Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T17:22:55.712Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
Series:   Elements in New Religious Movements

Brainwashing

Reality or Myth?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2022

Massimo Introvigne
Massimo Introvigne
Affiliation:
CESNUR, Center for Studies on New Religions

Summary

The events of January 6, 2021 gave new currency to the idea of brainwashing. Some claimed that Trump's followers had been brainwashed, while others insisted that a 'deep state' had brainwashed most Americans into accepting a rigged election. Scholars who explain that brainwashing theories have long been rejected by most academics and courts of law find it difficult to be heard. Brainwashing nevertheless remains a convenient explanation of how seemingly normal citizens convert to unusual religious or political ideologies. This Element traces its origins to the idea that conversion to deviant beliefs is due to black magic. A more scientific hypnosis later replaced magic and the Cold War introduced the supposedly infallible technique of brainwashing. From the 1960s, new religious movements, more commonly called cults, were accused of using brainwashing. Most scholars of religion reject the theory as pseudoscience, but the controversy continues to this day.
Get access

Keywords

brainwashingmind controlmental manipulationcultsnew religious movementscult controversiescult wars
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in New Religious Movements
Online ISBN: 9781009029568
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 21 July 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abgrall, J.-M. (1996). La Mécanique des sectes, Paris: Payot.Google Scholar
Almqvist, K., Wallrup, E., eds. (2005). The Future of Religion: Perspectives from the Engelsberg Seminar 2001, Stockholm: Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1980). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed. [DSM-III], Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. [DSM-IV], Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
American Psychological Association (1987a). Amicus Curiae Brief in the Molko Lawsuit, February 10. www.cesnur.org/testi/molko_brief.htm.Google Scholar
American Psychological Association (1987b). Motion to Withdraw as Amicus Curiae in the Supreme Court of the State of California Case No. SF 25038, David Molko and Tracy Leal vs. Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity et al., March 27. www.cesnur.org/testi/molko_motion.htm.Google Scholar
American Psychological Association (1989). Memorandum on APA’s Activities regarding the Molko Case, July 12. www.cesnur.org/testi/APA_memo89.htm.Google Scholar
American Psychological Association (1996). Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Anthony, D. L. (1990). Religious Movements and “Brainwashing” Litigation: Evaluating Key Testimony. In Robbins, T. and Anthony, D. L., eds., In Gods We Trust: New Patterns of Religious Pluralism in America, 2nd ed., New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, pp. 295–341.Google Scholar
Anthony, D. L. (1996). Brainwashing and Totalitarian Influence. An Exploration of Admissibility Criteria for Testimony in Brainwashing Trials, PhD dissertation, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA.Google Scholar
Anthony, D. L. (1999). Pseudoscience and Minority Religions: An Evaluation of the Brainwashing Theories of Jean-Marie Abgrall. Social Justice Research, 12(4), 421–56.Google Scholar
Anthony, D. L. (2001). Tactical Ambiguity and Brainwashing Formulations: Science or Pseudoscience? In Zablocki, B. and Thomas, R., eds., Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 215–317.Google Scholar
Ashcraft, W. M. (2018). A Historical Introduction to the Study of New Religious Movements, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Asprem, E. (2020). The Magical Theory of Politics: Memes, Magic, and the Enchantment of Social Forces in the American Magic War. Nova Religio, 23(4), 15–42.Google Scholar
Assemblée Nationale (1996). Les Sectes en France. Rapport fait au nom de la Commission d’Enquête sur les sectes (document No. 2468), Paris: Les Documents d’Information de l’Assemblée nationale.Google Scholar
Bain, D. (1976). The Control of Candy Jones, Chicago, IL: Playboy Press.Google Scholar
Barker, E. (1984). The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Beadle, J. H. (1877). The Mormon Theocracy. Scribner’s Monthly, 14(3), 391–97.Google Scholar
