Transcript Lecture 6: Brainwashing - Albright College Faculty

Cults and New
Religious Movements
Conversion and Commitment:
The Brainwashing Model
What is Brainwashing?
 Refers to a process by which persons are
involuntarily caused to adopt a belief
system
 The charge of brainwashing is primarily
a way of discrediting NRMs
– Makes them appear illegitimate and
dangerous
Origins of the Concept
 Korean War defections
– Defections resulted from the Chinese using
the methods of “thought reform” they
created to coerce conformity among their
citizens
– British Journalist, Edward Hunter, used the
term to characterize this process
• Hunter’s was a CIA operative whose work was
used as a propaganda
Traits
 Irresistible
 Undetectable
 Irreversible
Brainwashing and Popular
Culture
 Quickly became part of popular culture
– Helped by the highly acclaimed movie “The
Manchurian Candidate” (1962)
Assessing The Brainwashing
Thesis
 After the Korean War, the U.S.
Government commissioned four
independent studies on brainwashing
– One was a secret study by the CIA, the
second never published
– Two others authored by
• Robert Lifton
• Edgar Schein
Summary of Lifton’s Research
 “Behind the web of semantic… confusion lies an image
of ‘brainwashing’ as an all-powerful, irresistible,
unfathomable, and magical method of achieving total
control over the human mind. It is of course none of
these things, and this loose usage makes the word a
rallying point for fear, resentment, urges toward
submission, justification for failure, irresponsible
accusations, and for a wide gamut of emotional
extremism. One must justly conclude that the term has
a far from precise meaning and of questionable
usefulness”
– Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism (1961)
Summary of Schien’s Research
 “The experiences of the prisoners did not fit
such a model… hence we have abandoned the
term brainwashing and prefer to use the term
coercive persuasion… basically what happened
to the prisoners was that they were subjected to
unusually intense and prolonged persuasion in
a situation from which they could not escape;
that is, they were coerced into allowing
themselves to be persuaded”
– Coercive Persuasion: A Social-Psychological Analysis of the
“Brainwashing” of American Civilian Prisoners of the Chinese
Communists (1961)
Assessment Continued
 Perry London searched Psych Lit for the years
1974-89
– Found 50 articles but only 2 presented empirical
data
• One refuted the “brainwashing” concept
• One supported, but did not contain a control group
 Professional Associations
– At least four have reviewed and found the
brainwashing thesis lacking in scientific merit
 Margaret Singer, a psychologist who supports
the brainwashing thesis, has:
– Never produced empirical data, nor have any other
scholars
– Been severely criticized by colleagues in her own
field
Criticisms of Brainwashing
 Most of the anti-cult literature lumps all NRMs
together
 There seems to be an ideological bias when
applying the thesis to NRMs
 Logic and empirical data are absent when
claiming that only the brainwashing could
possibly believe the doctrines of some NRMs
 The original theories of brainwashing
contradict one another
 Singer and others rely on anecdotal, not
empirical proof
 Few, if any, studies suggest that any NRM
has held members against their will or
hurt them
 The anti-cult literature is distorted by
sampling bias
 The anti-cult literature on conversions is
largely dependent upon ex-cult members
 NRM’s suffer from low recruitment and
high defection rates
 Psychological traits like “suggestibility”
are largely absent from members
 The scientific study on NRMs suggests
that members are not passive, but active
– Sudden conversions are rare
– Many engage in some form of seekership
before joining
– Conversions are largely social
– Converts are more thoughtful about their
situation while in the NRM than previously
believed
– Converts learn how to pass for a member
before they join
• They learn and play the convert role to explore
the group in more detail
Conclusions
 The use of hypnosis or mind control are
not supported
 Aggressive propaganda combined with
isolation, manipulated peer pressure,
torture or the threat of torture produce
limited, but temporary, behavioral
conformity