Cults and the Impact on Family in an Social Psychology Approach - Research Paper Example

CULTS General Topic and Research Question New religious movements (NRM’s), also popularly known as cults, can have a great impact on the family. Oftentimes these cults rely on community organizations, seeking recruits, and creating a new reality for participants (such as prosperity churches) that can be detrimental to the structure of the family as well as the individual. This is of great interest to the people studying in the area of social psychology. New religious movements form the backbone of many religious institutions. A new religious movement is basically defined as a movement which is spiritual or faith-based in nature. New religious movements may also have a basis in ethics, theology, philosophy, or religion to some extent. Usually, but not always, new religious movements are part and parcel of Christianity. Groups such as the Branch Davidian cult is one example. Cults need not be destructive in nature, however. Many people who study social psychology have adopted the term “new religious movement” as a way of describing cults in neutral language. New religious movements may be communitarian, or they may be specifically spiritual or religious in nature. Usually what separates cults from other religious movements in society is their unique ability to isolate people from other social networks. This is where social psychology plays a crucial role. Since the family is deeply intertwined with society, the psychology of such groups affects one’s psyche. New religious movements are part of the dominant culture. Usually, however, new religious movements are on the fringe of society. There is much controversy over what constitutes a “new” religious movement. Some people use certain dates as benchmarks for saying a religion is new—for example, a religious movement that has occurred within the last 20 years or so. People generally also have come to realize that what constitutes the stipulation of being distinct from other religions as difficult to empirically analyze. Generally, however, the distinction between new religious movements and established religions is that although the religious movement may be seen as part of an existing faith tradition, it meets with some type of clash within the religion for its varying belief systems—and thus is not an accepted branch of that religion. II. Why the Question is Important This research question is important because the family structure as it relates to social psychology, is very fragile in this day and age. The way children are raised today relates much to the way the community is structured, who is involved in these new religious movements, and the altered perceptions of reality that these new religious movements can proffer. Since new religious movements can be variegated in terms of who is leading these communities, authority can be a problem. Also intimately intertwined in this concept is the family, which is caught up in the teachings, creeds, and organizational structures of the cultic literature. The question of cult, or new religious movement, membership, is one that is important to social psychology. Family therapy is seen to be appropriate to looking at the particular population of those who have been taken into cults and away from their biological family structures at a young age. In family therapy, as in all other methods of clinical work, professionals must be very sensitive to various styles of communication that are either culturally determined of an individual or belonging to a family group as a whole. Because the situation of cult membership or indoctrination has happened in the family in these cases, and has often replaced the individual’s real family, there may be residual feelings of blame and guilt that may affect values between the sibling and parent subsystems. This is why, once the family is together, it is so important for social psychologists working with this population to open the lines of communication and establish a hierarchy. As the structural paradigm states, “to reduce symptoms of dysfunction and to bring about structural change within the system by modifying the family’s transactional rules… the goal for families is the creating of an effective hierarchical structure” (Nichols, 2007). The potential for dysfunction, in other words, must be minimized. In terms of cultural values, the aspiration for success is important in the family. Cults are complicated groups that can also be seen as families from a social psychological perspective. “While it’s relatively easy to see themes in two person relationships, it’s more difficult to see patterns of interaction in larger groups like whole families. That’s why family therapists have found systems theory so useful” (Nichols, 2007). However, Family Systems may not cover all the bases for a victim of a cult, and this is why it is often good for the therapist to include other schools of thought as well. Of course, in terms of therapy outcomes, it is often better to think of separate schools and theories as having the same goals, rather than thinking of them as being inherently different. Often psychologists must also deal with themes of fear and brainwashing. These reasons may deter an adherent from leaving a cult even if the person involved in the new religious movement realizes something is wrong with the new religious movement in which they are embedded. Thusly, a plan of action should be taken by the person as to how to counteract the effects of leaving the cult, should the person be tried to be stopped by the organization and/or its members. Of course, this all relates back to the social psychology of the family, which is related to the experience of the individual. If an individual in a family is experiencing some sort of psychological trauma due to having been involved in a cult or new religious movement—or worse, if the whole family is undergoing a trauma—then obviously there are going to be diverse kinds of problems that surface within the family structure. III. Source evaluations: peer-reviewed Bader et al. look at cult membership in their empirical study, which is effectively a test of the Stark-Bainbridge Theory of Affiliation to explain cult membership against what may be