Biderman, A. D. (1963). March to Calumny: The Story of American POW’s in the Korean War, New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Bowart, W. (1978). Operation Mind Control: The CIA’s Plot against America, London: Fontana.Google Scholar
Brain-Washing: A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook of Psychopolitics (1955), Los Angeles, CA: Hubbard Association of Scientologists International.Google Scholar
Bromley, D. G. (1998). Listing (in Black and White) Some Observations on (Sociological) Thought Reform. Nova Religio, 1(2), 250–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BSERP (Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology of the American Psychological Association) (1987). Memorandum to the Members of the Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control, May 11. www.cesnur.org/testi/APA.htm.Google Scholar
Cai, Congxin (2021). Church of Almighty God Members “Deprogrammed” in Jail. Bitter Winter, January 6. https://bitterwinter.org/church-of-almighty-god-members-deprogrammed-in-jail/.Google Scholar
Campion, A., Campion, J. (1999). Holy Smoke: A Novel, London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Chambre des Représentants de Belgique (1997). Enquête parlementaire visant à élaborer une politique en vue de lutter contre les pratiques illégales des sectes et les dangers qu’elles représentent pour la société et pour les personnes, particulièrement les mineurs d’âge. Rapport fait au nom de la Commission d’Enquête, 2 vols., Brussels: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique.Google Scholar
Collins, A. (1997). In the Sleep Room: The Story of the CIA Brainwashing Experiments in Canada, 2nd ed., Toronto: Key Porter Books.Google Scholar
Commission pénale sur les dérives sectaires (1999). Rapport de la Commission pénale sur les dérives sectaires sur la question de la manipulation mentale, Geneva: Commission pénale sur les dérives sectaires.Google Scholar
Committee on Un-American Activities (1958). Communist Psychological Warfare (Brainwashing): Consultation with Edward Hunter, Author and Foreign Correspondent – Committee on Un-American Activities – House of Representatives – Eighty-Fifth Congress, Second Session, March 13, 1958, Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Condon, R. (1959). The Manchurian Candidate, New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Corte Costituzionale (1981). Grasso. Giurisprudenza Costituzionale, 26, 806–34.Google Scholar
Corydon, B., Hubbard, L. R.. (1987). L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman? Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart.Google Scholar
Counts, G. S., Lodge, N. P. (1949). Country of the Blind: The Soviet System of Mind Control, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Court of Appeals of California (First Appellate District, Division One) (1977). Opinion (Sims, Acting P.J.), Civ. No. 41045, Jacqueline Katz et al. v. the Superior Court of the City and County of San Francisco, October 6. 73 Cal. App. 3d 952, 969–70.Google Scholar
Daube, D. (1969). Roman Law: Linguistic, Social and Philosophical Aspects, Edinburgh: The University Press.Google Scholar
Dawson, L. (2009). The Study of New Religious Movements and the Radicalization of Home-Grown Terrorists: Opening a Dialogue. Terrorism and Political Violence, 21, 1–21.Google Scholar
de Certeau, M. (1990). La Possession de Loudun, Paris: Gallimard and Julliard.Google Scholar
de Lange, A. (2000). Die Waldenser. Geschichte einer europäischen Glaubensbewegung in Bildern, Karlsruhe: Verlag Staatsanzeiger für Baden-Württemberg.Google Scholar
Bundestag, Deutscher (1988). Endbericht der Enquete-Kommission “Sogenannte Sekten und Psychogruppen”, Bonn: Deutscher Bundestag.Google Scholar
Di Marzio, R. (2020). “People Trapped inside Shincheonji”: Broadcasting the Darker Side of Deprogramming. Journal of CESNUR, 4(3), 57–69.Google Scholar
DIMPAC (American Psychological Association Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control) (1986). Report of the APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control. www.cesnur.org/testi/DIMPAC.htm.Google Scholar
Dimsdale, J. E. (2021). Dark Persuasion: A History of Brainwashing from Pavlov to Social Media. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Dulles, A. W. (1953). Brain Warfare – Russia’s Secret Weapon. US News and World Report, May 8.Google Scholar
