Inside a cult
Index
S.No Topic Pg.No
what is a cult? 7
1
Sub topic - Prehistoric cult 8
2
Sub topic - 20th Century cult 9
3
Why people join cults and 10
4 why they stay
Management of cult 14
5
Observational method 17
6
Survey research 19
7
conclusion 21
8
Additional Information 22
9
Bibliography 23
10
INTRODUCTION ABOUT CULTS-THEORETICAL
ASPECTS
What is a cult?
“You remain the hero of your own story even when you
become the villain of someone else’s.”
-Anthony Marra
The term “cult” refers to a group of people that follow concepts and actions that are
deemed abnormal and not in line with social norms; usually, it is headed by a charismatic
leader who exercises strict control over its members.
Cults come in a wide variety, each concentrating on a distinct set of principles or objectives.
These are only a handful of broad categories:
Doomsday cults: Some groups gather together in preparations for the allegedly near end of
the world.
Religious cults: The foundation of many cults is derived from spiritual ideas. While some
cults provide fresh beliefs and principles, others have evolved out of mainstream faiths.
Sex cults: All types of cults might have a component of sexual abuse, but some focus on sex
as one of their primary functions.
Political cults: Cults can emerge from both left- and right-wing political organizations.
“Ja dem Führer" ("Yes to the
Leader", referring to state
and party Leader Adolf
Hitler), a Nazi slogan banner
outside of a school building
in Fürth for the 1934
German referendum.
Dating in the 1920s, during
the early years of the Nazi
Party, Adolf Hitler's cult of
personality was a defining
characteristic of Nazi
Germany (1933–1945). Built upon the Führerprinzip ideology—which holds that the leader
is always correct—and supported by constant Nazi propaganda.
Sub Topic – Prehistoric Cults
Human Sacrifice
Cults have roots in prehistoric times when practices such as offering sacrifices to gods—
humans, animals, etc.—were regarded as religions.
Human sacrifice is a particularly significant topic in this case. Frequently, animal sacrifice and
cannibalism were connected to human sacrifice. Victims identified in ritual remains include
women and children, occasionally with young pigs as well. These victims are particularly
common. It is known that early Mediterranean cultures engaged in agricultural and fertility
ceremonies, which are comparable to this tradition. It is comparable to the beliefs and
customs of contemporary "primitive" agrarian peoples, where pigs are frequently used in
place of humans in ceremonies, initiation rites, feasts for the dead, and secret society rituals.
It is also comparable to ideas about fertility, particularly as they relate to the development
and maturation of managed plants.
Cimbrian seeresses performing human
sacrifice, from Germania by Johannes
Scherr.
Among the Germanic peoples, human
sacrifice was rare and only used in
extreme circumstances brought on by
social or environmental crises (war,
drought, famine, or crop failure), which
were often believed to have their roots in
the king's inability to establish or uphold
prosperity and peace (árs ok friðar) in the
lands entrusted to him. Human sacrifice
seems to have become more
institutionalized in later Scandinavian
practice, and it was carried out
sporadically as a component of greater
sacrifices (every nine years, according to
Adam of Bremen).
When Adam of Bremen wrote about the Temple at Gamla Uppsala in Sweden in the
eleventh century, it was said that both human and animal sacrifices were performed there.
He documented that in the ninth year, a sacred grove held the bodies of nine men and nine
animals, each of which was sacrificed.
Sub Topic- 20th century cult
Peoples Temple Cult Incident
Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of the Peoples Temple who is remembered for organizing
the mass suicide of over 900 Americans, was born in rural Indiana in 1931. In the 1950s, he
became a self-ordained Christian preacher and established his church, Peoples Temple, in
Indianapolis in 1955. Jones based his religion on progressive values. Jones pushed for racial
fairness and socialist ideas, while the congregation was racially integrated, provided free
meals and legal aid, supported substance abuse treatment, and built homes for the elderly.
Jones transferred the group to Northern California in 1965, later moving to San Francisco.
With his charming personality, Jones became highly popular, not just among members but
with politicians too, as he persuaded people to vote for Democratic political candidates. He
also donated a significant amount of money to various charities. Jones' attractive nature
made him famous not just among members, but also with politicians since he convinced
them to vote for Democratic political candidates. He also donated a large sum of money to
several charities.
