[religious brainwash] Opening Minds The Secret World of Manipulation, Undue Influence and Brainwashing #6/57
The recruit is exploited to feel discouraged about the ‘ruin.’ ‘I’m sure you’ve tried everything, but nothing has worked.’ Confessionof troubles usually shifts the recruiter into a position of authority. The recruit will be willing to follow directions from this point, almost like Pavlov’s dogs, which salivated when a bell was rung, because they had learned to associate it with the offer of food.
Next, the recruiter will use the information from this confession to demonstrate how the recruit needs the group in order to make life better; Scientology recruiters call this step ‘bringing to understanding’. Sales manuals suggest that a story be made up to show sympathy: ‘I know a guy who had exactly the same problem. He took a few of our courses and everything started to work out for him.’ The ‘understanding’ is that the cult can solve whatever problem is presented – whether it is romantic, financial, work-related or spiritual – anything and everything can be resolved by the offered course, counselling or study programme.
The first course, seminar, or workshop will continue the love-bombing, while using a hypnotic technique to bring about a peak experience. Any form of repetition, mimicry or fixation can lead to a euphoric altered state. Chanting, drumming, group singing, visual fixation – as in meditation – repetition of a word or phrase (‘mantra meditation’), repeated movements, such as rocking, shaking, or walking meditations, all lead to an altered state.
Most people in western society are unfamiliar with the effects of eastern meditation, so they will be delighted and surprised by the euphoria that floods them. Almost every former member I’ve talked with had an initial peak experience, and spent the remainder of their time in the cult trying – and failing – to repeat it. It is likely that the peak experience is simply a release of dopamine or serotonin. These neurochemicals are the ‘reward’ system of the brain, and are released during sex and by alcohol and drug use. In a group setting, surrounded by approving people, cult techniques can lead to a powerful high in the new recruit.
Testimonials are demanded for reinforcement. In Scientology these are called ‘success stories’. This reinforcesconsistency: the more publicly and loudly you commit to a technique or experience, the more difficult it will be to repudiate it later. People trying to give up smoking are advised to tell all of their friends that they have given up, because, under the consistency principle, it will make it harder to admit defeat and light another cigarette.
We all suffer from confirmation bias, where we will justify our actions and dismiss anything that disagrees with us. There is a quality of inertia to all human activity; we keep going in the direction we’ve chosen. Delivering a testimonial reinforces the sense of belonging. Often, members will be encouraged to confess their former sinful lives in front of the group. Members will often divide their lives into distinct categories; everything good is attributed to the group’s practices, and everything bad is the fault of the individual.
This brings us to groupthink, a normal aspect of human psychology. Induction of guiltis a part of this, but the group will also induce phobias and disgust towards out-groups and critics. As Hitler said, create an enemy to bind a group together.
hard sell
Hard sell is used shamelessly in Scientology. Talking about the extremely expensive exorcisms that constitute the secret ‘upper levels’ of Scientology, cult leader Ron Hubbard said, ‘Advanced Courses are the most valuable service on the planet. Life insurance, houses, cars, stocks, bonds, college savings, all are transitory and impermanent … Advanced Courses … last forever and give immortality. There is nothing to compare with Advanced Courses. They are infinitely valuable and transcend time itself.’ It costs around a half million dollars to complete Scientology’s ‘Bridge to Total Freedom.’
In a dispatch called What is Life Worth? - The Importance of Hard Sell, Hubbard said, ‘HARD SELL is … a MUST in dissemination and selling of services and materials.’ He also said, ‘You tell him that he is going to sign up right now and he is going to take it right now ... One does not describe something, one commands something. You will find that a lot of people are in a more or less hypnotic daze … and they respond to direct commands in literature and ads. Hard Sell means insistence that people buy.’Further, ‘You have to be willing to invade privacy, very definitely ... [recruits] don’t have any rights!’
Scientology ‘registrars’ – the salespeople who sell ‘courses’ to the members – are trained using hard-sell expert Les Dane’s book Big League Sales Closing Techniques. Sales interviews can last whole days.