Here is the psychology of cults:
1. Cults, are deeply personal, secretive, and isolated and can be found all across the world and involve people from many different backgrounds, the rich and the poor, men and women, educated and non educated, young and old
2. Cults are attractive because they promote an illusion of comfort – Humans desire comfort, and in a fearful and uncertain world many turn to cults because they tend to promote exactly that (promises for wealth, security, peace, authority, total health and other)
3. Cults satisfy the human desire for absolute answers – Many cult leaders promote messages that are simple and seem to make sense, the exact opposite of what we’re often provided with in typical, everyday life, or mainstream religion
4. Those with low self-esteem are more likely to be persuaded by a cult environment – People with low self-esteem are easier to break down, then build back up in an effort to teach them that the cult is the supportive environment they’re looking for
5. Once people have been recruited by a cult, they are often “love bombed.” This odd phrase is commonly used to describe the ways in which someone with low self-esteem is consistently flattered, complimented, and seduced in order to train their brain to associate the cult with love and acceptance
6. Unfortunately, cults often reach intense, unhealthy, and inappropriate levels of closeness and “love” when they are preying on the weak. This often leads to sexual abuse, arranged plural marriage, child abuse, sex trafficking, harboring black mail, death etc
7. According to various research, women make up a whopping 70% of cult members around the globe, and this is attributed to multiple factors
8. Cults prove powerful because they are able to successfully isolate members from their former, non-cult lives. One of the ways cult leaders achieve this is to convince their followers that they are superior to those not in the cult. This “us vs. them” mentality ultimately leads to cult members isolating themselves socially from friends and family. They replace those relationships with new ones inside the cult.
9. Cult leaders are masters at mind control – Cult leaders convince their victims to separate themselves from society, give up personal possessions and sometimes huge sums of money. They convince people buy into whatever they are promoting
10. Most are the times that those joining the cults don’t have a idea that they are in the system.
