Is there a name for this kind of JW tactic?

ithinkisee

Is there an actual psychological term or whatever for this kind of JW tactic?

The tactic is where they head the opposing arguments off at the pass, like when a new person studies and they get to the point where they want to make a stand for "the truth". The person studying with them will tell them to "expect opposition from your family, this is Satan trying to get at you because now you have found the truth and he's mad."

Then when your relatives actually do that the student's so-called "faith" is bolstered, because it was just as the "Org" predicted - voila!

Is there a term for this - other than "snowjob" or b*llsh*t.

Is there a technical term I can look up at the library?

Thanks in advance. . .

-ithinkisee

MerryMagdalene

Sorry, I don't know any actual psychological terms, but a few layman's terms do tend to suggest themselves...

Premature exaccerbation?

Alienation of affection? (As in "divide and conquer")

Prophetic manipulation.

~Merry

RescueMe

Conditioned Response? You are conditioned to expect a specific response, and when it happens it simply reaffirms what you have been told. I've looked it up and that is the closest thing I can come up with.

Neo

I don't recall if there's a specific name for this but try the following articles;

http://members.aol.com/beyondjw/indoct.htm

http://www.macgregorministries.org/jehovahs_witnesses/fractfamilies.html

http://www.freeminds.org/psych/help.htm

Neo

ithinkisee

I like conditioned response. Simple enough but very descriptive.

Thank you.

-ithinkisee

euripides

The term you are looking for is Procatalepsis. This was a rhetorical device known by the ancients (and discussed by Aristotle I believe). A basic definition is simply anticipating one's opponent's objections in an argument. I see the JW strategy as a crafty counter-objection implant: if someone challenges you, this should prove we are correct. But it fails logically, because its contrapositive is silly: If we are proven incorrect, then no one will have challenged you.

Euripides

Neo

MerryM,

Prophetic manipulation

I like that term.

Will Power

Seems to fit #2 of Lifton's Eight Criteria of Destructive Mind Control

#2. Mystical Manipulation

The contrived engineering of experiences to stage seemingly spontaneous and "supernatural" events.
Everyone manipulates everyone else for the higher purpose.

also on pg 171 in chapter 7, Understanding Cult Beliefs and Tactics, in the book by Steven Hassan called Releasing the Bonds (highly recommended)
he discusses the demonization of cult critics.

"...tell their members that I am Satan's agent. Specific phobias about me [Steven Hassan or YOU] have been planted in members' minds. Cult members are indoctrinated to believe that Steven Hassan is a "deprogrammer" ... (or YOU or your close friend relative)... " who endorses and associates with people who kidnap, beat, and torture members of new religions until they renounce their faith in God."

On pg 238 he lists common cult phobias that are intentionally planted that affect every aspect of a persons life & psyche.

ie:
? lose their relationship with God
? be attacked by supernatural entities
? be possessed by evil spirits
? lose chance for salvation
? never trust anyone outside of the group
? fear of an evil conspiracy by a covert group (Satan, A One World Government, the Antichrist, the Illuminati, the CIA etc.) to take over the world and enslave everyone.

Methods for phobia installation start on pg 242
Direct suggestion
Indirect suggestion
The use of stories and testomonials
Books, movies and news stories
Using existing fears

This book & his other "combating Cult Mind Control" are both must reads.

will

TresHappy

stairstep brainwashing.

Neo

Now we've got two expressions:

Procatalepsis

and

Mystical Manipulation

Thanks, euripedes and Will Power!

Mystical manipulation is
"The claim of divine authority or spiritual advancement that allows the leader to reinterpret events as he or she wishes, or make prophecies or pronouncements at will, all for the purpose of controlling group members. Extensive personal manipulation, initiated from the leaders is designed to provoke certain patterns of behavior and emotion in such a way that they appear to have arisen spontaneously from within the member or the group environment. The group's mystique justifies manipulation even when they supercede all considerations of decency or of immediate human welfare. Members eventually feel betrayed but ultimately choose to betray themselves since all of life appears to support the claims of the leader. The members are deprived of the opportunity to exercise their capacities for self-expression and independent action."
http://www.ferozegolwalla.com/id19.html

Is there a name for this kind of JW tactic?

Share this