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In Reply to: Re: Cult brainwashing vs mental conditioning posted by Oldtimer on September 04, 2004 at 22:19:21:
What you're forgetting is the process. No one joined the group and immediately went to a retraining camp.
It's sort of like a kid being born into a family, which exists before the new member arrives. The communication patterns are already in place.
You might assume that an adult who joins a cult is not as vulnerable as the child, and in some regards that's a correct assumption. However, the adult's need to belong is not a lot different than the child's, only different in that there's another reference point as to where the adult knows s/he COULD belong besides in the cult. However, because of control mechanisms, the group provides a more powerful construction of reality than the alternative social organizations.
Individual members who join "co-create" that cult reality through communication about their own fears of death, rejection, abandonment, punishment & their need for affirmation, acceptance, reassurance & security.
