how to become a cult leader: the social psychology of groups sue frantz psychology may 16, 2003

How to Become a Cult Leader:The Social Psychology of Groups

Sue FrantzPsychology

May 16, 2003

What is a Cult?

An organization operating on the fringes of society

“New Religious Movements”

• Faith Groups• High Demand Faith Groups• Destructive Cults

Create Your Own Social Reality

Choose something people already believe in and put your own spin on it.

Marshall Applewhite & Heaven’s Gate

Jim Jones & the People’s Temple

L. Ron Hubbard & Scientology

David Koresh & the Branch Davidians

Fred Phelps & the Westboro Baptist Church


Eliminate all sources of information except that provided by the cult.

Remote areaNo mass mediaLimited contact with people outside the organization


Provide a cult’s eye view of the world“Shirley Phelps-Roper, the attorney for the Westboro Baptist Church, explained that Rogers, as a Presbyterian minister with a television program, had a responsibility to comment on the issue. By not doing so, she explained that he was helping to promote homosexuality, which the group says falls into the category of ‘whoremongery and adultery, which will damn the soul forever in hell.’ She added that the support some Americans have given to homosexuals was the reason behind tragedies including the Sept. 11 attacks, the crash of the NASA shuttle Colombia (sic), and the nightclub fire in Rhode Island.

“‘You don't get to pretend to decide what form God takes,’ Phelps-Roper said. ‘He's the God who could have stopped the shuttle crash, the nightclub fire, but instead he sent those things. This country has forgotten God and effectively flipped him off, and Fred Rogers is in part responsible.’"

-- Daily Illini, March 20, 2003

Create Your Own Social RealityRegarding the Sept 11th attacks, Jerry Falwell said on the 700 Club:

"[T]he pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way — all of them who have tried to secularize America," Falwell continued, "I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

-- ABC News, Sept 14, 2001

"Throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools," he said. "The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad.


Keep repeating it.

“Fiction if heard frequently enough can come to sound like fact.”

-- Pratkanis & Aronson, Age of Propaganda

Use the Ingroup Bias

Initiation

Distinctive clothesChanged diet

Changed name

Send Your Members Out to Witness

Brings in new members

Reestablishes current members’ beliefs

How?

Cognitive Dissonance

Perform a boring task.

“Can you tell the next person how much you enjoyed it?”

IV: $1 vs. $20

DV: “So, how much did you really enjoy it?”

Those paid $1 found the task much more enjoyable than those paid $20. -- Festinger & Carlsmith (1959)


“This was really a lot of fun”

Why did I say that? It wasn’t really fun at all!

Cognitive dissonance! The thought doesn’t mesh with the behavior.


Am I liar? Nah! Not me!


I lied because they paid me $20. That’s a lot of $. I

was doing my job.

“The task really was BORING!”

Cognitive dissonance resolved!


They only paid me $1. Certainly I wouldn’t sell my soul for $1. So why did I

do it?

“The task really was ENJOYABLE!”


Cognitive Dissonance & Witnessing

Why did I say that? I really think that joining this organization was a bad idea...

“This organization is great! Join us!”


Am I liar? Nah! Not me!

Nobody forced me to say that, so why did I do it?

“This group really is GREAT!”



Create Commitment

Foot-in-the-door technique

IV: “Sign a petition supporting safe driving?” vs. no request

About 2 weeks later --

DV: “Can we place this large, ugly ‘Drive Safely’ sign in your front yard?”

Those who had signed the petition were 3 times more likely to agree to the second request. --Freedman & Fraser (1966)

Create Commitment

Foot-in-the-door technique as used by Scientology

Time Magazine, 1991

Create Commitment

Foot-in-the-door technique – continued

Time Magazine, 1991

Establish Leader’s Credibility and Attractiveness

L. Ron Hubbard is God

David Koresh is the second coming of Christ

Distract Members from Thinking “Unthinkable” Thoughts

Especially important for new members

Chanting

Singing

Meditation

Constant group interaction

Fixate Members’ Vision on a Phantom

It looks solid, but is never accomplished

“Better world for the faithful”

Doomsday has been moved to some future point

Recap

Create your own social realityUse the ingroup biasCreate commitmentEstablish leader’s credibility & attractivenessSend members out to witnessDistract members from thinking the

“unthinkable”Fixate members’ vision on a phantom

Further Reading

Pratkanis, A. & Aronson, E. (2001). Age of propaganda: The everyday use and abuse of persuasion, revised. Freeman.

Cialdini, R. (2000). Influence: Science and practice, 4th ed. Allyn & Bacon.

how to become a cult leader: the social psychology of groups sue frantz psychology may 16, 2003

Documents

organization slide

social reality

westboro baptist church

cult leader

peoples temple

branch davidians fred

mass media limited contact

remote area