#philip g zimbardo

[proceduralbob]

That means when you read about the SPE or the many studies in this next section, you might well conclude that you would not do what the majority has done, that you would, of course, be the exception to the rule. That statistically unreasonable belief (since most of us share it) makes you even more vulnerable to situational forces precisely because you underestimate their power as you overestimate yours. You are convince you would be the good guard, the defiant prisoner, the resistor, the dissident, the nonconformist, and, most of all, the Hero. Would that it were so, but heroes are a rare breed.

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, Philip G. Zimbardo

[trendynewsnow]

Philip G. Zimbardo: The Legacy of a Social Psychology Pioneer

Philip G. Zimbardo: A Pioneering Psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo, a prominent figure in the field of social psychology, passed away on October 14 at the age of 91 at his residence in San Francisco. His death was confirmed by Stanford University, where he dedicated 35 years of his career as a professor of psychology. Renowned for his exploration of the darker aspects of human behavior, Dr.…

[usunezukoinezu]

‘‘Over forty years ago, I conducted an experiment that haunts me to this day. While exploring the question, “Under what circumstances does evil arise?” I watched college student volunteers readily commit acts of cruelty during a simple roleplaying exercise at a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University. In fact, witnessing the dramatic behavioral and psychological transformations in these predominately white, middle-class young men following their random assignment of “prisoner” or “guard,” I was forced to terminate the planned two-week long experiment after only six days. That study, along with Stanley Milgram’s earlier demonstration of the extent to which the vast majority of ordinary adult citizens could be led to being blindly obedient to unjust authority, illustrated in dramatic fashion the pervasive power of situational forces over individual dispositional propensities.’’

- Philip G. Zimbardo

[liberatingreality]

The expectations of others often become self-fulfilling prophecies. Without realizing it, we often behave in ways that confirm the beliefs others have about us. Those subjective beliefs create new realities for us. We often become who other people think we are, in their eyes and in our behavior.

Philip G. Zimbardo, Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

[recentlyheardcom]

'Stanford Prison Experiment' psychologist Zimbardo dies at 91

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Philip G. Zimbardo, the psychologist behind the controversial “Stanford Jail Experiment” that was supposed to look at the psychological experiences of imprisonment, has died. He was 91. Stanford College introduced Friday that Zimbardo died Oct. 14 at his residence in San Francisco. A explanation for demise was not offered. Within the 1971 jail research, Zimbardo and a crew of…

[perdarmiuntomo]

L'effetto Lucifero. Cattivi si diventa? Philip G. Zimbardo

Link acquisto: Libraccio

[sufferbuddies]

Examples

Why might an individual exhibit signs of arrested development in adulthood? The roots often trace back to earlier life experiences.

For instance, imagine a person who grew up in an overprotective household, where their parents shielded them from any kind of responsibility or challenge. As a result, this person may struggle to take on adult responsibilities, such as managing their finances or making important decisions. They might rely on others to take care of these tasks or avoid them altogether, displaying a lack of maturity in handling adult life.

It’s important to understand that individuals with arrested development are not intentionally refusing to mature. They are stuck in a psychological pattern that prevents them from progressing beyond a certain emotional age. Just like a car stuck in neutral gear, they need professional support and guidance to overcome their developmental standstill and navigate the challenges of adult life. With the right help and understanding, they can break free from this impasse and lead more fulfilling lives as mature adults.

[schizopilledjester]

Militant shelter programs are more evil than jail bc there is less routine and more consistency in abuse

Being in a homeless shelter is isolating, paranoia inducing and traumatizing. So is being in prison or jail. They are built in such similar ways that once you lose your connection to community and you have been in the system for long enough you rationalize being stuck in the system with its toxic codependency that makes people feel like they're doing something the right way. It's emotional Stockholm syndrome that makes people dependent on any kind of reward. Stockholm syndrome describes the psychological condition of a victim who identifies with and empathizes with their captor or abuser and their goals. Stockholm syndrome is rare; according to one FBI study, the condition occurs in about 8 percent of hostage victims.

https://www.britannica.com/science/Stockholm-syndrome

When community is existing outside of the shelters it is so much more preferred to the shelter. Streets over the system until the streets become unlivable bc of the profit based motives the system prioritizes.