People Temple Logo
However, as people began to leave Peoples Temple,
they revealed what was going on behind the scenes—
members were frequently compelled to give up their
property and abused. In 1974, Jones relocated the
Peoples Temple to "Jonestown" in Guyana's jungles,
creating an agricultural "utopia" in response to public
criticism. Members of the commune worked long,
grueling days and suffered from severe tropical
diseases, while armed guards patrolled the Jonestown
compound. Jones' paranoia and drug addiction
intensified as he was subjected to censored letters
and phone calls, as well as bogus suicide drills.
California Congressman Leo Ryan visited Jonestown to examine claims of forced detention.
He arrived with a group of reporters, who were invited to dinner that evening. On November
18, 1978, Ryan, three journalists, and a defector were attacked and shot during their escape
attempt. Jones led 909 followers in a mass suicide by swallowing cyanide-laced Flavor Aid
(mislabeled as Kool-Aid) as guards encircled the pavilion, anticipating an investigation.
Meanwhile, Jones shot himself in the head. Guyanese officials would discover the aftermath
the following day.
Deep Dive into People’s minds
Why People join Cults and why They stay
“Often, it’s not about becoming a new person, but becoming the person you were meant to
be, and already are, but don’t know how to be.”
-Heath L.Buckmaster
Why do people join and remain in cults? The answer to this question lies in the basic
psychological needs that all humans share. The Self Determination Theory, developed by
Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, states that people have three basic psychological demands.
They are:
(i) a sense of autonomy
(ii) a sense of competence
(iii) a feeling of relatedness — sometimes described as belonging.
Autonomy
A key characteristic of cults is their suppression of individual autonomy. They exert control
over members' thoughts, behaviors, relationships, and even basic needs like eating and
sleeping. This lack of freedom leads to psychological harm, as individuals lose the ability to
express fundamental needs and often act against their own interests, becoming mere
instruments of the leadership.
Measuring the mental health of cult members is challenging, as they often report happiness
due to pressures from group leadership. Personal experience reveals that even when
publicly praising the cult, members can be deeply anxious and unhappy. While some may
genuinely feel fulfilled, the complexity of the issue is compounded by the tendency of
current members to claim contentment and former members to describe dissatisfaction.
Researchers face a paradox: questioning members' happiness and attempting to help them
leave may inadvertently infringe on their autonomy.
A Sense of Competence
We all want to feel special and useful, but self-doubt can arise from modern life's
complexities and failures. In moments of feeling overwhelmed or flawed, the promise of a
cult—offering a "secret formula" for success and personal transformation—can be very
appealing. Cults often attract individuals by claiming they have the key to navigating life's
challenges and unlocking one's full potential.
A desire for competence is therefore a major reason why people join cults, but as with
autonomy, the sad reality is that the promise is far from the experience while in the Group.
Many groups, whilst promising cosmic levels of competence continually tell their members
that they are useless, good for nothing, sinners, losers, fat, unintelligent etc. Why people
stay is complex but is partly because the promise of competence is still there. The problem
they are told is with them individually, and requires more work, more devotion, more love
for the leadership and so they are forever ‘on the hook’ with a promise of competence that
never quite materialises.
Relatedness and Belonging
Most cults employ tactics to make the Group appear an attractive, wonderful community to
be a part of. They may engage in a practice often called ‘love bombing’ where an interested
person is made to feel special and loved. Everyone is so friendly and lovey. Often the most
attractive people are paraded as examples of members in media and literature. It’s not
surprising that individuals want to be a part of it. Advertisers long ago recognised that to
make a person buy a product it’s not the product that counts but what it says about you and
the people that it associates you with.
Cults often seem mysterious but primarily use familiar psychological tactics involving
deception and coercion. They exploit basic needs for autonomy, competence, and belonging,
promising fulfillment but ultimately creating a controlling environment. Members may lose
their sense of personal autonomy and competence while clinging to a sense of community,
often finding that the promises of the cult remain unfulfilled.
How people are controlled by Cult leaders
Management of a cult
“The people’s silence is a tyrant’s greatest advocate. The less captives talked,
the less they knew; the less they knew, the more they feared; and the more they
feared, the more easily others could manipulate them to their own ends, the
more easily the captives could be controlled.”
― John Kramer, Blythe
Cults normally start with a single, often a very charismatic person who persuades a few
people to start following them. Often they claim access to hidden knowledge or a secret of
success in a specific domain: a route to God, personal success, transformative peace etc. This
can be through religious, commercial, personal developmental methods or any number of
approaches. Just to be clear not all religions, commercial or personal developmental
organizations are cults — that depends upon the methods they use — as stated it’s the
coercive control that really defines a cult.