Du Maurier, G. (1894). Trilby, London: Osgood, McIlvaine, & Co.Google Scholar
Duval, P. (2012). FECRIS and Its Affiliates in France: The French Fight Against the “Capture of Souls.” Religion – Staat – Gesellschaft, 13(2), 197–266.Google Scholar
Edelman, B., Richardson, J. T. (2005). Imposed Limitation on Freedom of Religion in China and the Margin of Appreciation Doctrine: A Legal Analysis of the Crackdown on the Falun Gong and Other “Evil Cults”. Journal of Church and State, 47(2), 243–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erikson, E. H. (1954). Wholeness and Totality: A Psychiatric Contribution. In Friedrich, C. J., ed., Totalitarianism: Proceedings of a Conference Held at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, March 1953, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 156–71.Google Scholar
Erikson, E. H. (1956). The Problem of Ego Identity. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 4, 56–121.Google Scholar
Estabrooks, G. H. (1943). Hypnotism, New York: E. P. Dutton & Company.Google Scholar
Fautré, W. (2012). Japan: Abduction and Deprivation of Freedom for the Purpose of Religious De-conversion, Brussels: Human Rights Without Frontiers.Google Scholar
Fautré, W. (2015). Toru Goto’s Case: The Legal Saga. Human Rights Without Frontiers, October 7. http://hrwf.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Japan2015.pdf.Google Scholar
Fautré, W. (2020). Coercive Change of Religion in South Korea: The Case of the Shincheonji Church. Journal of CESNUR, 4(3), 35–56.Google Scholar
Fautré, W. (2021). Japan: Supreme Court to Review Case about Donations to the Unification Church. Bitter Winter, January 26. https://bitterwinter.org/japan-supreme-court-to-review-case-about-donations-to-the-unification-church/.Google Scholar
Federn, P. (1919). Zur Psychologie der Revolution: Die vaterlose Gesellschaft, Leipzig: Suschitzky.Google Scholar
Feldkeller, P. (1947). Psycho-Politik: Zur Demokratisierung, politischen Erziehung und Säuberung, Berlin: Chronos-Verlag.Google Scholar
Ferrone, V. (1989). I profeti dell’Illuminismo. Le metamorfosi della ragione nel tardo Settecento italiano, Rome: Laterza.Google Scholar
Feuerbach, L. (1841). Das Wesen des Christentums, Leipzig: Otto Wigand.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1907). Zur sexuellen Aufklärung der Kinder (Offener Brief an Dr M. Fürst). Soziale Medizin und Hygiene, 2, 360–67.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1927). Die Zukunft einer Illusion, Leipzig: Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag.Google Scholar
Fromm, E. (1941). Escape from Freedom, New York: Farrar & Rinehart.Google Scholar
Galanter, M. (1990). Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gardner, R. A. (1992). The Parental Alienation Syndrome: A Guide for Mental Health and Legal Professionals, Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics.Google Scholar
Gardner, R. (2001). Book Reviews: Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism by Robert Jay Lifton, and Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyō, by Ian Reader. Monumenta Nipponica, 56(1), 125–28.Google Scholar
Gardner, R. A. (2004). Commentary on Kelly and Johnston’s “The Alienated Child: A Reformulation of Parental Alienation Syndrome”. Family Court Review, 42(4), 611–21.Google Scholar
Gillmor, D. (1987). I Swear by Apollo: Dr. Ewen Cameron and the CIA Brainwashing Experiments, Montreal: Eden Press.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, G., Richardson, J.T. (1998). “Brainwashing” Evidence in Light of Daubert: Science and Unpopular Religions. In Reece, H., ed., Law and Science: Current Legal Issues 1998, Volume I, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 265–88.Google Scholar
Givens, T. L. (1997). The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goff, K. (1948). This Is My Story: Confessions of Stalin’s Agent, Englewood, CO: Literary Licensing.Google Scholar
Goff, K. (1954). Strange Fire, Englewood, CO: Kenneth Goff.Google Scholar
Goff, K. (n.d.). Brainwashing: A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook on Psychopolitics, Englewood, CO: Kenneth Goff.Google Scholar
Gordon, T. (1723). Inquiry concerning Madness, Especially Religious Madness, Called Enthusiasm. London Journal, April 6.Google Scholar
Grady, C. (1987). Opinion. Copy in the archives of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions), Torino, Italy.Google Scholar