It's a large scale propaganda that the shelter is a safe space to put the displaced peoples, so when people prefer to sleep on the street it makes jailing them justifiable to the wrong kinds of people. I think cops like spreading that nonsense to make it seem more humane that they lock up vast numbers of homeless for any possible infractions, real or imagined. They make it seem like they're doing the homeless guy a favor for "taking them off the streets".

Stanford prison experiments and their relation to system based community

Carried out August 15-21, 1971 in the basement of Jordan Hall, the Stanford Prison Experiment set out to examine the psychological effects of authority and powerlessness in a prison environment. The study, led by psychology professor Philip G. Zimbardo, recruited Stanford students using a local newspaper ad. Twenty-four students were carefully screened and randomly assigned into groups of prisoners and guards. The experiment, which was scheduled to last 1-2 weeks, ultimately had to be terminated on only the 6th day as the experiment escalated out of hand when the prisoners were forced to endure cruel and dehumanizing abuse at the hands of their peers. The experiment showed, in Dr. Zimbardo’s words, how “ordinary college students could do terrible things.”

https://exhibits.stanford.edu/spe

This study to me shows how silly it is to expect people who haven't been screened and trained effectively to effectively hold that much power over people. When people are given unnecessary and unreasonable amounts of power, that feeds a fragile ego and makes people act selfishly. The systems in place (ie: shelters, mental hospitals, care programs, anything medical, jail, etc) all share a very similar method of gatekeeping and toying with people for profit.

Gatekeeping theory is the connection between two inarguable facts: events occur everywhere all of the time and the news media cannot cover all of them. And so, when an event occurs, someone has to decide whether and how to pass the information to another person, such as a friend, an official, or even a journalist.

The gatekeeping of political messages is known as media gatekeeping (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996)—that is, “the process by which countless occurrences and ideas are reduced to the few messages we are offered in our news media” (Shoemaker & Vos, 2009, p. 75).

they make it hard for us to get what we need because of the lack of interconnectivity within the care routes and they want to keep the marginalized poor so we r easier to silence

Medical "gatekeeping was associated with better quality of care and appropriate referral for further hospital visits and investigation. However, one study reported unfavorable outcomes for patients with cancer under gatekeeping, and some concerns were raised about the accuracy of diagnoses made by gatekeepers. Gatekeeping resulted in fewer hospitalizations and use of specialist care, but inevitably was associated with more primary care visits. Patients were less satisfied with gatekeeping than direct-access systems." -- quote from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6478478/

This continued gatekeeping of medical care leads to the further marginalization of peoples who don't have access to direct access medical care and terminology. Getting help with disabilities is a very rare thing to happen unless you are not marginalized. So the 1% is again hoarding the care while the disenfranchised get stuck in the cycles of gatekeeping. The majority is left feeling isolated and without care.

Now they if they try to seek out care.

I think Stockholm syndrome is trained into people who fall into the system like Pavlov's dog. (Pavlov demonstrated salivation in dogs through a series of experiments where he paired the sound of a bell with the presentation of food. Over time, the dogs began to associate the bell with food and would start to salivate at the sound of the bell, even when no food was presented.) To me the pipeline is troubled teen, rehab, jail, shelter, jail cyclically.

troubled teen - mental health

"Ms. Ianelli is an activist and the author of a new memoir, “I See You, Survivor,” which details her ordeal. But she is far from alone. Hundreds of thousands of young Americans have endured similar harms or assaults in residential boot camps, wilderness therapy and Christian and therapeutic boarding schools, which claim to vanquish teen psychological problems like drug misuse, depression and defiant behavior. Among them is Paris Hilton, who first told her story in a 2020 documentary and is now lobbying for recently introduced legislation to stop the abuse.

These children’s programs act similarly to psychiatric hospitals in that they control residents’ custody and communication with the outside world, but they are typically not strictly regulated. Some states exempt programs that claim to be religion-based from standards enforced on other child-caring facilities, while some states have few, if any, regulations on these programs. Because more than a dozen states allow spanking and paddling in schools, corporal punishment that would be illegal in prisons occurs in many of these programs. Evidence suggests that the punitive “therapies” that these facilities use are unsafe and ineffective."

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/opinion/troubled-teens-industry-regulation.html

Children's autonomy is easier to steal with no reparations. Legally more excusable historically.