perceived as the better interests of the individual when it comes to physical safety and comfort. This theory is contrary to the theory of brainwashing, which the authors criticize as incomplete. “Popular books on religious cults focus almost exclusively on the brainwashing model. Sargant (1957), for example, argues that cult leaders change their victims belief systems via "sensory overload," while Appel (1983) discusses in great detail the process by which cult leaders isolate potential converts, break their wills and, finally, force a new belief system upon them” (Bader et al., 1996). This shows how in a peer reviewed journal, sources are appended and referenced according to precedent. To sum up the article, cultic organizations usually organize amongst their local communities in order to garner general community support, but it is important not to blame the cult entirely; victims may have more choices than were previously thought, according to new models of understanding. Community support can range from garnering media attention to getting more known about the organization through word of mouth. Cults can be very destructive. “The brainwashing model assumes that cults somehow suppress potential converts ability to reason, thus ensnaring them into the group. Cults supposedly facilitate brainwashing by using such methods as sensory deprivation, physical threats, unbalanced diets, repetitive chanting, and childish games” (Bader et al., 1996). As mentioned briefly in this article, cooperative strategies are the lifeblood of a new religious movement’s ability to get information out to people. Congregational leaders are usually concerned about completing their religious objectives. This article shows ultimately, how cults interact within the context of communities can harm the family if they are detrimental to its development. Overall, these authors found reason to support Stark-Bainbridge Theory, which questions the status quo of brainwashing indoctrination. Robinson et al. also look at cults from the perspective of reasoning and impetus of cult rationale. “Schwartz and Kaslow also held that cults provide young adults who are becoming emotionally and financially independent from their families an opportunity to separate distinctly from their families” (Robinson et al, 1998). This is also related to the issue of groupthink, which is a type of conformity. The authors of the article found that separation from family had a significant relationship to the formation of cult following symptoms, but they did not find any sustainable correlation between the level of predisposition to conformity and the formation of similar symptoms. Therefore, the results of the experiment were generally mixed in terms of one hypothesis being retained and one being rejected. The authors put their results within a framework of existing literature explicitly in the experiment and the presentation of data, and find parallels and correlations between existing literature and their own conclusions and result. “The cult, replaces the individuals previous family support system and allows young adults to develop a sense of belonging and purpose for their lives (Wright & Piper, 1986). On the opposite end of the life cycle, older adults experiencing transitions from employment to retirement or from independent living to custodial care are targets for cults” (Robinson et al, 1998). Since the community is an overarching segment of the population in which many families are involved, cults play a large role in the life of the family. Many people worry that local authorities may be avoiding their responsibilities by not getting involved in cults that are obviously detrimental to families. Robinson et al. take this detriment for granted in their study. There is nothing necessarily wrong with being involved in a new religious movement. However, the impact that such beliefs can have on a family can be detrimental, especially if there is something illegal going on such as polygamy. These peer reviewed articles generally focus on theory testing of recruitment and the ability to retain in non-denominational groups. As is evident, a cult can have a significantly negative impact upon families with regards to recruitment. This is evidenced by the widespread general mayhem that is caused when peoples’ private lives are encroached upon for the sake of spreading a religious movement. Cults can be differentiated from new religious movements by their propensity for human rights abuse and demands of control over the member’s identity. V. Non Peer-Reviewed Source: Description and Evaluation Dudley’s article shows how cult networks can be organized in the open view of the community. “Such networks have been more carefully documented by Harold Dean Trulear in his national work with Public/Private Ventures. ‘Cooperative strategies enable... a congregation to multiply resources and develop relationships that maximize its efficiency in delivering services to high-risk individuals’” (Dudley, 2001). There are several groups, including prosperity churches, which seek to form alternate perceptions of reality. “However, in our ‘post-modern milieu’ there is…doubt about the effectiveness of…[p]arachurch groups, networks of megachurches, hordes of church consultants, and websites filled with ideological resources offer new paths and partnerships for the local congregation.  