In the early days of the cult, the leader will probably have a close one-to-one relationship
with the followers, and organizing their activity will consist of the leader directly telling the
followers what to do. If it grows, the group will then need to develop systems and processes
to coordinate its activity. This is a similar process to most small teams or organizations. As in
many organizations, but perhaps especially for cults, this can be a problematic time as it
requires leaders being willing to delegate and give up some day-to-day control. Cult leaders
by their very nature often desire total control. Also cult leaders are often far from the
mastermind they like to project. In reality they are often chaotic, unstable, given to wild
mood swings and far from strategic. Ultimately however, for any organization to survive and
grow this bureaucratisation is part of its development. I suggest that those that fail to do this
remain small or ultimately fizzle out, the fate that ultimately befalls most cultic groups.
Most cults follow a pyramidal organizational structure with the leader at the top, supported
by a small group of most trusted lieutenants, who give direction and edicts to a set of what
are essentially middle managers, who in turn manage more junior line leaders. This structure
is useful for the obvious reason of being able to cascade instructions to the entire
organization, but also as a way to provide the possibility of a sense of being able to climb the
‘corporate’ ladder (at least for some members of the group), increasing a sense of personal
importance and value to the group, which itself strengthens psychological ties with it.
Cults normally operate through the use of volunteer or slave labour, depending upon your
point of view. Therefore the rewards for progression are mainly ones relating to status or
feelings of contributing to a higher calling.
The fact that many, if not most cults operate in this way demonstrates the power of what
Frederick Herzberg (1968) described as true motivators including; a sense of achievement,
personal growth and recognition.
Cults often find a way to create such a system of control. Creating a belief that Jehovah was
always watching me, meant there was no point in trying to hide any wrong behaviour from
the elders. Other systems of control including generating a sense of fear, obligation and guilt,
sometimes called the acronym FOG, meaning that intrinsic negative motivators dominate
the thinking of a devout follower of many cults. Former members of cults report
psychological problems associated with beliefs about always being observed and even
concern with what they are thinking — a form of control described as thought crime by
George Orwell in his book 1984 (1949).
Methods of Enquiry
Method 1
Observational Method
Method 2
Survey Research
Method 1
Observational Method
“Life is an experiment in which you may fail or succeed. Explore more, expect
least.”
― Santosh Kalwar
A new understanding of the psychology of the cult experience is emerging from the work of
researchers and clinicians who have studied current and former cult members. While stating
that not all cults are necessarily psychologically damaging to their members, the researchers'
findings offer insights about the proper treatment of those who have been harmed, as well
as the techniques that cults use to hold the loyalty of old members and attract new ones.
Some researchers suggest that the study of the cult experience has important implications
for theories about the functioning of the human brain.
''Many cult groups have developed basically similar and quite compelling conversion
techniques for exploiting the vulnerabilities of potential converts,'' said John G. Clark Jr., an
assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Harvard University Medical School. The Marks
of a New Disease
Dr. Clark has, in his private practice and with colleagues in Boston, treated and studied more
than 500 current and former cult members since 1974. ''In some respects,'' he said, ''the
destructive effects of cult conversions amount to a new disease in an era of psychological
manipulation.''
''When kids come out of cults, they have symptoms you just don't normally see,'' said
Stanley H. Cath, a psychoanalyst and associate professor of psychiatry at the Tufts University
School of Medicine who has treated and studied 60 former cult members over the last
decade. ''But many practitioners are ignorant of this 'disease,' and don't know how to treat
it.''
Although the researchers said it is possible for those who have left cults to integrate their
experience into their lives in healthy ways, many are unable to. Among the common
negative characteristics exhibited by the former cult members studied, said Dr. Clark, are
depression, guilt, fear, paranoia, slow speech, rigidity of facial expression and body posture,
indifference to physical appearance, passivity and memory impairment.
Dr. Clark is one of the founders of the Boston Personal Development Institute, a nonprofit
group that treats former cult members and advises their families. He and his associates
there have treated former members of the Unification Church, the International Society for
Krishna Consciousness, Scientology, the Way International, the Divine Light Mission, the
Children of God, the Church of Bible Understanding and smaller, less-prominent groups.
From the Middle Classes
The majority of those studied by Dr. Clark were from the middle and upper middle classes
and ranged in age from 15 to 31. Most of those treated by Dr. Cath range in age from 13 to
the mid-20's, but some are in their 50's and older. Their average age is 19 1/2. More are
male than female.
