Invitation to Psychology

ChapteR 10 Behavior in Social and Cultural Context 355

to the leader’s ideas. They are separated from

their families, are indoctrinated and trained

for 18  months or more, and eventually be-

come emotionally bonded to the group and the

leader (Atran, 2003).

These methods are similar to those that have

been used to entice Americans into religious and

other sects (Ofshe & Watters, 1994; Singer, 2003).

In the 1970s, the cult leader Jim Jones told the

more than 900 members of his “Peoples Temple”

that the time had come to die, and they dutifully

lined up to drink a Kool-Aid-like drink mixed

with cyanide. (The legacy of that massacre is the

term “drinking the Kool-Aid,” which refers to a

person or group’s unquestioning belief in an ide-

ology that could lead to their death.) In the 1990s,

David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidian cult

in Waco, Texas, led his followers to a fiery death

in a shootout with the FBI. In these groups, as

in the case of terrorist cells, most recruits started

out as ordinary people with no intention of ever

committing murder or suicide. Yet, after being

subjected to the influence techniques we have

described, they ended up doing things that they

once would have found unimaginable.

• The person’s problems, personal and politi-

cal, are explained by one simple attribution,

which is repeatedly emphasized: “It’s all the

fault of those bad people; we have to eliminate

them.”

• The person is offered a new identity and is

promised salvation. The recruit is told that

he or she is part of the chosen, the elite, or

the saved. In 1095, Pope Urban II launched a

holy war against Muslims, assuring his forces

that killing a Muslim was an act of Christian

penance. Any soldier or civilian killed in battle,

the pope promised, would bypass thousands of

years of torture in purgatory and go directly

to heaven. This is what young Muslim terror-

ists are promised today for killing Western

“infidels.”

• The person’s access to disconfirming (dis-

sonant) information is severely controlled.

As soon as a person is a committed believer,

the leader limits the person’s choices, deni-

grates critical thinking, and suppresses private

doubts. Recruits may be physically isolated

from the outside world and thus from antidotes

Recite & Review

Recite: Speak aloud what you know about implicit and explicit attitudes, cognitive dissonance,

the familiarity and validity effects, genetic contributions to certain attitudes, and persuasion tech-

niques used to recruit people into terrorist groups and various sects.

Review: Next, reread this section.

Now, don’t make us brainwash you into taking this Quick Quiz:

1. Candidate Carson spends $3 million to make sure his name is seen and heard frequently and
   to repeat unverified charges that his opponent is a thief. What psychological processes is he
   relying on to win?


2. Which of the following has a significant heritable component? (a) religious affiliation, (b) political
   affiliation, (c) political conservatism


3. A friend urges you to join a “life-renewal” group called “The Feeling Life.” Your friend has been
   spending increasing amounts of time with her fellow Feelies, and has already contributed more
   than $2,000 to their cause. You have some doubts about them. What questions would you
   want to have answered before joining up?
   Answers:

Study and Review at MyPsychLab

• A few things to consider: Is there an autocratic leader who sup3. c2. The familiarity effect and the validity effect1.

presses dissent and criticism, while rationalizing this practice as a benefit for members—for example, by saying to

• potential skeptics, “Doubt and disbelief are signs that your feeling side is being repressed”? Have long-standing mem

bers given up their friends, families, interests, and ambitions for this group? Does the leader offer simple but unrealistic

promises to repair your life and all your troubles? Are members required to make sacrifices by donating large amounts

of time and money?