The Children's Rights Movement is a historical and modern movement committed to the acknowledgment, expansion, and/or regression of the rights of children around the world. This act laid several constitutional laws for the growth of a child's mental and physical health. 

https://www.childrensrights.org/

- [ ] Mental health - Rehabilitation

- [ ] Toxic punishment reward system based on shame and fear

- [ ] Rehabilitation - abuse

- [ ] Push and pull loves of drugs and connection

- [ ] Abuse - jail

- [ ] no tolerance for own emotion bc the childhood systems in place silenced ourselves

- [ ] Jail over the streets

- [ ] Community over isolation

- [ ] Food water shelter

- [ ] Not chemically dependent on substances (other than big Pharma)

Gatekeeping and Gerrymandering is a huge system in the bay area. the systems in place currently serve to protect the 1% instead of us and keep us cycled in trauma.

Gatekeeping theory is the connection between two inarguable facts: events occur everywhere all of the time and the news media cannot cover all of them. And so, when an event occurs, someone has to decide whether and how to pass the information to another person, such as a friend, an official, or even a journalist.

The gatekeeping of political messages is known as media gatekeeping (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996)—that is, “the process by which countless occurrences and ideas are reduced to the few messages we are offered in our news media” (Shoemaker & Vos, 2009, p. 75).

they make it hard for us to get what we need because of the lack of interconnectivity within the care routes and they keep the marginalized poor so we r silenced

Medical "gatekeeping was associated with better quality of care and appropriate referral for further hospital visits and investigation. However, one study reported unfavorable outcomes for patients with cancer under gatekeeping, and some concerns were raised about the accuracy of diagnoses made by gatekeepers. Gatekeeping resulted in fewer hospitalizations and use of specialist care, but inevitably was associated with more primary care visits. Patients were less satisfied with gatekeeping than direct-access systems." -- quote from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6478478/

This continued gatekeeping of medical care leads to the further marginalization of peoples who don't have access to direct access medical care and terminology. Getting help with disabilities is a very rare thing to happen unless you are not marginalized. So the 1% is again hoarding the care while the disenfranchised get stuck in the cycles of gatekeeping. The majority is left feeling isolated and without care.

The majority people of the United States are not millionaires. According to the statistic below in 2020, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area in California had the highest share of millionaire households of any U.S. metropolitan area, with 13.6 percent of all households having at least one million U.S. dollars in investible assets. This is Bay Area culture. The poor stay poor and the rich stay rich.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/294941/largest-ratio-millionaire-households-per-capita-us/

This is where gerrymandering comes into play. To gerrymander is to manipulate the boundaries of an electoral constituency so as to favor one party or class.

Typical gerrymandering cases in the United States take the form of partisan gerrymandering, which is aimed at favoring one political party while weakening another; bipartisan gerrymandering, which is aimed at protecting incumbents by multiple political parties; and racial gerrymandering, which is aimed at maximizing or minimizing the impact of certain minority groups. 

https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2022/san-francisco-redistricting-final-map/

There is a clear decision to make the minority voting members of communities that are usually more marginalized by our country.

Again, https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2022/san-francisco-redistricting-final-map/ this link is crazy to see the intentional disparity

currently on social media especially there are polarizing AI bots that cause micro conflicts within the communities that should be fighting together

"A report we recently published through the Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University’s Stern School of Business sheds light on the relationship between tech platforms and the kind of extreme polarization that can lead to the erosion of democratic values and partisan violence. While Facebook, the largest social media platform, has gone out of its way to deny that it contributes to extreme divisiveness, a growing body of social science research, as well as Facebook’s own actions and leaked documents, indicate that an important relationship exists."

"In an article published in October 2020 in the journal Science, a group of 15 researchers summarized the scholarly consensus this way: 'in recent years, social media companies like Facebook and Twitter have played an influential role in political discourse, intensifying political sectarianism.'"

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-tech-platforms-fuel-u-s-political-polarization-and-what-government-can-do-about-it/

“Twitter has emerged as a key platform on which anyone with a smartphone can engage in political discourse,” observed Michelle Nguyen in her article entitled “Twitter’s Role in Politics” in The Northwestern Business Review (https://northwesternbusinessreview.org/twitters-role-in-politics-b3ed620465c9). She noted that a TV ad “can cost millions of dollars” but “a single post can reach the same number of people just as quickly for a tiny fraction of the cost.”

"Though this study was focused on Twitter activities of members of the 111th U.S. House of Representatives, we suggest that our findings have broader implications about the use of social media by political and administrative institutions. Results of our study are cautionary for governments and policymakers who use social media to collect and interpret the voices of citizens because the preferences of citizens expressed through social media may be directed more toward contentious political issues rather than toward solving challenging problems."

