Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005, Page 101
dependent upon the collectivity to supply them. This sort of credulity and attachment
behavior is widespread among prisoners and hospital patients.
H6. The identification phase: The cognitive goal of the identification phase is to establish
imitative search for conviction and bring about the erosion of the habit of incredulity. The
emotional goal of the identification phase is to instill the habit of acting out through
attachment. Overall, at the completion of the identification phase, the individual has begun
the practice of relying on the collectivity for beliefs and for a cyclic emotional pattern of
arousal and comfort. But, at this point, this reliance is just one highly valued form of
existence. It is not yet viewed as an existential necessity.
H7. The symbolic death and rebirth phase: In the rebirth phase, the cognitive and the
emotional tracks come together and mutually support each other. This often gives the
individual a sense of having emerged from a tunnel and an experience of spiritual rebirth.
The cognitive goal of the rebirth phase is to establish a sense of ownership of (and pride of
ownership in) the new convictions. The emotional goal of the rebirth phase is to make a full
commitment to the new self that is no longer directly dependent upon hope of attachment
or fear of separation. Overall, at the completion of the rebirth phase, we may say that the
person has become a fully deployable agent of the charismatic leader. The brainwashing
process is complete.
H8 states that the brainwashing process results in a state of subjectively elevated exit
costs. These exit costs cannot, of course, be observed directly. But they can be inferred
from the behavioral state of panic or terror that arises in the individual at the possibility of
having his or her ties to the group discontinued. The cognitive and emotional states
produced by the brainwashing process together bring about a situation in which the
perceived exit costs for the individual increase sharply. This closes the trap for all but the
most highly motivated individuals and induces in many a state of uncritical obedience. As
soon as exit from the group (or even from its good graces) ceases to be a subjectively
palatable option, it makes sense for the individual to comply with almost anything the group
demands—even to the point of suicide in some instances. Borrowing from Sartre‘s insightful
play of that name, I refer to this situation as the ―no exit‖ syndrome. When demands for
compliance are particularly harsh, the hyper credulity aspect of the process sweetens the
pill somewhat by allowing the individual to accept uncritically the justifications offered by
the charismatic leader and/or charismatic organization for making these demands, however
farfetched these justifications might appear to an outside observer.
H9 states that the brainwashing process results in a state of ideological obedience in which
the individual has a strong tendency to comply with any behavioral demands made by the
collectivity, especially if motivated by the carrot of approval and the stick of threatened
expulsion, no matter how life threatening these demands may be and no matter how
repugnant such demands might have been to the individual in his or her pre-brainwashed
state.
H10 states that the brainwashing process results in increased deployability. Deployability
extends the range of ideological obedience in the temporal dimension. It states that the
response continues after the stimulus is removed. This hypothesis will be disconfirmed in
any cult within which members are uncritically obedient only while they are being
brainwashed but not thereafter. The effect need not be permanent, but it does need to
result in some measurable increase in deployability over time.
H11 states that the ability of the collectivity to rely on obedience without surveillance will
result in a measurable decrease in surveillance. Since surveillance involves costs, this
decrease will lead to a quantity S, where S equals the savings to the collectivity due to
diminished surveillance needs and should be measurable at least to an ordinal level.
dependent upon the collectivity to supply them. This sort of credulity and attachment
behavior is widespread among prisoners and hospital patients.
H6. The identification phase: The cognitive goal of the identification phase is to establish
imitative search for conviction and bring about the erosion of the habit of incredulity. The
emotional goal of the identification phase is to instill the habit of acting out through
attachment. Overall, at the completion of the identification phase, the individual has begun
the practice of relying on the collectivity for beliefs and for a cyclic emotional pattern of
arousal and comfort. But, at this point, this reliance is just one highly valued form of
existence. It is not yet viewed as an existential necessity.
H7. The symbolic death and rebirth phase: In the rebirth phase, the cognitive and the
emotional tracks come together and mutually support each other. This often gives the
individual a sense of having emerged from a tunnel and an experience of spiritual rebirth.
The cognitive goal of the rebirth phase is to establish a sense of ownership of (and pride of
ownership in) the new convictions. The emotional goal of the rebirth phase is to make a full
commitment to the new self that is no longer directly dependent upon hope of attachment
or fear of separation. Overall, at the completion of the rebirth phase, we may say that the
person has become a fully deployable agent of the charismatic leader. The brainwashing
process is complete.
H8 states that the brainwashing process results in a state of subjectively elevated exit
costs. These exit costs cannot, of course, be observed directly. But they can be inferred
from the behavioral state of panic or terror that arises in the individual at the possibility of
having his or her ties to the group discontinued. The cognitive and emotional states
produced by the brainwashing process together bring about a situation in which the
perceived exit costs for the individual increase sharply. This closes the trap for all but the
most highly motivated individuals and induces in many a state of uncritical obedience. As
soon as exit from the group (or even from its good graces) ceases to be a subjectively
palatable option, it makes sense for the individual to comply with almost anything the group
demands—even to the point of suicide in some instances. Borrowing from Sartre‘s insightful
play of that name, I refer to this situation as the ―no exit‖ syndrome. When demands for
compliance are particularly harsh, the hyper credulity aspect of the process sweetens the
pill somewhat by allowing the individual to accept uncritically the justifications offered by
the charismatic leader and/or charismatic organization for making these demands, however
farfetched these justifications might appear to an outside observer.
H9 states that the brainwashing process results in a state of ideological obedience in which
the individual has a strong tendency to comply with any behavioral demands made by the
collectivity, especially if motivated by the carrot of approval and the stick of threatened
expulsion, no matter how life threatening these demands may be and no matter how
repugnant such demands might have been to the individual in his or her pre-brainwashed
state.
H10 states that the brainwashing process results in increased deployability. Deployability
extends the range of ideological obedience in the temporal dimension. It states that the
response continues after the stimulus is removed. This hypothesis will be disconfirmed in
any cult within which members are uncritically obedient only while they are being
brainwashed but not thereafter. The effect need not be permanent, but it does need to
result in some measurable increase in deployability over time.
H11 states that the ability of the collectivity to rely on obedience without surveillance will
result in a measurable decrease in surveillance. Since surveillance involves costs, this
decrease will lead to a quantity S, where S equals the savings to the collectivity due to
diminished surveillance needs and should be measurable at least to an ordinal level.