What this ‘new reality’ actually looks like from the congregational level [focuses the] research.” (Dudley, 2001) This article speaks of a new reality. In analyzing this article, local religious ecologies are examined. Prosperity churches in general try to lure people into the church in order so that they will eventually give money to the head of the church (i.e., the pastors and head religious authorities in the church). Prosperity churches, as shown in this article, can be dangerous in terms of new religious movements. Depending on what the church’s teachings are, they can be very detrimental in terms of what can happen to a family. One must keep in mind the differences between empirical and non empirical research. Dudley’s article is not peer reviewed, and represents a flexible design. Flexible and fixed designs also have different implications. Flexible designs tend more towards theory generation whereas fixed designs are more about theory testing, which shows how this experiment was more of a flexible design type. This is a generalization that can be made about these different types of designs, which have their respective advantages and disadvantages. Surveys and experiments are examples of fixed research designs, which are more quantitative than qualitative and have more aspects of this type of theory. Quantitative studies such as those in peer reviewed journals tend to rely on hard data and statistics that can provide generalizable results about a population (the population being cult members and others), whereas qualitative studies could be more of a case example or subjective viewpoint. For empirical results, peer reviewed sources may be more trustworthy than others. VI. Overall Conclusion Cults, or new religious movements, can be devastating to families. Not only do these cults organize within the community, but they also recruit and try to create an alternate perception of reality that can decimate the life of its adherent. There are people who have survived cults and eventually left them to lead fulfilling and generally unfettered lives. Recruiting in cults is widespread, especially among new and emerging denominations. “Although un-churched ‘identifiers’ with a denomination may be the best source of new member recruits for congregation of this denomination (or another in the same denominational ‘family’), unless they do so become involved in the ‘community’ life of the congregation, their identification per se does almost nothing to strengthen the denomination” (Lummis, 2001, pgh. 3). New religious movements, therefore, should always be scrutinized and their teachings should be taken with a grain of salt. There are three ways in which people can leave cults. They can either: 1) leave through their own volition; 2) leave through being forced out of the cult; or 3) go through deprogramming and/or exit counseling of some sort. All of these options are rather unfavorable, as they all involve the adherent receiving some kind of debriefing after having left the cult. Leaving can be so difficult for some cult members that it may constitute psychological trauma, as in the case of many cult members who require hospital treatment after their ordeal. Reasons for trauma include but are not limited to: the social and operant conditioning inherent in the religious believes of the cult; the avoidance of real-life responsibilities; having had good experiences with the cult; devotion to the leaders of the cult; investments of having put time, money, and resources into the cult; having fear of losing one’s status or salvation; having good interactions with other cult members; realizing that one’s time was wasted; and the new world one may have to face living without the cult. These are all genuine reasons people leaving a cult may feel, as though they are in severe psychological distress. That is why it is so important in the study of social psychology to ask the tough questions as to how cults are formed, why people get into cults, and how the trauma associated with leaving a cult can be prevented or counteracted. Obviously, not all new religious movements are necessarily cults, but not all new religious movements are necessarily particularly helpful, either. Just because an organization has legitimate claims about religious authority does not make such an organization correct in its convictions. All the claims put forth by an organizations members or leaders should be subject to intense scrutiny, especially when dealing with new religious movements, with which people who are members may or may not be familiar. It is important that one continues to investigate new religious movements and their impact upon social psychology and the family. VII. Questions for Further Investigation Questions for further research include not only what are different and emerging types of new religious movements, but how these movements are tracked. More research should be conducted regarding the effects of new religious movements on the family. Religious leaders should be held accountable to some sort of national standard if possible within the organization in which the new religious movement operates. Additionally, any plans that can be made to limit the spread of new religious movements that are detrimental to families’ overall well-being should be implemented. Questions for the future also must revolve around whether or not people at particular age stages are more or less vulnerable to cult membership, particularly among the young whose lives have so much potential. The stage of adolescence is generally seen to occur from the ages of nine to sixteen and is a stage of great growth that represents a transition from childhood to adulthood. There are many physical, emotional, cognitive, and psychological changes that occur in this stage, and from a perspective of stage based development, adolescence marks an important time period of transition which cults often take advantage of. Psychologically, the development of the adolescent typically represents a sort of paradox of independence and dependence, along with what some remark is an increase in self-centeredness which can have negative repercussions. There is also a lot of substance abuse that might be explained by a more specific look at this factor. There are many cults that have historically used drugs as a way of controlling their members through addiction, as well as exploiting the altered states of questionable judgment which many drugs can cause. REFERENCES Bader, C, and A Demaris (1996). A Test of the Stark-Bainbridge Theory of Affiliation with Religious Cults and Sects. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 35(3). Dudley, C.S. (2001). A closer look. http://hirr.hartsem.edu/bookshelf/dudley_article1.html. Lummis, A.T. (2001). Brand-name identity in a post-denominational age. http://hirr.hartsem.edu/bookshelf/lummis_article1.html. Robinson, B, and L Bradley (1998). Adaption to transition: Implications for working with cult members. Journal of Humanistic Education & Development 36(4) Thumma, S. (1998). Connectionalism beyond the denomination: local religious ecologies and beyond. http://hirr.hartsem.edu/orw/orw_thummaart.html. Read More