It is not surprising, then, that former members of cultic groups may be prone to cognitive errors. So even though they are out of the cult, these former members are still in the mental box of their group. Moreover, the tendency toward magical thinking, which is common in cultic groups, may incline former members to seek out other sources of magical thinking. In other words, former cult members may retain some of the delusions, illusions, and misconceptions of their group’s members and leaders, sometimes even for many years after they have left. Although former members may have rejected the group's authority, they may still give authority to information sources favored by the group (e.g., a natural-healing website). Some of the cult residue relates to sources of authority. That is why people in this field will say things such as “He is physically out of the group, but not mentally.” They inevitably take a part of the cult with them. When persons who have been under a cult’s influence for a long time leave their group (for whatever reason), they do not automatically return to being the person they were before the cult. Furthermore, cultic groups know how to reinforce this change in authority through the clever and careful use of psychological manipulation-through guilt, intimidation, ridicule, isolation, threat, and so on. Though my example is admittedly extreme, the principal it illustrates sheds light on the often-asked question, “How can intelligent people believe that rubbish?!” They can believe because the leaders and members of cultic groups know how to denigrate a person’s current authorities (i.e., those whose statements the person trusts) and transfer that trust to themselves. I push aside questions and doubts, fanatically focusing on the thought-stopping chant my leader taught me. But my desire to please my leader and avoid his wrath wins out. I have an intense mixture of conflicting emotions. Even my good friend in Jerusalem is evil. Big mistake! The full force of my leader’s anger reduces me to a shaking, cowering child. I fearfully tell my leader about my friend’s photos and report. Even if I no longer trust the evening news, I trust my friend. Then he calls me and describes the destruction to me. My conflict becomes more acute when my friend, who happens to be in Jerusalem, sends pictures of the devastation to my phone. I feel some doubt as I watch the news in my living room in the United States of America, but I want to stay in my leader’s good graces, so I believe him, even if I have to will that belief a bit. He says that Jerusalem is holy ground and could not be struck by an earthquake. I used to believe the evening news, but cult leader X, who I believe has a special pipeline to God, tells me that journalists are a conspiratorial cabal that manufactures false news all the time. In many forms of cult conversion, one of the most fundamental changes is a change in authority. I believe my eyes, not somebody to whom I normally would attribute a high level of authority, of trustworthiness. ![]() “The media report must be mistaken,” I think. I see people all around me living life normally, honking the horns on their cars, riding bicycles, looking in shop windows. The US evening news that I access on the Web says an earthquake struck the place where I am standing, but my eyes tell me differently.
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