Many of us will never forget Reverend Jim Jones’ cult committing mass suicide in Guyana in 1978. He told over 900 followers that the government was planning to raid them and that they should therefore drink Kool-Aid laced with cyanide and other poison. The group did so. Until the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, these deaths were the largest deliberate loss of civilian lives in American history. The world was shocked, unable to comprehend how one leader could compel such mass self-destruction.
Around this time, on New York City streets, young neatly dressed followers of Reverand Sun Myung Moon, known as Moonies, used to stop to talk and invite me and others to free dinner at their nearby church. I was wary. They seemed spacey and odd, but nonetheless attracted thousands of followers, many of whom participated in a mass wedding of fellow cult members in 1982.
More recently, Keith Raniere was imprisoned after Nxivm, a supposed “self-help” group near Albany, New York, that he founded and attracted the heiresses Clare and Sara Bronfman, was shown to engage in sexual abuse of minors, trafficking, and racketeering. He forced women who joined the organization to have his initials branded on their pelvis, and serve as his sex “slaves.”
I have been recently thinking about these phenomena as countless observers remain baffled that half of voters continue to support Donald Trump and other political candidates around the world, despite clear evidence of misdeeds and the spread of disinformation.
Crucial questions arise as to how we should best understand, and respond to this immense unshakable faith. Recent psychological research on cults provides unique insight and critical context to make sense of such ongoing strong appeal.
Historically, many leaders have built cults around them. Pharaohs and Roman emperors declared themselves Gods. Recent leaders, too, often try to make themselves into divinities. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for instance, recently stated, “God has sent me here.”
Freud saw cults as reflecting “primitive” thinking. More recent research shows that they are characterized by several traits: a charismatic leader, often perceived by followers as divine, a shared belief system, and high social cohesiveness, strongly shaping the group’s behavioral norms. They generally see their leaders as super-human demi-gods who have The Answers. His followers claimed he was saved from his assassination attempt by God. As Trump himself once said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose voters.” Followers’ shared beliefs lead cult members to even sacrifice their own lives.
Over the centuries, such groups have arisen during periods of perceived social dislocation, devastation and other perceived deep existential threats to members’ ways of life. Norman Cohn’s classic 1957 book, The Pursuit of the Millenium, described how, at the end of the Middle Ages, as Protestantism widened, messianic cults spread through Europe, led by charismatic leaders who exploited the masses fearing that the end of the world was near.
Historically, these entities strongly fear outsiders and seek to hold adherents together by controlling boundaries. In general, to protect their borders, they strictly reject any criticism, since it can be destabilizing. They therefore seek to closely observe, regulate, and monitor members.
As a result of the practices of past cults, outsiders have fought back. Prior research shows that generally, these groups’ “defensiveness and paranoia…elicit a complementary reaction from the surrounding community.” Efforts at communication with wary outsiders “are often rife with misunderstandings and hostility.”
Given the rise of social media, current political cults differ in certain regards from past such groups, suggesting a new form of cult. Traditionally, these groups tended to meet in person, even living together, as Moonies and Jim Jones’ followers did. Yet today, social media serves to bind members closely. Unlike certain past groups, a current political cult can’t physically isolate followers from outsiders, but social media helps maintain boundaries, if more indirectly and informally, by harshly criticizing opposing perspectives and ostracizing any members who adopt these. Since these candidates cannot wholly screen out opposing information, they instead fiercely deride it as “fake news.”
These analogies highlight the degree to which millions of citizens do not want to hear specific policies, but to believe in something greater than themselves, beyond our daily mundane lives. They long for a deep emotional and psychological sense of meaning, to eliminate their existential dread. They vote from their heart, not their head.
Other candidates should thus also find additional ways to tap into these deep wells of psychological yearning and need.
Luckily, historically, cults tend to run their course. Eventually, reality bursts the bubble. Members die or become disillusioned, ultimately realizing that their leader is not God. In some cases, journalists or governmental officials expose the leader as a fraud, or as financially, sexually, or physically abusing members, as happened with Jones, Moon, and Raniere.
Hence, it is crucial to continue to fight to expose abuses and facts and push government action—to bring to trial cases against these cult leaders, with evidence revealed to both the jury and the public at large. We need, too, to still push strongly to show how leaders are mere mortals, partly by challenging disinformation campaigns. Much of the public has grown weary and numb, but that is the desired outcome of propagandists. Reality testing is crucial, but unfortunately, as I know from psychotherapy patients I have treated, must often be done repeatedly.
Eventually, the Moonies disappeared, partly because their leader was found guilty of tax fraud and then died. His two sons tried to take over his church but failed. Jones’ supporters all killed themselves. Once the founder vanishes, his replacement is usually not seen as god-like.
Ultimately, all cults run their course. But, alas, they can take years to do so. It depends on how the rest of us respond.