Groupe d’experts genevois (1997). Audit sur les dérives sectaires. Rapport du groupe d’experts genevois au Département de la Justice et Police et des Transports du Canton de Genève, Geneva: Éditions Suzanne Hurter.Google Scholar
Haack, F.-W. (1979). Jugendreligionen: Ursachen, Trends, Reaktionen, Munich: Claudius-Verlag.Google Scholar
Haddo, O. [pseudonym of Crowley, A.] (1908). How to Write a Novel! (After W. S. Maugham). Vanity Fair [UK edition], 30 December.Google Scholar
Hagopian, J. (2020–21). Pedophilia & Empire: Satan, Sodomy & The Deep State, 43 vols., Seattle: KDP.Google Scholar
Hassan, S. (2019). The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control, New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Hassan, S. (2020). The BITE Model of Authoritarian Control: Undue Influence, Thought Reform, Brainwashing, Mind Control, Trafficking and the Law, PhD dissertation, Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, CA.Google Scholar
Hill, M., Campanale, D., and Gunter, J. (2021). “Their Goal Is to Destroy Everyone”: Uighur Camp Detainees Allege Systematic Rape. BBC News, February 3. www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55794071.Google Scholar
Hobbes, T. (1651). Leviathan: Or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civil, London: Andrew Crooke.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (1951). Science of Survival: Simplified, Faster Dianetic Techniques, Wichita, KS: Hubbard Dianetic Foundation.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (1976). The Technical Bulletins of Dianetics and Scientology, Vol. II: 1954–1956, Copenhagen: Scientology Publications.Google Scholar
Hubbard, L. R. (2005). Games Congress (Lecture Series). Audiotapes of the 1956 lectures, Los Angeles: Bridge Publications.Google Scholar
Human Rights Without Frontiers Correspondent in Russia (2012). FECRIS and Its Affiliate in Russia: The Orthodox Clerical Wing of FECRIS. Religion – Staat – Gesellschaft, 13(2), 267–306.Google Scholar
Hunter, E. (1951). Brain-Washing in Red China: The Calculated Destruction of Men’s Minds, New York: Vanguard Press.Google Scholar
Hunter, E. (1956). Brainwashing: The Story of Men Who Defied It, New York: Farrar, Straus, and Cudahy.Google Scholar
Hunter, E. (1957). The Story of Mary Liu, New York: Farrar, Straus, and Cudahy.Google Scholar
Hunter, E. (1958). The Black Book on Red China: The Continuing Revolt, New York: Bookmailer.Google Scholar
Hunter, E. (1960). Brainwashing, from Pavlov to Powers, New York: Bookmailer.Google Scholar
Hunter, E. (1975). Timely Book. Tactics, 12(12), December 20, 7–10.Google Scholar
Introvigne, M. (1993). Strange Bedfellows or Future Enemies? Update & Dialog, 3, 13–22.Google Scholar
Introvigne, M. (1999). Deprogramming Kate Winslet: A Review of “Holy Smoke,” by Anna and Jane Campion. www.cesnur.org/testi/holysmoke.htm.Google Scholar
Introvigne, M. (2014a). Scientology in Italy: Plagio and the Twenty Year Legal Saga. In Richardson, J. T. and Bellanger, F., eds., Legal Cases, New Religious Movements, and Minority Faiths, Farnham, UK: Ashgate, pp. 25–36.Google Scholar
Introvigne, M. (2014b). Advocacy, Brainwashing Theories, and New Religious Movements. Religion, 44(2), 303–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Introvigne, M. (2017). Did L. Ron Hubbard Believe in Brainwashing? The Strange Story of the “Brain-Washing Manual” of 1955. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 20(4), 62–79.Google Scholar
Introvigne, M. (2018). Xie Jiao as “Criminal Religious Movements”: A New Look at Cult Controversies in China and around the World. Journal of CESNUR, 2(1), 13–32.Google Scholar
Introvigne, M. (2020). Deception, New Religious Movements, and Claims for Damages: The Case of H.E. et al. v Seosan Church of Shincheonji et al.Journal of CESNUR, 4(4), 49–68.Google Scholar
Introvigne, M., Mayer, J.-F. (2002). Occult Masters and the Temple of Doom: The Fiery End of the Solar Temple. In Bromley, D. G. and Melton, J. G., eds., Cults, Religion and Violence, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 170–88.Google Scholar
Jay, M. (1973). The Dialectical Imagination: A History of the Frankfurt School and the Institute of Social Research 1923–1950, Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company.Google Scholar
Johnston, J. R., Kelly, J. B. (2004). Rejoinder to Gardner’s “Commentary on Kelly and Johnston’s ‘The Alienated Child: A Reformulation of Parental Alienation Syndrome’”. Family Court Review, 42(4), 622–28.Google Scholar
