Cults, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, are "systems or communities of religious worship that may include obsessive devotion to a person or ideal." In our society, cults are common and have the potential to be destructive. This paper will focus on the factors such as education, stake in conformity, turning points, and strength of local religious organizations that may cause people to join cults, as determined by Stark and Bainbridge. It will also discuss the methods used by cults to influence new recruits and current members. Cult leaders employ tactics such as information deprivation, extinctio

Essentially, I think the influence techniques and factors that influence cult membership prove that everyone is susceptible to messages from cults. Not only do cults recruit all types of people, they tend to target those who are talented and mentally stable in order to strengthen their organization. Therefore, society as a whole must be very aware of cults so that everyone can remain protected.

Psychological Abuse Scale. Paper presented to Division 36 American Psychological Association Annual Meeting. Toronto, Canada.

Another example of cults would be the Branch Davidian Cult that existed in Waco, Texas. This was clearly a case of a people who were vulnerable psychologically and were easy to be manipulated. It is amazing to see how one man can attract all of those people and make them believe he is more than just a human being and that he is someone who will take care of them forever. What made these people decide to leave their life in society and join such a cult, live in a compound sacrifice everything to live with this stranger?

Another set of characteristics of a cult is cited by Chambers, Langone, and Malinoski in their paper for the Psychological Association Annual Meeting in 1996. They discuss the methods of manipulation found by Singer and Ofshe in their 1990 study. The first tactic is to gain "control over an individual's time and thought content, typically by gaining control over major element of the person's social and physical environment" (Singer and Ofshe, 1990). A feeling of powerlessness is created within the individual and information is withheld from him or her (Singer and Ofshe, 1990). Finally, a "system of rewards, punishments, and experiences" is created in order to cause an individual to lose their original identity (Singer and Ofshe, 1990).

In a recent study, Chris Bader and Alfred Demaris use the Stark-Bainbridge theory of religion in order to determine what factors cause people to join to cults. In 1987, Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge created three hundred and forty-four propositions that explain nearly every aspect of religion, including why people join cults (Bader and Demaris, 1996). First, the terms sect and cult were operationalized as follows: "Cults are new religious movements-movements that have not split off from another religious organization" and "sects are movements that split off from churches because of a dispute over beliefs and practices" (Bader and Demaris, 1996).

A second method especially common in cults, is the drive for commitment and consistency. Once a person has made a commitment, he or she desires to be consistent even to the point of ignoring his or her own self interests (Cialdini, 1985). Society values consistency and especially if a decision is made publicly, a person feels pressure to adhere to it (Cialdini, 1985).

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1926
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)