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In conversion, as in cognitive therapy, a person‘s fundamental assumptions change, and he
or she tries out new behaviors consistent with the new assumptions and finds them to work,
at least temporarily. Sometimes, before the conversion, the convert, like the therapy client,
is troubled and unhappy with how his or her life is going. But sometimes the convert‘s life is
working just fine. What causes the change?
There is no simple answer to this question because there are many types of conversion,
involving many types of people, coming from many types of circumstances. Hence, in what
follows, I make no claim to explain all conversions. I merely hope to illuminate some.
I believe that, as with the cognitive-therapy client, personal experiences, particularly
compelling inner experiences, are often the dominant factor in changing fundamental
assumptions. These inner experiences may be engineered, as is sometimes the case with
certain large, group-awareness trainings or the classic Moonie Booneville weekend. They
may sometimes be a reaction to seemingly paranormal actions of a guru or other person
claiming some kind of divine mandate, such as Sai Baba‘s appearing to make objects
materialize out of thin air. Sometimes, the process of reevaluating one‘s fundamental
assumptions may be stimulated by the experience of meeting a person who operates under
a radically different set of assumptions and who appears to have achieved an enviable level
of happiness or inner peace.
Once such experiences cause us to reorder, or begin reordering, our fundamental
assumptions, the natural human tendency to be logically consistent drives us, over time, to
reconsider and, if necessary, rearrange our peripheral beliefs and behaviors to make them
more consistent with the new assumptions we are embracing. Such a process may be
intellectually and emotionally challenging, so it is not surprising that we will reach out to
others for support and guidance. In highly manipulative groups, somebody is always waiting
in the wing to make sure that one draws the ―correct‖ conclusions from the compelling
experience that elicited the reevaluation process. In less high-pressure, more ethical
groups, members may encourage a prospective convert to think carefully about the new
belief system in private and over a period of time. A Franciscan priest, for example, once
told me that novices were encouraged to spend a year ―in the world‖ before taking their
vows, to make sure that their vow-taking truly reflected an inner calling and wasn‘t merely
a superficial response to psychological needs.
In some cultic groups it is not unusual for a person to go through the following stages:
 Prospective converts perceive the leader as having some special ability or charisma
(he reads minds he heals people he induces altered states of consciousness in
people) that triggers a powerful inner experience (e.g., of the leader‘s spiritual
―presence‖), which in turn causes them to reconsider their assumptions about the
world, self, and others.
 The leader‘s minions, who become aware of prospects‘ openness to their belief
system, will, frequently with much genuine concern and sincerity, do what they can
to ensure that they make the ―correct‖ interpretation of those experiences.
 Prospects come to accept, at least provisionally, the fundamental assumptions, what
I have sometimes called the ―ruling propositions‖ on which the group is based—e.g.,
guru is God incarnate, pastor Bob is a modern-day prophet, Sister Veronica is God‘s
messenger. The leader and/or group thus come to have a high level of credibility and
authority for the prospect.
 Prospects yield to these pressures, whether they be mild or strong, and reach a point
at which they implicitly if not explicitly declare, ―I believe!‖ The initial declaration is
usually directed at the ruling propositions, e.g., ―guru is God incarnate.‖ Prospects
are now converts.

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 47
 Converts rearrange their peripheral beliefs and behaviors to make them more
consistent with the new set of assumptions and their derivative peripheral beliefs and
behaviors. Again, these actions frequently are accompanied by varying degrees of
social guidance and/or pressure. For example, accepting that ―guru is God‖ implies
obeying guru, even if his orders make no sense (―Whom am I to question God?‖).
 Converts become comfortable with the new set of beliefs and behaviors and begin to
live according to them.
 Other group members, sometimes without realizing it, provide rewards and
punishments that tend to strengthen new converts‘ loyalty to the group.
 Converts become aware of inconsistencies, contradictions, abuses, or failed
predictions within the group or organization.
 Normal cognitive dissonance processes combined with group pressures cause the
member to search for rationalizations to explain away these disturbing discrepancies.
 So many disturbing discrepancies accumulate that, as one ex-member put it, the
shelf of rationalization on which they were placed collapses.
 Members once again begin to reconsider fundamental assumptions only this time
they reconsider the assumptions, the ruling propositions, of the group to which they
had claimed allegiance, sometimes for many years. Support from family, friends, or
professionals can sometimes facilitate such reevaluation and a decision to leave the
group.
This process can sometimes be painfully disillusioning to group members or former group
members, who may be reluctant to ―trust,‖ to attribute credibility to future spiritual
experiences (Lucas, 2003). Although models that stress manipulation may apply to some
such cases, they do not necessarily apply. And even when they do, the individual‘s inner
experiences, which affect what he or she believes, are likely to have had a profound
impact. This impact and its implications should be addressed when trying to help former
group members adjust to life outside the group.
References
Ansbacher, H., &Ansbacher, R. (Eds.). (1979). Superiority and social interest: A collection
of later writings [of Alfred Adler], 3rd revised edition. New York: Norton.
Beck, A. T. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guilford Press.
Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. (1971). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ellis, A., &Harper, R.A. (1975). A new guide to rational living. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Lucas, P. (2003). Spiritual harm in new religions: Reflections on interviews with former
members of NRMs. Cultic Studies Review (1) – www.culticstudiesreview.org.
Zablocki, B. (2001). Towards a demystified and disinterested scientific theory of
brainwashing. In B. Zablocki &T. Robbins (Eds.), Misunderstanding cults: Searching
for objectivity in a controversial field, pp. 159-214. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press.
This material was originally prepared for a presentation at AFF‘s annual conference, June
14-15, 2002, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Orlando (FL) Airport.
This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Review, 2003, Volume 2,
Number 2, pages 169-177. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the
bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.