Take Back Your Life: Chapter 2: Seduction and Recruitment A NOTE regarding the book. The book is being revised and updated and will get a new title;
Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships (previously titled Captive Hearts, Captive minds and this is the title I am working with)
by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias"
Seduction
Few people realize just how persuasive and seductive the indoctrination can be. Understanding the process and the techniques used is essential to setting oneself free.
When we look around us we see all kinds of persuasive techniques to grab our attention. When you are in your car, driving the highways, riding a bus, the tops of buildings, TV radio, print. The people who want us to buy their product know that persuasive techniques have an impact on almost everyone. Religious booksellers are no different. They know that if the package looks and sounds right, they can influence people to "buy" their product.
Well in our case many of us were "sold" a product. We were told it was the best product and did things that no other product would. And then once they got our attention they used a very practised and well-designed advertizing campaign to lure us in.
There are times in our lives when our vulnerability to advertizing is strong and there are times when it is weak. Most shopping guides will tell you to never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. That is when most impulse buying occurs. The same principle applies to our vulnerability to religious salespeople.
Dr Margaret Singer states that
"No one type of personis prone to become involved with cults. About two thirds of those studied have been normal young persons induced to join groups in periods of personal crisis, [such as] broken romance or failures to get the job or college of their choice. Vulnerable, the young person affiliates with a cult offering promises of unconditional love, new mental powers, and social utopia. Since modern cults are persistent and often deceptive in theor recruiting, many prospective group members have no accurate knowledge of the cult and almost no understanding of what eventually will be expected of them as long-term members. (p.27)
I see no reason why this wouldn’t apply to anyone young or older. Regardless of their age the authors go on to list certain predisposing factors:
- Dependency (the desire to belong, lack of self-confidence)
- Unassertiveness (inability to say no or express criticism or doubt)
- Gullibility (impaired capacity to question crotically what one is told, observes, thinks, etc.)
- Low tolerance for ambiguity (need for absolute answers, impatience to obtain answers)
- Culteral dissillusionment (alienation, dissatisfaction with the status quo)
- Naïve idealism
- Desire for spiritual meaning
- Susceptibility to trancelike states (in some cases, perhaps , because of prior hallucinogenic experiences)
- Ignorance of the [sic] how groups can manipulate individuals
So many people can fit into the factors based on when that first contact is made.
The authors go on to make a very interesting point. I know a lot of people who blame themselves for having gotten involved in the cult. And I often hear other people say that it is all a matter of choice. Psychologust Michael Lamgone, states:
Conversion to cults is not truly a matter of choice. Vulnerabilities do not merely ‘lead’ individuals to a particular group. The group manipulates these vulnerabilities and decieves prospects in order to persuade them to join and, ultimately, renounce their old lives. (p. 28)
Then there’s the good news. The authors state:
Most cult members are of above-average intelligence, well-adjusted, adaptable, and perhaps a bit idealistic. In relatively few cases does the person have a history of a preexisting mental disorders. (p.28)
I know only two people who had diagnosable mental health issues before they became JWs. And when you stop to think about, it why would a cult want people who were so disabled that they could not meet the demands that will come later?
Cultic Recruitment
According to psychologist Robert Ciadini there are 6 principles used to unduly influence someone.
- Reciprocity, or the act of give and take, creates a snese of obligation. In cults, personal disclosure is often made reciporcal; that is you are expected to reveal things about yourself and others to the group, just as others reveal to you. This exchange makes you feel beholden to the group; the reciprocity creates a social bond wherein you say yes to things you wouldn’t normally say yes to.
- Consistency in actions brings about commitment. Once you give (or give in), you’ll give (or give in) again. This sets the stage for greater compliance. Actions that are public—that is, performed in front of others, owned, and supposedly uncoerced—tend to reinforce the conditions necessary for lasting commitment. Hence, the value of "testifying" ot group self-criticism sessions.
- Authority more or less guarantees credibility. If an expert says it, it must be true. This logic causes people to stop thinking and simply react. In cults, the leader is all-knowing, speaking the Ultimate Truth.
- Liking breeds friendship. Initially, cults make you feel wanted; in this way, you becoem a part of something. There is a strong sense of belonging.
- Scarcity induces competition. You value what is rare, not easily available; its real worth is not necessarily an issue. Cults make themselves valuable by saying that their way is the only way. By saying they have exclusive information, cult leaders become all the more persuasive.
- Consensus provides social validation, or social proof. In general, people follow the lead of others, especially similar others. "Look around you—a lot of people are doing what we are asking you to do," says the cult leadership. This is combined with systematically cutting you off from prior sources of information, so that your information only comes from similar others saying the same thing. (p.29)
Just typing this out I can so easily see how the process starts from those nice friendly little visits that the person agrees to towards inviting them in to chat more comfortably to the study. All those study books with "experts" proving the points. Then urging the person towards a meeting. And how can a person say no when they have gotten all this free study and have already met some of the people who come along to the study to "help" them. .
So for those of you who were recruited, do you think you made a choice to join?