Kant, I. (1793). Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der bloßen Vernunft. Königsberg: Friedrich Nicolovius.Google Scholar
Kelly, J. B., Johnston, J. R. (2001). The Alienated Child: A Reformulation of Parental Alienation Syndrome. Family Court Review, 39(3), 249–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kent, S. A. (2000), Gehirnwäsche im Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) der Scientology-Organisation, Hamburg: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg – Behörde für Inneres – Arbeitsgruppe Scientology und Landeszentrale für politische Bildung.Google Scholar
KKNews (2017). “反邪動態」美國、義大利專家赴鄭州進行反邪教學術交流” [“Anti-Cult”: US, Italian Experts Went to Zhengzhou for Anti-Cult Academic Exchanges], July 11. https://kknews.cc/society/rrr2m8o.html.Google Scholar
Kominsky, M. (1970). The Hoaxers: Plain Liars, Fancy Liars, and Damned Liars, Boston, MA: Branden Press.Google Scholar
Lee, B. X., ed. (2017). The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President, New York: Thomas Dunne Books.Google Scholar
Lifton, R. J. (1961). Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China, New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Lifton, R. J. (1987a). The Future of Immortality and Other Essays for a Nuclear Age, New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Lifton, R. J. (1987b). The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide, New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Lifton, R. J. (1995). Foreword. In Singer, M. T., Lalich, J., Cults in Our Midst. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, pp. XI–XIII.Google Scholar
Lifton, R. J. (1999). Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism, New York: Henry Holt and Company.Google Scholar
Lifton, R. J. (2019). Losing Reality: On Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry, New York: The New Press.Google Scholar
Lifton, R. J., Falk, R. (1982). Indefensible Weapons: The Political and Psychological Case against Nuclearism, New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Lockridge, R., Estabrooks, G. H. (1945). Death in the Mind, New York: E. P. Dutton & Company.Google Scholar
Malony, H. N. (1996). Brainwashing and Religion: The 1996 Integration Lectures of The Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA: Fuller Theological Seminary.Google Scholar
Marks, J. (1979). The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate,” New York: Times Books.Google Scholar
Marx, K. (1844). Zur Kritik der Hegelschen Rechts-Philosophie. Deutsch-französische Jahrbücher, 1–2, 71–85.Google Scholar
Maugham, W. S. (1908). The Magician. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Meerloo, A. M. (1944). Total War and the Human Mind: A Psychologist’s Experience in Occupied Holland, London: The Netherlands Government Information Bureau and George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Meerloo, A. M. (1949). Delusion and Mass-Delusion, New York: Nervous and Mental Disease Monographs.Google Scholar
Meerloo, A. M. (1951). The Crime of Menticide. American Journal of Psychiatry, 107, 594–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meerloo, A. M. (1956). The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control and Brainwashing, Cleveland, OH: World Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Meerloo, A. M. (1957). Mental Seduction and Menticide: The Psychology of Thought Control and Brainwashing, London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
Meerloo, A. M. (1960). The Dance: From Ritual to Rock ’n Roll – Ballet to Ballroom, New York: Chilton.Google Scholar
Meerloo, A. M. (1962). Suicide and Mass Suicide, New York: E. P. Dutton & Company.Google Scholar
Meerloo, A. M. (1971). Intuition and the Evil Eye: The Natural History of a Superstition, Wassenaar, Netherlands: Servire.Google Scholar
Melton, J. G. 2018. A Contemporary Ordered Religious Community: The Sea Organization. Journal of CESNUR, 2(2), 21–59.Google Scholar
Milbank, D. (2021). Trump Is Gone, but Marjorie Taylor Greene Is Keeping Up the Cult. Washington Post, January 22.Google Scholar
Moravia, A., Eco, U., Gatti, A., et al. (1969). Sotto il nome di plagio. Milan: Bompiani.Google Scholar
Motilla, A. (1999). New Religious Movements and the Law in the European Union: Proceedings of the Meeting, Universidade Moderna, Lisbon, 8–9 November 1997, Milan: Giuffrè.Google Scholar
