'Brainwashed" is a term you will have heard

James T. Richardson and Gerald Ginsburg, "A critique of 'brainwashing' evidence in light of Daubert: Science and unpopular religions," Law and Science: Current Legal Issues, Vol. 1., Oxford University Press, Pages 265-288.

Interestingly, it has been documented that experiments in 'brainwashing' undertaken by the CIA (using drugs and electro-shock) completely failed. Brainwashing attempts by Communist military organisations during the Korean also failed. Ronald Enroth wrote in 1994: "The American Psychological Association, along with nearly two dozen individual scholars and behavioral scientists, filed an amicus [friend of the court] brief in 1987 in behalf of the Unification Church in the California Supreme Court. ... The APA and its co-amici argued that there was little scientific support for 'brainwashing' theory. Both the National Council of Churches and the Christian Legal Society filed briefs in this same case." (Ronald Enroth "Friend of the Court or Friend of the Cult?," Christian Research Institute Journal, (1994) at: http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/web/crj0086a.htm) "Cult member" is a term you will have heard. While any football team (or indeed, their fans for that matter) constitutes a 'cult', when the term is applied to a spiritual or religious group it takes on sinister significance. 

Bob and Gretchen Passantino of the conservative Christian group "Answers in Action" have analyzed the Anti-Cult Movement (ACM) belief systems about New Religious Movements (NRM) brainwashing and have found them lacking in credibility. 

However, ACM promoters appear to believe that modern forms of mind-control within religious organizations represent a major advance over earlier primitive brainwashing techniques. The Passantinos question how relatively uneducated NRM leaders could succeed when highly trained experts had earlier failed. 

They wonder how NRMs can brainwash recruits in a week, while professionals failed after years of indoctrination. They quote the writings of sociologists Bromley and Shupe 3 which point out how absurd this idea is: "...the brainwashing notion implied that somehow these diverse and unconnected [religious] movements had simultaneously discovered and implemented highly intrusive behavioral modification techniques. Such serendipity and coordination was implausible given the diverse backgrounds of the groups at issue. Furthermore, the inability of highly trained professionals responsible for implementing a variety of modalities for effecting individual change, ranging from therapy to incarceration, belie claims that such rapid transformation can routinely be accomplished by neophytes against an individual's will." 

One good indicator of the non-existence of mind-control techniques is the ineffectiveness of NRM recruitment programs. "Eileen Barker documents that out of 1000 people persuaded by the Moonies [Unification Church] to attend one of their overnight programs in 1979, 90% had no further involvement. Only 8% joined for more than one week..." Another indicator of the non-existence of mind control is the high turnover rate of members. Eileen Barker mentions that there is a 50% attrition rate during the members' first two years. 

The opinions of former NRM members who have left on their own are clear. Barker comments: "...those who leave voluntarily are extremely unlikely to believe that they were ever the victims of mind control." 

The Passantinos conclude: "...the Bogey Man of cult mind control is nothing but a ghost story, good for inducing an adrenaline high and maintaining a crusade, but irrelevant to reality." 

The term "brainwashed cult member" may be a term you have heard. The combined force of those two negatively connotated words imposed on an individual can powerfully change how the world perceives that individual. 

The sad facts are that 'brainwashing' and 'cult member' are terms which are being used in the law courts to an alarming degree. The very nature of the emotive accusations combined with the strength of the 'brainwashed cult member' impression of the accused tends to diminish their basic civil rights right from the start of proceedings. 

The Passantino study states "Given the problematic nature of scientific support for brainwashing based theories as they are applied to participants in new religions, it is reasonable to ask why such evidence was ever admitted [into court testimony], and why it is sometimes still admitted. The most plausible answer has to do with the operation of biases, prejudices, and misinformation in these cases that involve controversial parties and issues or, as Kassin and Wrightsman (1988) say: cases 'involving emotional topics over which public opinion is polarized'." 

published 30/7/2011

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