Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, 1998, page 38
information that he does not know will be used against him. The new belief system is
internalized into a new identity structure‖ (Hassan, 1988, pp. 55, 56).
The subtlety of mind-control is the key to its effectiveness, and ―love bombing‖ is one key to
its subtlety the overwhelming ―friendliness‖ of the cult recruiter tends to disengage the
potential recruit‘s defenses, catching him off guard, and luring him into the net. Despite the
ridicule expressed by the Passantinos and others, the fact is that some contemporary cults
are indeed able to control members more effectively than did the CIA and other intelligence
agencies.
If those who heap ridicule on this assertion studied the early ―brainwashing‖ literature more
closely they might understand that their criticism is unfounded because it is based on the
false assumption that early instances of brainwashing depended on physical coercion. On
the contrary, much of the early brainwashing literature concerned situations involving
civilians. Chen (1960), for example, amply documents that half a million Chinese Christians
signed pledges of allegiance to Mao. (Was it mere coincidence that so many ―weak-willed‖
Christians happened to live in China at that time?) Lifton‘s best-known research dealt with
the effects of thought reform practiced in Chinese Communist revolutionary colleges (Lifton,
1961). There was no physical restraint or confinement in those environments. There was
very little overt coercion, and yet there was massive thought reform. Schein and his
colleagues also found that the Communists effectively used thought reform without using
physical restraint or coercion (Schein, Schneir, &Barker, 1961). In fact, Segal (1957)
demonstrated that there was an inverse correlation between threat and physical abuse and
the degree of compliance on the part of American POWs in Korea. Testifying before a
congressional panel, he stated that ―70 percent of all the repatriated Army PW‘s [sic] made
at least one contribution to the enemy‘s propaganda effort (p.89).‖
The Passantinos, Bromley and Shupe, and others have misunderstood the mind-control
model in a fundamental and vital way. Bromley and Shupe, for example, ridicule what they
describe as claims that ―such rapid transformation can routinely be accomplished by
neophytes against an individual‘s will‖ (Bromley and Shupe, 1989, pp. 325, 326). But this is
a patently false representation of mind-control models, even some of the less sophisticated
models. The transformation that cults bring about is not against an individual‘s will. He no
longer sees things as he once did, he does not have adequate information to make an
informed choice, and he has been manipulated emotionally to make the choice presented to
him by the cult. The cult recruit is brought to the point where he either gives up his own will
in order to be taught and directed by someone (the cult leader) who knows better than he,
or he ―wills‖ what the leader wants because the member‘s perceptions and judgments have
been changed as a result of a series of manipulations. As former Children of God member
Rick Seelhoff said in ―Thy Will Be Done‖ (Moore, 1980). ―I wanted to put myself over onto
someone that knew better than I did ...I willed to not will.‖
The authors dismiss hypnosis as a factor in cult involvement in toto. They miss an important
point in their own references. In their notes (p. 40, n., 5) the Passantinos quote the
Encyclopaedia Britannica:
Altogether then hypnosis should not be considered as a technique for
achieving supernormal performance or control. Rather it is a collaborative
enterprise in which the inner experience of the subject can be dramatically
altered (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Macropaedia, and Vol. 9).
The dramatic alteration of inner experience is precisely what cults hope to effect by their
efforts. A predictable internal experience can be induced on willing participants, and then
cosmic, supernatural, or spiritual significance can be ascribed to it. Thus, what is actually a
physiological process takes on a cosmic perspective. This is essentially what Lifton called
―mystical manipulation.‖
information that he does not know will be used against him. The new belief system is
internalized into a new identity structure‖ (Hassan, 1988, pp. 55, 56).
The subtlety of mind-control is the key to its effectiveness, and ―love bombing‖ is one key to
its subtlety the overwhelming ―friendliness‖ of the cult recruiter tends to disengage the
potential recruit‘s defenses, catching him off guard, and luring him into the net. Despite the
ridicule expressed by the Passantinos and others, the fact is that some contemporary cults
are indeed able to control members more effectively than did the CIA and other intelligence
agencies.
If those who heap ridicule on this assertion studied the early ―brainwashing‖ literature more
closely they might understand that their criticism is unfounded because it is based on the
false assumption that early instances of brainwashing depended on physical coercion. On
the contrary, much of the early brainwashing literature concerned situations involving
civilians. Chen (1960), for example, amply documents that half a million Chinese Christians
signed pledges of allegiance to Mao. (Was it mere coincidence that so many ―weak-willed‖
Christians happened to live in China at that time?) Lifton‘s best-known research dealt with
the effects of thought reform practiced in Chinese Communist revolutionary colleges (Lifton,
1961). There was no physical restraint or confinement in those environments. There was
very little overt coercion, and yet there was massive thought reform. Schein and his
colleagues also found that the Communists effectively used thought reform without using
physical restraint or coercion (Schein, Schneir, &Barker, 1961). In fact, Segal (1957)
demonstrated that there was an inverse correlation between threat and physical abuse and
the degree of compliance on the part of American POWs in Korea. Testifying before a
congressional panel, he stated that ―70 percent of all the repatriated Army PW‘s [sic] made
at least one contribution to the enemy‘s propaganda effort (p.89).‖
The Passantinos, Bromley and Shupe, and others have misunderstood the mind-control
model in a fundamental and vital way. Bromley and Shupe, for example, ridicule what they
describe as claims that ―such rapid transformation can routinely be accomplished by
neophytes against an individual‘s will‖ (Bromley and Shupe, 1989, pp. 325, 326). But this is
a patently false representation of mind-control models, even some of the less sophisticated
models. The transformation that cults bring about is not against an individual‘s will. He no
longer sees things as he once did, he does not have adequate information to make an
informed choice, and he has been manipulated emotionally to make the choice presented to
him by the cult. The cult recruit is brought to the point where he either gives up his own will
in order to be taught and directed by someone (the cult leader) who knows better than he,
or he ―wills‖ what the leader wants because the member‘s perceptions and judgments have
been changed as a result of a series of manipulations. As former Children of God member
Rick Seelhoff said in ―Thy Will Be Done‖ (Moore, 1980). ―I wanted to put myself over onto
someone that knew better than I did ...I willed to not will.‖
The authors dismiss hypnosis as a factor in cult involvement in toto. They miss an important
point in their own references. In their notes (p. 40, n., 5) the Passantinos quote the
Encyclopaedia Britannica:
Altogether then hypnosis should not be considered as a technique for
achieving supernormal performance or control. Rather it is a collaborative
enterprise in which the inner experience of the subject can be dramatically
altered (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Macropaedia, and Vol. 9).
The dramatic alteration of inner experience is precisely what cults hope to effect by their
efforts. A predictable internal experience can be induced on willing participants, and then
cosmic, supernatural, or spiritual significance can be ascribed to it. Thus, what is actually a
physiological process takes on a cosmic perspective. This is essentially what Lifton called
―mystical manipulation.‖