Murariu, M. (2017). Totality, Charisma, Authority, Wiesbaden: Springer.Google Scholar
Ofshe, R., Singer, M. (1986). Attacks on Central vs. Peripheral Elements of Self and the Impact of Thought Reforming Techniques. Cultic Studies Journal, 3(1), 3–24.Google Scholar
Ogliaro, D. (2003). Gratia et Certamen: The Relationship between Grace and Free Will in the Discussion of Augustine with the So-Called Semipelagians, Leuven: Leuven University Press.Google Scholar
Orwell, G. (1949). 1984, London: Secker & Warburg.Google Scholar
Palmer, D. A. (2012). Heretical Doctrines, Reactionary Secret Societies, Evil Cults: Labelling Heterodoxy in 20th-Century China. In Yang, M., ed., Chinese Religiosities: The Vicissitudes of Modernity and State Formation, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 113–34.Google Scholar
Palmer, S. J. (2011). The New Heretics of France: Minority Religions, la République, and the Government-sponsored “War on Sects,” New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pasley, V. S. (1955). Twenty-One Stayed: The Stories of the American GIs Who Chose Communist China, Who They Were and Why They Stayed, New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy.Google Scholar
Patrick, T. (1976). Let Our Children Go! Boston, MA: E. P. Dutton & Company.Google Scholar
Pezzini, F. (2020). Le nozze chimiche di Aleister Crowley. Itinerari letterari con la Grande Bestia, Città di Castello: Odoya.Google Scholar
Pick, D. (2000). Svengali’s Web: The Alien Enchanter in Modern Culture, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Reich, W. (1933). Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus, Copenhagen: Verlag für Sexualpolitik.Google Scholar
Reichert, J., Richardson, J. T., and Thomas, R. (2015). “Brainwashing”: Diffusion of a Questionable Concept in Legal Systems. International Journal for the Study of New Religions, 6(1), 3–26.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1978). An Oppositional and General Conceptualization of Cult. Annual Review of the Social Sciences of Religion, 2, 29–52.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1993a). Definitions of Cult: From Sociological-Technical to Popular-Negative. Review of Religious Research, 34(4), 348–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1993b). Religiosity as Deviance: Negative Religious Bias in and Misuse of the DSM-III. Deviant Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 14(1), 1–21.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1993c). A Social Psychological Critique of “Brainwashing” Claims about Recruitment to New Religions. In Bromley, D. G. and Hadden, J. K., eds., The Handbook of Cults and Sects in America, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, pp. 75–97.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1996a). Sociology and the New Religions: “Brainwashing,” the Courts, and Religious Freedom. In Jenkins, P. J. and Kroll-Smith, S., eds., Witnessing for Sociology: Sociologists in Court, Westport, CT: Praeger, pp. 115–37.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1996b). “Brainwashing” Claims and Minority Religions outside the United States: Cultural Diffusion of a Questionable Concept in the Legal Arena. Brigham Young University Law Review, 4, 873–904.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (2011). Deprogramming: From Private Self-Help to Governmental Organized Repression. Crime, Law and Social Change, 55, 321–36.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (2014). “Brainwashing” as Forensic Evidence. In Morewitz, S. J. and Goldstein, M. L., eds., Handbook of Forensic Sociology and Psychology, New York: Springer, pp. 77–85.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (2015). “Brainwashing” and Mental Health. In Friedman, H. S., ed., Encyclopedia of Mental Health, 2nd ed., New York: Elsevier, pp. 210–15.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T., Introvigne, M. (2001). “Brainwashing” Theories in European Parliamentary and Administrative Reports on “Cults” and “Sects”. Journal for Scientific Study of Religion, 40(2), 143–68.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T., Ginsburg, G. P., Gatowski, S. I., and Dobbin, S. A. (1995). The Problems of Applying Daubert to Psychological Syndrome Evidence. Judicature, 79, 10–16.Google Scholar
Los Angeles, SAC (1956). Office Memorandum to Director, FBI. April 17. http://scientology-research.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/17-cv-03842-A-210-279.pdf.Google Scholar
