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Except from psychologists of religion, conversion to cults has received little attention from psychologists. Can social psychologists describe and explain the process of religious conversion or is this a topic beyond a social psychological purview? On a more general level, can psychological and sociological descriptions of religious cults handle issues connected with a cult identity as this takes place through ones religious experience? This is an important question because we need to explain the powerful influence of cult on its members, especially when most cults are intentionally designed to manipulate certain desired ends. Outline Introduction Discussion what leads a person to a cult psychological behavior of cult members some functions in a cult belong in a cult Conclusion The Cult Fringe As is the case with most complex behaviors that shake our conception of human nature, a variety of causative factors must be sought so that we can produce an explanation for conversion to a religious cult belief system and practice.
At first glance, one can conclude that most religious cults group members hold beliefs that denounce the values of the greater society. They preach an imminent and disastrous end of human suffering and pain and believe in a utopian ideal. These are the sort of religious beliefs that demand that cult members remove themselves from their friends and family and relinquish any real connection to personal property and educational goals. This is so because most cults stress an apocalyptic future that calls for the rejection of the present world for being evil and abysmally corrupt. Because the religious cult is future-oriented, there is little need for personal property or old ties.
If people hold strong unconventional religious beliefs, feel rejected by society, believe they are unworthy, and have low self esteem, one might expect that they would seek out those who are accepting and caring. And one would guess that these peoples attraction to a cult is likely to increase just as long as the cult does not appear to be insincere or to confuse or contradict their strong religious beliefs. And, if such people encounter cult members who promise a new life, the likelihood of joining the cult obviously increases. However, once these people have joined a cult group, they may not be willing to make the necessary sacrifices required to maintain membership. Some individuals who are not initially interested in the promise of a new life, or in salvation, may join a cult because they are at least intrigued by the prospect. The religious cult member must learn to adopt the peculiar reasoning processes and beliefs known as a cult-group perspective.
Particular stress is placed on bad thoughts. Often cult members, just as prisoners of war, are required to express these negative thoughts spontaneously before the group. This activity supposedly moves individuals to a point where they experience powerful emotional arousal, which emerges from intense personal, political, and religious feelings. Perhaps the most important result of being converted to a religious cult is the internalization of the groups religious values and beliefs. Such conditions may operate only when the potential convert has been made vulnerable to strong pressure to accept the cults beliefs. In many cases, people who eventually commit themselves to a cult may do so more for the social support and the high degree of intimacy that they find within the cults relatively small circle of ready-made friends.
They may join a cult because of the intimate relationships that are found and not because of their religious beliefs. Conversion can be regarded as both a personal and a group product. It does not always necessarily involve the chain of causality or events suggested by many current writers who hypothesize that only personal or only religious factors operate to cause intense changes in ones religious beliefs and activity. Most importantly, people in their private and public lives are said to seek consistency over inconsistency between their beliefs and their behavior. This implies that when people find themselves through choice, involved in or committed to an unconventional group whose beliefs and practices are at first somewhat at variance with their views, there is a tendency to change in the direction of the group.
This strongly suggests that people do not have to agree with others religious beliefs or practices completely; but as long as they remain in the cult they are highly likely to change in the direction of the groups beliefs and practices. Conversion to a cult faith certainly is not all that common. It requires a special kind of commitment to an absolute truth that calls for surrender of all ones energies to the cause. One reason why many people join religious cults is that their parents religion was not what they wanted, so they sought something different. In varying degrees, they seem to suffer from alienation and a lack of identification with their culture and its more traditional religious values. After becoming converted to their new cult religion, these cultists claim that they no longer feel confused or ambivalent about their religious values.
Why do people fail to take into consideration the official religious dogma of a cult (its deep structures), especially when they attempt to assess a cults membership and its leader? Do traditionalists deliberately misrepresent religious cults because they have a great deal of difficulty projecting themselves into the cult situation? To this point, there is little doubt that many writers describe religious cults entirely from the point of view of former cult devotees or deprogrammer's, who are often victims of a cult and their special biases intrude. People who join particular religious cults, owing to a strong commitment to nontraditional religious ideology or to utopian goals, may not change their religious beliefs but still may continue their membership because they have friends in the cult or because the process of conversion succeeded in teaching them to value their cult peers. This is especially important if a cult contains followers, who after a time are not held primarily by the cults religious teaching or ideology, but stay on for seemingly more pragmatic reasons. Cult members may not leave because they do not see other viable alternatives.
Bibliography: Cult, web (religious practice) Cult Influence & Persuasion Tactics, web Margaret Thaler Singer, Cults in Our Midst, Jossey-Bass, 2003 Religious Cults in Twentieth Century America, web
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Research essay sample on Beliefs And Practices Religious Beliefs