"The capacity of social media to personalize information appears to be contributing to greater levels of extremism, and online political polarization is increasing. Therefore, institutions and governmental entities must develop a process for gathering a wider range of opinions (and greater online participation) from the public and simultaneously discern which voices represent extremist views."

https://scholar.harvard.edu/sounman_hong/political-polarization-twitter-social-media-may-contribute-online-extremism

there are niche micro arguments between people that have the same wants with different language and that's where classism comes into play with our language and the gatekeeping of regular communication

This video shows parts of how language can lead to pipelining and polarization.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baaMpTGC04U&ab_channel=Jubilee

What is the alt-right pipeline? 0n3ph Answered: it most often refers to a feature of the algorithm wherein maybe you start with a couple of sjw cringe compilations, then you get passed on to say Tim Pool or Jimmy Dore, and then on to maybe Sargon of Akkad or Steven Crowder, and eventually end up with neonazi content.

It means a series of stages presented to a viewer through the algorithm which slowly boiling-frog radicalises them into going full alt-right.

the ways that society is being polarized by trauma porn is making them feel like the largest public issues are what deserve the most importance but the issue is that we are moving away from collective action in places where our masses could actually do something good

[dwoistosc]

Heroizm to raczej nastawienie umysłu lub suma naszych osobistych i społecznych nawyków. To sposób bycia. I szczególny sposób widzenia samych siebie. Bycie bohaterem wymaga podejmowania skutecznego działania w kluczowych momentach naszego życia, aktywnych prób przeciwstawienia się niesprawiedliwości lub dokonania pozytywnej zmiany w świecie. Bycie bohaterem wymaga ogromnej moralnej odwagi. Każdy z nas ma w sobie wewnętrznego bohatera, który czeka, by znaleźć dla siebie sposób wyrazu.

– Philip G. Zimbardo

[upseducation]

History of the Day

Philip P G Zimbardo: "The man behind the Stanford Prison Experiment."

#historyofpsychology#psychology#thisdayinpsychology#psychologycoaching#psychologyentranceexam#mapsychology#upseducation#coaching#Psychologyeducation#arvindotta#psychologystudent#psychologymajor#psychologytoday#psychologyclass#psychologyofeating#psychology101#psychologyfacts

[aronarchy]

Since original thread has been deleted:

https://web.archive.org/web/20210604230353/https://twitter.com/butchanarchy/status/1400950658522513409

You might know that Broken Windows Theory plays a major role in modern day policing. But did you also know that it’s based on a total distortion of the original experiment it was based off of?

Thread:

The broken windows theory, developed by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, states that visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior, and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes.

They based their conclusions entirely on a 1969 study published by social psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo, a study which, Wilson and Kelling state, proved that “one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.” But did it?

In Wilson & Kelling’s telling, Zimbardo placed one car in the South Bronx, one in Palo Alto, CA. The one in the Bronx was vandalized in minutes. The car in Palo Alto sat untouched for a week, then Zimbardo smashed part of it with a sledgehammer. Soon, passersby were joining in.

Buuuuuuut, it turns out that’s not actually what happened! Nor was that what Zimbardo was trying to prove! In fact, he was out to demonstrate the social causes of vandalism and disprove conservative ideas that it was the result of individual/cultural pathology.

Yes, the car in the Bronx was taken apart in short order. (And it should be noted that the first “vandals” were a white and “well-dressed” family who removed the radiator and battery.) Within 24 hours, it was completely stripped.

This proved what Zimbardo had hypothesized, which was that “conditions that create social inequality and put some people outside of the conventional reward structure of the society make them indifferent to its sanctions, laws, and implicit norms.”

What about the Palo Alto car? That’s where Wilson and Kelling’s theory largely comes from, and also where it was most distorted by them.

Zimbardo parked the car in Palo Alto for one uneventful week. Then, decided to move the car to Stanford and “prime” it for vandalism by smashing out the window himself. Okay, that all tracks, when do the “passersby” join in like Wilson and Kelling said they did?

Well, it turns out the “passersby” were actually Zimbardo and his graduate students! Upon discovering that breaking the windows was “stimulating and pleasurable,” Zimbardo and his graduate students got carried away and trashed the entire car themselves!

