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Cultic Manipulation of Its Members

In 1978, the world was shocked by the mass suicides of 912 people including men, women and children of the People's Temple cult at Jonestown, Guyana (Hochman, 1990). What is even more terrifying about this event is that it was not the first such occurrence, nor would it be the last occurrence of this cult-related phenomenon (Feldman, 1999). Most people typically respond to such events by dismissing these cult members as being gullible, stupid and masochistic individuals whose inner defects predispose them to the influences of cults and their activities. However, these perceptions fail to acknowledge the factors underlying the appeal of cults to peopleùmany of whom are intelligent and come from all walks of life (Zimbardo, 1997). Essentially, the questions that need to be addressed in looking at events such as Jonestown are:

Why would these individuals relinquish their conventional lifestyles to join cults?

How are the cults successful in manipulating the thinking of their members to influence them to engage in activities as drastic as mass suicides?

The examination of these questions surrounding the cultic phenomenon entails the consideration of the complex topic of the psychotherapy of science, myth and cult. In other words, through the exploration of the cultic phenomenon, the dynamic and complicated interaction between the field of psychotherapy with science, myth and cults can be shown. Even more importantly, how this relationship affects human beings from the psychological perspective will be illuminated. Before delving further into this discussion, it is important to define the four concepts in this paper: psychotherapy, science, myth and cult.

As defined by Meier, Minirth, Wichern and Ratcliff (1991), psychology is "the scientific study of the behavior and thinking of organismsà the study of how living creatures interact with their environment and each other, and how they cope (successfully or unsucces...

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Cultic Manipulation of Its Members. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 18:59, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1704258.html