My model of a cult is a mechanism that exploits various flaws in human thinking. For example, peer pressure turned up to eleven: if you leave a cult, you lose all your friends at the same moment. (In real life, one’s friends are usually not this coordinated.) The cult keeps you busy with all the cultish stuff, which makes the natural procrastination about important decisions (such as leaving the cult) even stronger. There is the initial “love bombing”, which prevents you from estimating how happy you would be if you joined. Etc.
Typically, a conversion sticks because an organization provides value to its members.
Disagree connotationally. (Also I am not sure what “conversion sticks” means precisely. If a person spends 5 or 10 years in a cult and then leaves, do we consider those initial years as a success, because the person did not run away immediately?) Yes, technically, the organization provides something, but if we want to get more specific, it usually provides promises that something very good will happen in the unspecified—but very close—future. It also provides something immediately, for example a social group, but I think those promises are very important for many people. So if we define “value” as promises that sound good but are never fulfilled, then yes, the organization provides the value to its members. But if we define “value” as the thing that was promised, then it does not really provide the value.
My model of a cult is a mechanism that exploits various flaws in human thinking. For example, peer pressure turned up to eleven: if you leave a cult, you lose all your friends at the same moment. (In real life, one’s friends are usually not this coordinated.) The cult keeps you busy with all the cultish stuff, which makes the natural procrastination about important decisions (such as leaving the cult) even stronger. There is the initial “love bombing”, which prevents you from estimating how happy you would be if you joined. Etc.
Disagree connotationally. (Also I am not sure what “conversion sticks” means precisely. If a person spends 5 or 10 years in a cult and then leaves, do we consider those initial years as a success, because the person did not run away immediately?) Yes, technically, the organization provides something, but if we want to get more specific, it usually provides promises that something very good will happen in the unspecified—but very close—future. It also provides something immediately, for example a social group, but I think those promises are very important for many people. So if we define “value” as promises that sound good but are never fulfilled, then yes, the organization provides the value to its members. But if we define “value” as the thing that was promised, then it does not really provide the value.