“One student jumped on the roof and began stomping it in, two were pulling the door from its hinges, another hammered away at the hood and motor, while the last one broke all the glass he could find.”

It was only after they had totally wrecked it that any real passerby joined in.

So it wasn’t the presence of a broken window that made people join the destruction of the car (which is the basis for the entire broken windows theory), but watching a professor and his students trash a car in the middle of campus! Bc literally who wouldn’t join in on that??

After these experiments, Zimbardo concluded that anyone could be lured into vandalism by crowd mentality, anonymity, and especially by social inequities. He wrote that “Vandalism is a rebellion with a cause.”

Wilson and Kelling distorted Zimbardo’s experiment to sell the idea that if every community didn’t embrace broken windows policing, then their own communities would end up just like the South Bronx.

Which no one should have to tell you has racism at its root.

[i-said-no-zimbardo]

Ψ Happy Birthday, Philip Zimbardo! Ψ

Zimbardo isn’t just my url; he’s a notable psychologist who was deeply interested in the good and evil nature of humans. 

A few quick facts about him:

He was born in New York City to a family of Sicilian immigrants. He faced many prejudices, which is what sparked his interest in human behavior (x)

He had a triple major in psychology, sociology, and anthropology (x)

He was a professor at several universities, including Yale (x)

He ran the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971, which not only provided raw insight into the dark nature of human behavior, but also helped paved the way for the ALA’s ethical guidelines (x)

He wrote The Lucifer Effect, The Time Paradox, and The Time Cure (x)

Someone made a crocheted doll of him named Zimby (photo)

He turns 85 today. Keep going strong, Zimbardo!

[1five1two]

When a power elite wants to destroy an enemy nation, it turns to propaganda experts to fashion a program of hate. What does it take for the citizens of one society to hate the citizens of another society to the degree that they want to segregate them, torment them, even kill them? It requires a “hostile imagination,” a psychological construction embedded deeply in their minds by propaganda that transforms those others into “The Enemy.” That image is a soldier’s most powerful motive, one that loads his rifle with ammunition of hate and fear. The image of a dreaded enemy threatening one’s personal well-being and the society’s national security emboldens mothers and fathers to send sons to war and empowers governments to rearrange priorities to turn plowshares into swords of destruction.

Philip G. Zimbardo

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Faith Yen interviewed by Caleb Maupin

Twitter: www.twitter.com/faithy3n Instagram: www.instagram.com/faithy3n

“I was 18 when I got kicked out of HQ. I was 19 when I started breaking rules but was still mentally in. I was 25 when I realized I was completely mentally out and had a Neo in the Matrix panic attack.”

Faith Yen Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC2eGLsbToZ5so4VVpRuJPw

_________________________________________________

Shamanism is at the heart of Sun Myung Moon’s church

Sun Myung Moon organization activities in Central & South America

The Dark Side of True World Foods – owned by the Moonies

Sushi and Rev. Moon – Chicago Tribune special 2006

Sun Myung Moon could have spent a second spell in a US jail in 2007 – for encouraging poaching baby leopard sharks

United States Congressional investigation of Moon’s organization

Gifts of Deceit: Sun Myung Moon and Koreagate – Robert Boettcher

Moon Church human trafficking is despicable

The Moon Church schism explained

‘Will they let us live?’ Inside Xinjiang, survivors of China’s internment camps speak – Los Angeles Times   Dec 17, 2020

