The Psychology of Cults

In November of 1978, 909 members of the idealistic People's Temple perished in the jungles of Guyana after being pressured by their leader into drinking poison. On March 26, 1997, 39 followers of the Heaven's Gate cult died in a mass suicide, sincerely believing that their souls would join a spacecraft following the comet Hale-Bopp. On March 20, 1995, members of Aum Shinrikyomdash;who believed their leader was a magical messiah who could merge his brain waves with theirs via $10,000 helmetsmdash;were persuaded to release poisonous sarin gas into the Tokyo subway system in an attempt to jumpstart the end of the world, killing 13 people. How do these things happen? Cults are by definition extreme. But they highlight aspects of our psychology that simultaneously promote cooperation and make us vulnerable to exploitation. This course, which contains substantial class discussion, explores the psychological mechanisms that enable cults to form and to take things to such extremes. What do cults share with other groups and situations (mainstream religions, social movements, corporate culture, nations, and personal relationships), and what makes them stand apart? In what ways are cults an environment in which many of our psychological tendencies (for example, toward in-group conformity, heuristic decision-making, social learning, and rationalization) are magnified? What do cults teach us about leadership, persuasion, and belief? And what do cults reveal about the power of our social environment?