Warping Reality: Inside the Psychology of Cults

Course Overview

Take a deep dive into the shadowy world of cults and reveal the psychology that creates charismatic leaders and their susceptible targets. Overview Course No. 10440.

Many of us have a deeply personal drive to seek inner fulfillment. We want to grow as individuals, explore our own potential, and make an important and lasting contribution to the world. It’s easy to run into groups that promise to help us along the way, and some of these groups are sincere. When a group, or even a charismatic individual, promises to help us meet our goals but then corrupts our good intentions for their own gain—when they exploit people in an organized fashion—that’s when you may have become a member of a cult. And it can happen much more easily than you might think.

In the 12 fascinating lectures of Warping Reality: Inside the Psychology of Cults, you will learn about some of the most widely known cults of modern times. But unlike any standard news reporting or documentary about the Peoples Temple, The Manson “Family,” The Branch Davidians, Heaven’s Gate, Children of God, the Unification Church, and NXIVM, your expert, Dr. Wind Goodfriend, will help you explore the psychology of these cults. How could these cult leaders have committed such heinous crimes under the guise of “helping” members in their development?

In this course, you will not only learn about cults, but you will also meet two former cult members who are willing to share their stories. They explain what led them to join these groups, what they had hoped to get from the groups versus the reality, and why they each stayed for over a decade before walking away. It is not the cult members who were interested in cult membership to abuse and betray others, but it is the cult leader who has lied to, manipulated, and used their members in fraudulent and violent ways. Learning about cults and the psychology of their leaders is the best way to limit their control over our communities, loved ones, and ourselves.

Course Lectures

01: Introduction to Infamy: Famous Cults

Thousands of cults exist in the world right now and they fall into five major categories: religious, political, self-help/pseudo therapy, commercial/business, and cults of personality. Explore seven of the most notorious cults in modern history—from NXIVM, most recently in the news, to the Peoples Temple, which culminated in the murder and suicide of 900 people.

Duration: 29 min

02: What Defines a Cult: The Eight Deadly Sins

Many scholars believe there is no clean and neat definition of a cult. Instead, you’ll learn why they judge eight specific characteristics of an organization as being on a spectrum of less cultish or more cultish. You’ll also meet two individuals, each of whom was in an organization for 10 years before recognizing it for what it was—a cult—and eventually leaving.

Duration: 32 min

03: The Destructive Nature of Cults

Continue to explore the eight characteristics of cults and learn why your professor adds one more criterion to that classic list. Explore the importance of describing cults as groups that are at least ultimately destructive—physically harmful or psychologically coercive—whether to their own members or to outsiders.

Duration: 32 min

04: The Psychology of Cult Leaders

Stereotypes tell us that cult leaders are fanatical, evil, power-hungry, sex-obsessed men. Explore a more nuanced and expanded psychological profile of cult leaders. These are the personality traits or circumstances that contribute to the cult leaders’ rare ability to amass a loyal following and their malevolent mindset.

Duration: 34 min

05: The Psychology of Cult Members

And what about the characteristics of cult members? Are they a fairly homogenous group? Is there one particular type of person who is most likely to fall prey to the psychological manipulation of a cult leader? As you explore the common traits of cult members, you might be surprised by how many of them are usually considered by society as positive attributes.

Duration: 31 min

06: Cult Recruitment and Seduction

Learn how cult leaders take advantage of the kindness and sincerity of their recruits by using tactics of manipulation and indoctrination. After promising that the cult will provide seemingly everything the recruits were searching for and welcoming them with effusive “love bombing,” what specific steps do the leaders use to manipulate both their newest and long-term members?

Duration: 31 min

07: Obedience and Commitment inside Cults

What are the indoctrination strategies that keep people committed to an organization that abuses them, sometimes for years? How can the leaders keep their members once they are on the inside and see the cults’ true behaviors? Explore three of the main techniques used by NXIVM, the Unification Church (“Moonies”), and Heaven’s Gate.

Duration: 31 min

08: Having Your Sense of Self Stolen

Cult leaders change their members’ identity, loyalty, and behaviors. Explore the four specific tactics cult leaders use to accomplish their goal—to steal each person’s sense of self. You’ll also learn about the social psychology theory called self-discrepancy theory and how it was used in the Heaven’s Gate cult.

Duration: 31 min

09: Cults as Abusive Love

Could an abusive romantic relationship be thought of as a “cult for two,” with one leader and one member? Explore the specific aspects of power and sexual abuse that are employed by both intimate abusers and cult leaders—in particular, by the leaders of Children of God, NXIVM, and the Branch Davidians.

Duration: 31 min

10: Escaping a Cult

Cult members do not easily walk away from the cult—even when they decide they want to. Explore the deep-seated fears cult members grapple with when leaving and the psychological processes that most cult members go through. And once they do break free? You might be shocked to hear what surprises them the most.

Duration: 29 min

11: Aftershocks: Healing and Finding Closure

What is life like for individuals who leave cults and move back into the normal world, possibly reconnecting with their families and living as independent adults? Explore the aftershock model and what it suggests about short- and long-term experiences after cult life. And learn the important differences between post-traumatic stress disorder and post-traumatic growth.

Duration: 30 min

12: Stories of Cult Survivors

Here, you’ll hear again from Alexandra and Tom, two former cult members you met earlier in this course. Learn more about how they became enmeshed in their respective cults; why they each stayed for a decade; and, for each of them, what was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back” that pushed them to finally leave.

Duration: 34 min