Dr. Clark hypothesized that what he calls the ''cult-conversion syndrome'' represents an
overload of the brain's ability to process information. He said: ''The unending personalized
attention given to recruits during the conversion experience works to overload the
prospect's information-processing capacity. This has another important function: the
induction of trancelike states. Cult proselytizers then exploit the recruit's suggestibility.''
Method 2
Survey Research
Conversation, like certain portions of the anatomy, always runs more smoothly when
lubricated.”
― Doug Wright,
Psychology professionals’ experience with, knowledge of, and opinions about cults, we have
mailed a detailed questionnaire to 2,980 members of the Pennsylvania Psychological
Association. Our interest was specified as being about cult behavior rather than belief, and
about cults that were harmful rather than benign. In the directions, “destructive cult” was
briefly characterized as one that utilizes manipulation and constraint to accomplish the
objectives of the organization or leader to the detriment of the recruit or adherent. A total
of 695 psychology professionals completed the questionnaire. Half of the respondents
indicated direct experience with cults—professional, personal, or both. Detailed results are
presented and discussed, and some recommendations for psychology professionals and
other interested readers are presented.
The survey contained six different sections, as follows:
(I) Demographics, involving age, gender, level of education, occupation, and
association membership;
(II) Sources of information about cults and self-rating of extent of knowledge;
(III) Professional experience with cults;
(IV) Personal experience with cults;
(V) Miscellaneous (cult retribution, criminal sanctions for “brainwashing,” and
usefulness of various terms); and
(VI) Opportunities to express further thoughts.
Professional Experience with Cults
The 1992 survey of members of the Pennsylvania Medical Society revealed that 21% of
primary-care physicians and 50% of psychiatrists had experience with cults. Similarly,
psychologists’ overall experience totaled around 50%. Professional experience treating active
or former cult members was reported by 33% of psychologists, and professional experience
treating family or friends of the cult-involved was reported by 20.4% of the group. Former
cult members were treated by 27.0% of psychologists, and active members were treated by
12.3%.
Table 1
Age Distribution of Cult-Affected Clients
Participants gave an indication of the age ranges of their clients. Most of the data is valid
because the great majority of participants listed numbers. A handful of participants, however,
merely made check marks and did not indicate their count. A check mark was simply counted
as one.
Age Ranges – Total count
Under 18 - 173
18 – 25 - 328
26 – 65- 317
Over 65 - 2
Age Distribution of Cult Affected Clients
Participants reported upon the age ranges of their clients (see Table 1). Most of the data is
valid because most participants listed numbers of clients in each category. A handful of
participants, however, merely made check marks and did not indicate their count. For
..tabulation, a check mark was simply counted as one
Psychological symptoms were investigated in the current survey, and treatment approaches
were discussed. Many participants favored cognitive behavioral therapy. It needs to be
considered that a client might turn up at a professional psychologist’s office with less than
optimal function but seemingly without specific diagnoses or symptoms. For example, a cult-
involved client might even turn up at an office with ambivalence or uncertainty about his or
her situation in life. Rather than facilitate the client’s disappearance back into the cult, by
becoming directive himself or herself the psychologist might consider recommending an exit
counselor for specific, brief, structured exit counseling. It would be far better to involve third
party than adopt a directive stance oneself, according to what our participants have
reported .
Conclusion
“In the planning stage of a book, don't plan the ending. It has to be earned by all that will go
before it.”
― Rose Tremain
In conclusion, cults are complex organizations that often use psychological manipulation to
exert control over their members. They typically involve a charismatic leader and promise
personal growth, belonging, or transformation. While they may initially seem appealing by
offering a sense of purpose and community, cults frequently employ tactics that limit personal
autonomy and exploit their members. Understanding the dynamics of cults—such as their
methods of control, isolation, and unfulfilled promises—can help individuals recognize
potential risks and support those who may be caught in such environments. Awareness and
education are key to navigating and addressing the challenges posed by cults.
Additional Information
Awareness about cult
“You will never follow your own inner voice until you clear up the doubts in your mind.”
― Roy T. Bennett
Awareness about cults is crucial for recognizing their potential dangers and protecting
individuals from harm. Cults often use deceptive and manipulative tactics to lure and control
people, exploiting their needs for belonging, purpose, and self-improvement. By
understanding the common characteristics of cults—such as authoritarian leadership,
psychological manipulation, and isolation from outside influences—individuals can better
identify these groups and their harmful practices. Promoting education about the warning
signs of cult involvement and supporting critical thinking can help people make informed
decisions and avoid the pitfalls of these high-control environments. Awareness also plays a
vital role in assisting those who may be struggling to leave cults and regain their autonomy
and well-being.
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