Sargant, W. (1957). Battle for the Mind: A Physiology of Conversion and Brainwashing, New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Sargant, W. (1967). The Unquiet Mind: The Autobiography of a Physician in Psychological Medicine, Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company.Google Scholar
Sargant, W. (1971) Battle for the Mind: A Physiology of Conversion and Brainwashing, 3rd ed., New York: Perennial Library.Google Scholar
Scheflin, A. W., Opton, E. M.. (1978). The Mind Manipulators: A Non-Fiction Account, New York: Paddington.Google Scholar
Schein, E. H. (1956). The Chinese Indoctrination Program for Prisoners of War. Psychiatry, 19, 149–72.Google Scholar
Schein, E. H. (1985). Organizational Culture and Leadership, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Schein, E.H. (1993). The Academic as Artist: Personal and Professional Roots. In Bedeian, A. G., ed., Management Laureates: A Collection of Autobiographical Essays (Volume 3), Greenwood, CT: JAI Press, pp. 31–62.Google Scholar
Schein, E. H., Schneier, I., and Barker, C. H. (1961). Coercive Persuasion: A Socio-Psychological Analysis of the “Brainwashing” of American Civilian Prisoners by the Chinese Communists, New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Schein, E. H., Singer, M. T. (1992). Follow-Up Intelligence Data on Prisoners Repatriated from North Korea. Psychological Reports, 11, 93–194.Google Scholar
Seed, D. (2004). Brainwashing: The Fictions of Mind Control. A Study of Novels and Films since World War II, Kent, OH: Kent State University Press.Google Scholar
Shaftesbury, A. A. C. (1708). A Letter concerning Enthusiasm, London: J. Morphew.Google Scholar
Shterin, M.S., Richardson, J.T. (2000). Effects of the Western Anti-Cult Movement on Development of Laws concerning Religion in Post-Communist Russia. Journal of Church and State 42(2), 247–271.Google Scholar
Shupe, A. D. (1995). In the Name of All That’s Holy: A Theory of Clergy Malfeasance, Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Shupe, A. D. (2007). Spoils of the Kingdom: Clergy Misconduct and Religious Community, Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Shupe, A. D., Bromley, D. G. (1980). The New Vigilantes: Deprogrammers, Anti-Cultists, and the New Religions, Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE.Google Scholar
Shupe, A. D., Bromley, D. G., eds. (1994). Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective, New York: Garland.Google Scholar
Shupe, A. D., Darnell, S. E. (2006). Agents of Discord: Deprogramming, Pseudo-Science, and the American Anticult Movement, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
Singer, M. T., Lalich, J. (1995). Cults in Our Midst, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Singer, M. T., Ofshe, R. (1990). Thought Reform Programs and the Production of Psychiatric Casualties. Psychiatric Annals, 20(4), 188–93.Google Scholar
Singer, M. T., Ofshe, R. (1994). Summons and Complaint against the American Psychological Association et al., filed with the Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Alameda on January 31, 1994. Copy in the archives of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions), Torino, Italy.Google Scholar
Singer, M. T., Schein, E. H. (1958). Projective Test Responses of Prisoners of Wars following Repatriation. Psychiatry, 21, 375–85.Google Scholar
Solis, M. (2021). Do “Coercive Control” Laws Really Help Abuse Victims? The Cut, February 2. www.thecut.com/2021/02/coercive-control-laws-domestic-abuse.html.Google Scholar
Stark, R. (1996). The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Stein, A. (2002). Inside Out: A Memoir of Entering and Breaking Out of a Minneapolis Political Cult, Saint Cloud, MN: North Star Press.Google Scholar
Stein, A. (2016). Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Strassman, H., Thaler, M., and Schein, E. H. (1956). A Prisoner of War Syndrome: Apathy as a Reaction to Severe Stress. American Journal of Psychiatry, 12, 998–1002.Google Scholar
Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Alameda (1994). Order (Lambden J.), Case No. 730012–8, Margaret Singer et al. v. American Psychological Association et al., June 17. www.cesnur.org/testi/singer.htm.Google Scholar
