Conditions for Mind Control

by Dr. Margaret T. Singer

(Margaret T. Singer, Ph.D., Emeritus Prof. of Psychology, Univ. of CA, Berkeley)

THOUGHT REFORM = LANGUAGE + SOCIAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCE

In a thought reform program: the self concept is destabilized, the group/leaders attack one's evaluation of self

SELF: 2 Elements in one's self-concept

Peripheral Sense: adequacy of public & judgmental aspects, social status, role performance, conformity to social norms

Central Sense of Self: adequacy of intimate life, confidence in perception of reality, relations w/family, goals, sexual experiences, traumatic life events, religious beliefs, basic consciousness and emotional control

When you attack a person's self-concept, aversive emotional arousal is created

6 CONDITIONS THAT NEED TO BE PRESENT IN ORDER TO CONSTITUTE MIND CONTROL:

1. CONTROL OVER TIME

Especially thinking time

Use techniques to get a person to think about:

. the group
. beliefs of the group

as much of their waking time as possible

2. CREATE A SENSE OF POWERLESSNESS

Get people away from normal support systems for a period of time

Provide models of behavior (cult members)

Use in-group language

Use of songs, games, stories the person is unfamiliar with or they are modified so that they're unfamiliar

New people tend to want to be like others (acceptance, feeling part of a group)

3. MANIPULATE REWARDS, PUNISHMENTS, EXPERIENCES IN ORDER TO SUPPRESS OLD SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

Manipulate: social rewards, intellectual rewards

REWARDS: support positive self-concept for conformity to new thought system

PUNISHMENTS: attack person's self-concept for non-conformity

Effects of behavioral modification (reward/punishment):

DEPLOYABLE AGENT:

1. accept a particular world view
2. procedures for peer monitoring w/feedback to group
3. psychological, social & material sanctions to influence the target's behavior

When there is control of external feedback, the group becomes theonly source -- there are no reality checks

BEHAVIORS REWARDED: participation, conformity to ideas/behavior, zeal, personal changes

BEHAVIORS PUNISHED: criticalness, independent thinking, non-conformity to ideas/behavior

PUNISHMENTS: peer/group criticism, withdrawal of support/affection, isolation, negative feedback

THE PERSON IS DEPENDENT UPON THE GROUP FOR EXTERNAL VALIDATION OF SOCIAL IDENTITY

RESULTS: confusion, disorientation, psychological disturbances

Manipulate experience:

altered states of consciousness (trance)
hypnosis

Hypnosis: (see Ericksonian hypnosis)

speaking patterns
guided imagery
pacing of voice to breathing patterns
parables, stories with imbedded messages
repetition
boredom
stop paying attention to distractions, focus inwardly to what's going on inside you
the use of one's voice to get people's attention focused

Chanting, Meditation

Teach thought-stopping techniques

Work them up emotionally to a negative state:

re-experience past painful events
recall negative actions/sin in past life

Then rescue them from negative emotion by giving them a new way to live

4. MANIPULATE REWARDS, PUNISHMENTS, EXPERIENCES IN ORDER TO ELICIT NEW BEHAVIOR

Models will demonstrate new behavior

Conformity: dress, language, behavior

Using group language will eventually still the thinking mind

5. MUST BE A TIGHTLY CONTROLLED SYSTEM OF LOGIC

No complaints from the floor

Pyramid shaped operation with leader at the top

Top leaders must maintain absolute control/authority

Persons in charge must have verbal ways of never losing

Anyone who questions is made to think there is something inherently wrong with them to even question

Phobia induction:

something bad will happen if you leave the group if you leave this group, you're leaving God

Guilt manipulation

6. PERSONS BEING THOUGHT REFORMED MUST BE UNAWARE THAT THEY ARE BEING MOVED THROUGH A PROGRAM TO MAKE THEM DEPLOYABLE AGENTS, TO BUY MORE COURSES, SIGN UP FOR THE DURATION, ETC.

You can't be thought reformed with full capacity, informed consent

You don't know the agenda of the group at the beginning or the full content of the ideology

THOUGHT REFORM SYSTEM:

Coordinated programs of coercive influence and behavior control

Use of pop psychology techniques found in sensitivity training and encounters groups

2nd Generation Thought Reform Systems (attacks on central elements of self): 1. enlist recruit's cooperation, offer something they want (personal growth, salvation, etc.)

2. obtain psychological dominace by making the target's continuing relations contingent upon continuing membership

3. use seduction by developing bonds and encouraging targets to believe the group can provide something

4. develop dependency by direct social pressure to influence a decision that the group has special power or knowledge or can solve a problem; the people in the group are made to seem interested in what is best for the target -- then they "up the commitment level"

5. shift the target's social and emotional attachments to individuals who have already accepted high commitment and are conforming to the behavior

WHILE

decreasing the target's outside relationships

6. increase the CHANGES in the target's:

income
employment
personal friends/social life
finances
sexuality

THIS INCREASES THE THREAT TO THE PERSON IF THEY WANT TO LEAVE

THREATS: ARE TO THE INDIVIDUAL'S

stability of identity
emotional well-being

7. the community standards become the ONLY standards available for self-evaluation

CULTS AND CULTIC RELATIONSHIPS

CULT - the political and power STRUCTURE of a group CULTIC RELATIONSHIP - those relationships in which a person intentionally induces others to become totally or nearly totally dependent on him/her for almost all major life decisions and inculcates in these followers a belief that he has some special talent, gift or knowledge

PRIMARY IN OUR DISCUSSION OF CULTS IS THE PRACTICE AND CONDUCT OF THE GROUP, NOT ITS BELIEFS

Further references: Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. Robert J. Lifton, M.D., University of N.C., Chapel Hill, 1989 Chapter 22

"Attacks on Peripheral versus Central Elements of Self and the Impact of Thought Reforming Techniques" Richard Ofshe and Margaret T. Singer, The Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 3 #1, Spring/Summer 1986; American Family Foundation, P.O. Box 1232, Gracie Station, New York, NY 10028 (212) 533-0538

"The Utilization of Hypnotic Techniques in Religious Conversion" Jesse S. Miller, The Cultic Studies Journal,Vol. 3 #2, Fall/Winter 1986

Recovery from Cults. ed. Michael Langone, Ph.D., W.W. Norton, 1994