Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1986 Page 24
a victim, the choices that will be required at some future point are never described by the
inductor, and the end toward which the inductee is being directed remains hidden.
When analyzing the process through which people are drawn into thought reforming high
control organizations, it would be a grave mistake to lose sight of a basic fact. For the
inductee, the experience is novel, and therefore decisions will reflect only the person‘s past
history and current circumstances. The induction system, however, can be thought of as a
strategy that evolved with the benefits of trial-and-error learning and experience at leading
people to make certain choices. The inductee interacts with an environment designed to
succeed, given decisions that are to be expected from a normal person under definable
circumstances. If the system has been well-managed, it win have profited from experience
and incorporated into itself ploys which have in the past been successful, and it will have
developed replies to the expected objections offered by those being processed.
Satyr structured Eve‘s environment to limit her choices. As long as she believed Satyr to
be sincere, his early demands seemed reasonable. Once she allowed him to influence
her, she came to believe that she had no choice but to continue. Satyr‘s crucial tactic
was to risk a small problem in order to test Eve‘s willingness to tolerate more extreme
impropriety. Once he succeeded in getting her to subordinate her judgment of right and
wrong about the physical contact that occurred when he slapped her, Satyr effectively
established control over the alternatives from which Eve would choose for the next two
years.
Notes
1. A fictitious name.
2. A fictitious name.
3. A fictitious name.
4. The information reported in this paper is based on interviews with Eve, her husband, and
others involved directly with the cult, or with their close relatives.
5. A fictitious name.
6. A ―naturalistic‖ trance induction refers to a method for inducing a hypnotic state without
the prior announcement that the state is being induced. For further discussion see Erickson,
1958 Rossi, 1980 and Spiegel and Spiegel. 1980.
7. Satyr mentioned that he had extensively studied various modem methods of psychology.
He identified one ―school‖ that he had studied intensively. The name of the method meant
nothing to Eve. The program which Satyr identified is a commercial ―Mind Development‖
program that trains customers in self-hypnosis. The program operators claim that by
following their procedures, customers will acquire extra-sensory abilities, the ability to do
psychic healing, and the capacity generally to attain enhanced mental functioning.
References
Ayalla, M. (1985). Insane therapy: A case study of the social organization of a
psychotherapy cult. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
Erickson, M. H. (1958). Naturalistic techniques of hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical
Hypnosis, 1, 3-8.
Ofshe, R. (1980). The social development of the Synanon cult The managerial strategy of
organizational transformation. Sociological Analysis, 41, 109- 127.
Ofshe, R. &Chrismm, K. (1986). Two-process theory: a model of behavior production. In A.
Harris (Ed.), Rationality and collective behavior. New York: Ablex.
a victim, the choices that will be required at some future point are never described by the
inductor, and the end toward which the inductee is being directed remains hidden.
When analyzing the process through which people are drawn into thought reforming high
control organizations, it would be a grave mistake to lose sight of a basic fact. For the
inductee, the experience is novel, and therefore decisions will reflect only the person‘s past
history and current circumstances. The induction system, however, can be thought of as a
strategy that evolved with the benefits of trial-and-error learning and experience at leading
people to make certain choices. The inductee interacts with an environment designed to
succeed, given decisions that are to be expected from a normal person under definable
circumstances. If the system has been well-managed, it win have profited from experience
and incorporated into itself ploys which have in the past been successful, and it will have
developed replies to the expected objections offered by those being processed.
Satyr structured Eve‘s environment to limit her choices. As long as she believed Satyr to
be sincere, his early demands seemed reasonable. Once she allowed him to influence
her, she came to believe that she had no choice but to continue. Satyr‘s crucial tactic
was to risk a small problem in order to test Eve‘s willingness to tolerate more extreme
impropriety. Once he succeeded in getting her to subordinate her judgment of right and
wrong about the physical contact that occurred when he slapped her, Satyr effectively
established control over the alternatives from which Eve would choose for the next two
years.
Notes
1. A fictitious name.
2. A fictitious name.
3. A fictitious name.
4. The information reported in this paper is based on interviews with Eve, her husband, and
others involved directly with the cult, or with their close relatives.
5. A fictitious name.
6. A ―naturalistic‖ trance induction refers to a method for inducing a hypnotic state without
the prior announcement that the state is being induced. For further discussion see Erickson,
1958 Rossi, 1980 and Spiegel and Spiegel. 1980.
7. Satyr mentioned that he had extensively studied various modem methods of psychology.
He identified one ―school‖ that he had studied intensively. The name of the method meant
nothing to Eve. The program which Satyr identified is a commercial ―Mind Development‖
program that trains customers in self-hypnosis. The program operators claim that by
following their procedures, customers will acquire extra-sensory abilities, the ability to do
psychic healing, and the capacity generally to attain enhanced mental functioning.
References
Ayalla, M. (1985). Insane therapy: A case study of the social organization of a
psychotherapy cult. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
Erickson, M. H. (1958). Naturalistic techniques of hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical
Hypnosis, 1, 3-8.
Ofshe, R. (1980). The social development of the Synanon cult The managerial strategy of
organizational transformation. Sociological Analysis, 41, 109- 127.
Ofshe, R. &Chrismm, K. (1986). Two-process theory: a model of behavior production. In A.
Harris (Ed.), Rationality and collective behavior. New York: Ablex.