Supreme Court of the State of California (1988). Opinion (Mosk J.), Case No. SF 25038, David Molko and Tracy Leal v. Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity et al. October 17, 46 Cal.3d 1092, 762.Google Scholar
Taves, A. (1999). Fits, Trances and Visions: Experiencing Religion and Explaining Experience from Wesley to James, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, D. (1986). Letter from Dorothy Thomas, Executive Assistant, BSERP, December 29. Copy in the archives of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions), Torino, Italy.Google Scholar
Thomas, G. (1989). Journey into Madness: The True Story of Secret CIA Mind Control and Medical Abuse, New York: Bantam Books.Google Scholar
Thomas, R. T., Richardson, J. T. (2015). Parental Alienation Syndrome: 30 Years On and Still Junk Science. Judge’s Journal, 54(3), 22, 24.Google Scholar
United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (1988). Opinion (Buckley J.), Case Nos. 87–7033, 87–7060, Robert Kropinsky v. World Plan Execution Council – US et al., August 5, 853 F.2d 948.Google Scholar
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1998). Opinion (Beezer J), Case No. 96–35050, Jason Scott v. Rick Ross et al. and Cult Awareness Network, April 8. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1097138.html.Google Scholar
United States District Court for the Northern District of California (1990). Opinion (Jensen J.), Case No. CR-88–0616 DLJ, United States v. Steven Fishman, April 13, 743 F. Supp. 713.Google Scholar
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (1993). Order, Case No. 92CV6082, Margaret Singer and Richard Ofshe v. American Psychological Association et al., August 9, W.L. 307782 S.D.N.Y.Google Scholar
Usai, A. (1996). Profili penali dei condizionamenti psichici. Riflessioni sui problemi penali posti dalla fenomenologia dei nuovi movimenti religiosi, Milan: Giuffrè.Google Scholar
USCIRF (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom) (2020). The Anti-Cult Movement and Religious Regulation in Russia and the Former Soviet Union. www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2020%20Anti-Cult%20Update%20-%20Religious%20Regulation%20in%20Russia.pdf.Google Scholar
Ward, M. (1855). Female Life among the Mormons, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Weinstein, H. M. (1990). Psychiatry and the CIA: Victims of Mind Control, Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.Google Scholar
West, L. J. (1989). Persuasive Techniques in Contemporary Cults: A Public Health Approach. In Galanter, M., ed., Cults and New Religious Movements, Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, pp. 165–92.Google Scholar
Winter, A. (1998). Mesmerized: Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Witteveen, T. A. 1984. Overheide en Nieuwe Religieuze Bewegingen. Groningen: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.Google Scholar
Wolff, H., Hinkle, L. (1956). Communist Interrogation and Indoctrination of “Enemies of the State.” Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 76, 115–74.Google Scholar
Wu, J. (2016). Words and Concepts in Chinese Religious Denunciation: A Study of the Genealogy of Xiejiao. Chinese Historical Review, 23(1), 1–22.Google Scholar
Wu, J. (2017). Mandarins and Heretics: The Constructions of “Heresy” in Chinese State Discourse, Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Yandell, K. E. (1990). Hume’s “Inexplicable Mystery” – His Views on Religion, Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Zablocki, B. (1997). The Blacklisting of a Concept: The Strange History of the Brainwashing Conjecture in the Sociology of Religion. Nova Religio, 1(1), 96–121.Google Scholar
Zablocki, B. (1998). Exit Cost Analysis: A New Approach to the Scientific Study of Brainwashing. Nova Religio, 1(2), 216–49.Google Scholar
Zhang, X. (2020). The Potential Illegitimacy of the PRC’s Effort to Distinguish Xie Jiao from “Cult” or “Destructive Cult.” Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, 11(1), 81–95.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Brainwashing
  • Massimo Introvigne, CESNUR, Center for Studies on New Religions
  • Online ISBN: 9781009029568
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Brainwashing
  • Massimo Introvigne, CESNUR, Center for Studies on New Religions
  • Online ISBN: 9781009029568
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Brainwashing
  • Massimo Introvigne, CESNUR, Center for Studies on New Religions
  • Online ISBN: 9781009029568
Available formats
×