Persuasion Of Cults

When inducing an individual to join a cult, many of the same persuasive techniques utilized by marketers and advertisers are also utilized by the recruiter. As humans, we have a plethora of fail-safe strategies and mental schemas to aid us in informed and logical decision making.; Hhowever, as humans, we have also logically figured out ways to bypass those fail-safes entirely. Initial persuasion, including for cults, hinges on the recruiter’s appearance of authority, honesty, and likeability. As Levine states, “[when] the source appears to have any or all of these characteristics, people not only are more willing to agree to their request but are willing to do so without carefully considering the facts. We assume we are on safe ground and are …show more content…
The first psychological cue that can be manipulated by cults is social proof. The cult existing in-and-of itself provides this proof. Surely no one would join a cult, so clearly all of these people together are here of their own logical accord, right? Wrong. Humans are social by nature and are, therefore, more likely to implicitly trust or believe in other established cohorts. Additionally, “[westerners] have a desire to both feel and be perceived to act consistently. Once we have made an initial commitment, it is more likely that we will agree to subsequent commitments that follow from the first (Levine, 2018).” When presented with groups that outwardly demonstrate the values we declare belief in, we may even be eager to align ourselves with them to bring our feelings and actions into congruence. The final, and possibly most manipulative, strategy employed by cults is the circumvention of natural reactance. As Levine explains, “[the] most effective way to circumvent psychological reactance is to first get a foot in the door and then escalate the demands so gradually that there is seemingly nothing to react against.” In this way an individual enters into the cult unawares, as so many psychological processes were skirted, thus allowing further psychological processes to be implemented to strengthen their …show more content…
When cohesiveness intensifies, members become more likely to accept the goals, decisions, and norms of the group without reservation. Conformity pressures also rise as members become reluctant to say or do anything that goes against the grain of the group, and the number of internal disagreements—necessary for good decision making—decreases (2018).” Cult members are often isolated from what is considered the outside world so that they do not question or rebuke the cult’s authority and do not attempt to realign their thinking with the larger populations. Once in this position, the group is likely to engage in discussion that praises whatever their agenda and further decreases an individual’s likelihood of questioning practices or