_________________________________________________

Cult Indoctrination – and the Road to Recovery

Contents

1. VIDEO: Why do people join cults? – Janja Lalich 2. PODCAST: The Cult Vault – Introduction to the Study of Cults by Kaycee 3. VIDEO: The BITE model of Steve Hassan / The Influence Continuum 4. Father Kent Burtner on manipulation of the emotions by the UC 5. VIDEO: Terror, Love and Brainwashing ft. Alexandra Stein 6. Robert Jay Lifton’s Eight Criteria of Thought Reform 7. VIDEO: The Wrong Way Home . An analysis of Dr Arthur J. Deikman’s book on cult behavior 8. Cult Indoctrination through Psychological Manipulation by Professor Kimiaki Nishida 9. Towards a Demystified and Disinterested Scientific Theory of Brainwashing (extracts) by Benjamin Zablocki 10. Psyching Out the Cults’ Collective Mania by Louis Jolyon West and Richard Delgado 11. Book: Take Back Your Life by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias (2009) 12. VIDEO: Paul Morantz on Cults, Thought Reform, Coercive Persuasion and Confession 13. PODCAST: Ford Greene, Attorney and former UC member, on Sun Myung Moon 14. VIDEO: Steve Hassan interviewed by Chris Shelton 15. VIDEO: Conformity by TheraminTrees 16. VIDEO: Instruction Manual for Life by TheraminTrees 17. The Social Organization of Recruitment in the Unification Church – PDF by David Frank Taylor, M.A., July 1978, Sociology 18. Mind Control: Psychological Reality Or Mindless Rhetoric? by Philip G. Zimbardo, Ph.D., President, American Psychological Association 19. Socialization techniques through which Moon church members were able to influence by Geri-Ann Galanti, Ph.D. 20. VIDEO: Recovery from RTS (Religious Trauma Syndrome) by Marlene Winell 21. VIDEO: ICSA – After the cult 22. “How do you know I’m not the world’s worst con man or swindler?” – Sun Myung Moon 23. VIDEO: What Is A Cult? CuriosityStream 24. VIDEO: The Space Between Self-Esteem and Self Compassion by Kristin Neff 25. Bibliography

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6. Robert Jay Lifton’s Eight Criteria of Thought Reform

“I wish to suggest a set of criteria against which any environment may be judged — a basis for answering the ever-recurring question: “Isn’t this just like ‘brainwashing’?” – Robert Jay Lifton

“Ideological Totalism” is Chapter 22 of Robert Jay Lifton’s book, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of ‘brainwashing’ in China

Dr. Lifton, a psychiatrist and author, has studied the psychology of extremism for decades. He is renowned for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of war and political violence and for his theory of thought reform. Lifton testified at the 1976 bank robbery trial of Patty Hearst about the theory of “coercive persuasion.”

His theories — including the often-referred to 8 criteria described below — are used and expanded upon by many cult experts.

First published in 1961, his book was reprinted in 1989 by the University of North Carolina Press. From Chapter 22:

8 CRITERIA AGAINST WHICH ANY ENVIRONMENT MAY BE JUDGED:

Milieu Control – The control of information and communication.

Mystical Manipulation – The manipulation of experiences that appear spontaneous but in fact were planned and orchestrated.

The Demand for Purity – The world is viewed as black and white and the members are constantly exhorted to conform to the ideology of the group and strive for perfection.

The Cult of Confession – Sins, as defined by the group, are to be confessed either to a personal monitor or publicly to the group.

The Sacred Science – The group’s doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute.

Loading the Language – The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand.

Doctrine over person – The member’s personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group.

The Dispensing of existence – The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not.

Eight Conditions of Thought Reform as presented in 
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, Chapter 22.

1. Milieu Control The most basic feature of the thought reform environment, the psychological current upon which all else depends, is the control of human communication. Through this milieu control the totalist environment seeks to establish domain over not only the individual’s communication with the outside (all that he sees and hears, reads and writes, experiences, and expresses), but also — in its penetration of his inner life — over what we may speak of as his communication with himself. It creates an atmosphere uncomfortably reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984…. (Page 420.) Purposeful limitation of all forms of communication with outside world.

The control of human communication through environment control.

The cult doesn’t just control communication between people, it also controls people’s communication with themselves, in their own minds.

2. Mystical Manipulation The inevitable next step after milieu control is extensive personal manipulation. This manipulation assumes a no-holds-barred character, and uses every possible device at the milieu’s command, no matter how bizarre or painful. Initiated from above, it seeks to provoke specific patterns of behavior and emotion in such a way that these will appear to have arisen spontaneously from within the environment. This element of planned spontaneity, directed as it is by an ostensibly omniscient group, must assume, for the manipulated, a near-mystical quality. (Page 422.) Potential convert is convinced of the higher purpose within the special group.

Everyone is manipulating everyone, under the belief that it advances the “ultimate purpose.”

Experiences are engineered to appear to be spontaneous, when, in fact, they are contrived to have a deliberate effect.

People mistakenly attribute their experiences to spiritual causes when, in fact, they are concocted by human beings.

3. The Demand for Purity The experiential world is sharply divided into the pure and the impure, into the absolutely good and the absolutely evil. The good and the pure are of course those ideas, feelings, and actions which are consistent with the totalist ideology and policy; anything else is apt to be relegated to the bad and the impure. Nothing human is immune from the flood of stern moral judgements. (Page 423.) The philosophical assumption underlying this demand is that absolute purity is attainable, and that anything done to anyone in the name of this purity is ultimately moral.

