion, containing the critical content, but also the Peripheral Route lending
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Conformity To Cult Behavior In the early 1960s, psychologists in the United States interviewed several U.S. soldiers and American Prisoners of War returning home from combat against North Korea. Their main focus in particular were on those who had suffered an extreme change in their personality. These young soldiers had experienced being brainwashed under the communists. Psychologist have later realized that people involved in cults may have experienced similar psychological changes. Cult leaders
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Question: "What is the difference between a sect and a cult?" Answer: The word sect comes from the Latin word secta, which means “school of thought.” It is a subjective term that may apply to a religious faith or denomination, or it may refer to a heretical splinter group. Sometimes, the connotation is one of disapproval, similar to the “destructive heresies” spoken of in 2 Peter 2:1, though there are no consistent or accepted exemplars to use to identify a sect. Sects are found in all religions
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repair, but in the wrong hands it can destroy, it all depends on the intention and moral judgments of the user. My purpose for writing this book is to shine a light on those who choose to use these transformative tools for their own personal gain. Cults, are just some of the organizations which use countless techniques to get its members to commit themselves and take part in what may be harmful activities. The sum of these techniques constitutes what many professionals have come to call “Repatterning
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Cults are intriguing and arouse curiosity in the minds of people who have accepted life in society and joined humanity the way it is. It is amazing to think that people leave their life of normalcy to put their trust in something that is alien but promises them something in return or will save their souls from whatever will harm them. There are many causes that affect people s minds to make them join cults. Cults are very promising, can be very eye-opening, and may be the only option left for some
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personal religious commitment and sect and cult formation. The German scholars Max Weber and Ernst Troeltsch were pioneers with regard to the relationships between sect and church membership, and social class and status group. In The Social Sources of Denominationalism (Holt 1929), H. Richard Niebuhr saw sects as the "churches of the disinherited"; because of their lack of economic and political power, the less privileged needed religion most, and sects and cults could provide their members with compensation
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Candace T. Cults: A Dangerous Devotion “The most dangerous lie is that which most closely resembles the truth” - Jan Groenveld This quote above is by Jan Groenveld an Australian who has her own experiences as a former member of the LDS Church which deals with Mormonism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses and was featured in Richard Guilliatt’s book Talk of the Devil. Her definition of a cult is any group that has a pyramid type authoritative figure with all teachings and guidance coming from
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to learn subjects such as, what are the forms of salvation within the religion and how does the religion address the problem of evil. When looki ng at different websites the first thing that popped up when searching for Heaven’s Gate was the word cult and that’s exactly what I thought about for the group because it reminded me of exactly that. I find it really hard to think of the group as a serious religion since many of them took their own life when I am a Christian and believe strongly against
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a different set of rules and principles. For practical reasons, a cult or sect is sometimes defined as `any religious group with a distinctive worldview of its own derived from, but not identical with, the teachings of a major world religion. As we are speaking here of special groups which usually pose a threat to people's freedom and to society in general, cults and sects have also been characterized as possessing a number of distinctive features. These often are
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type of organization called a cult. A cult by is an organization that uses intensive indoctrination techniques to recruit and maintain members into a totalist ideology (Crawley 1). Almost everyone is susceptible to the influence of a cult and members are usually intelligent and idealistic. Typically associated with unorthodox religious groups, the definition of a cult can pertain to any group, including military organizations, governments, families, or companies. Cults instill and maintain unwavering
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