The cult demands Self-sanctification through Purity.

Only by pushing toward perfection, as the group views goodness, will the recruit be able to contribute.

The demand for purity creates a guilty milieu and a shaming milieu by holding up standards of perfection that no human being can attain.

People are punished and learn to punish themselves for not living up to the group’s ideals.

4. The Cult of Confession Closely related to the demand for absolute purity is an obsession with personal confession. Confession is carried beyond its ordinary religious, legal, and therapeutic expressions to the point of becoming a cult in itself. (Page 425.) Public confessional periods are used to get members to verbalize and discuss their innermost fears and anxieties as well as past imperfections.

The environment demands that personal boundaries are destroyed and that every thought, feeling, or action that does not conform with the group’s rules be confessed.

Members have little or no privacy, physically or mentally.

5. Aura of Sacred Science The totalist milieu maintains an aura of sacredness around its basic dogma, holding it out as an ultimate moral vision for the ordering of human existence. This sacredness is evident in the prohibition (whether or not explicit) against the questioning of basic assumptions, and in the reverence which is demanded for the originators of the Word, the present bearers of the Word, and the Word itself. While thus transcending ordinary concerns of logic, however, the milieu at the same time makes an exaggerated claim of airtight logic, of absolute “scientific” precision. Thus the ultimate moral vision becomes an ultimate science; and the man who dares to criticize it, or to harbor even unspoken alternative ideas, becomes not only immoral and irreverent, but also “unscientific”. In this way, the philosopher kings of modern ideological totalism reinforce their authority by claiming to share in the rich and respected heritage of natural science. (Pages 427-428.) The cult advances the idea that the cult’s laws, rules and regulations are absolute and, therefore, to be followed automatically.

The group’s belief is that their dogma is absolutely scientific and morally true.

No alternative viewpoint is allowed.

No questioning of the dogma is permitted.

6. Loading the Language The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. [Slogans] The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. The cult invents a new vocabulary, giving well-known words special new meanings, making them into trite clichés. The clichés become “ultimate terms”, either “god terms”, representative of ultimate good, or “devil terms”, representative of ultimate evil. Totalist language, then, is repetitiously centered on all-encompassing jargon, prematurely abstract, highly categorical, relentlessly judging, and to anyone but its most devoted advocate, deadly dull: the language of non-thought. (Page 429.)

Controlling words helps to control people’s thoughts.

The group uses black-or-white thinking and thought-terminating clichés.

The special words constrict rather than expand human understanding.

Non-members cannot simply comprehend what cult members are talking about.

7. Doctrine over Person Another characteristic feature of ideological totalism: the subordination of human experience to the claims of doctrine. (Page 430.) Past experience and values are invalid if they conflict with the new cult morality.

The value of individuals is insignificant when compared to the value of the group.

Past historical events are retrospectively altered, wholly rewritten, or ignored to make them consistent with doctrinal logic.

No matter what a person experiences, it is belief in the dogma which is important.

Group belief supersedes individual conscience and integrity.

8. Dispensed Existence The totalist environment draws a sharp line between those whose right to existence can be recognized, and those who possess no such right. Lifton gave a Communist example:
In thought reform, as in Chinese Communist practice generally, the world is divided into “the people” (defined as “the working class, the peasant class, the petite bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie”), and “the reactionaries” or “the lackies of imperialism” (defined as “the landlord class, the bureaucratic capitalist class, and the KMT reactionaries and their henchmen”). (Page 433.)

The group decides who has a right to exist and who does not.

The group has an elitist world view — a sharp line is drawn by cult between those who have been saved, chosen, etc., (the cult members) and those who are lost, in the dark, etc., (the rest of the world).

Former members are seen as “weak,” “lost,” “evil,” and “the enemy”.

The cult insists that there is no legitimate alternative to membership in the cult.

The full text of Chapter 22 appears HERE courtesy of Dr. Robert Jay Lifton.

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The Cult Vault #1, 3 and 45: Introduction and The Unification Church

This Introduction to the study of cults is excellent and helpful for understanding #3 and #45.

[liberatingreality]

To be a hero you have to learn to be a deviant — because you're always going against the conformity of the group.

Philip G. Zimbardo

[blogology]

The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces.

(Philip G. Zimbardo)