If members break group rules they receive a great deal of criticism or are shunned. July 3, 2020 Grooming isnt something a cult leader does secretively. Secondly, as all my other articles demonstrate, I have no issue with belief in God in itself, nor with any particular religion. While it may look from the outside as though there is a lot of fellowship, loving care and comradery between members of high-control and cult groups (something people often find attractive about them), their dogmatic commitment to abstract dogma, group priorities and group leaders creates distance between individuals and decreases empathy and trust among members, just as it does between members and outsiders. Then they are knocked down again with the suggestion that their efforts are not good enough. Thank you I really appreciate the effort you put into it and over all its very good. His or her thoughts, opinions, and belief system are considered to be the absolute truth. Moreover, the evil that is denounced tends to be closely associated with specific people and external groups. Dependency on the leadership. The behavior, provided statistics, and control options of, Expand section "1. If you cannot explain the dogma of your group without using rote learnt lines, clichs or asking a leader to help you, then you are very likely in a high-control group or cult. In a safe group, everyone has full autonomy over their own body and no one feels pressure to engage in intimate and/or sexual contact under any circumstances. Although control groups are more common in experimental research, they can be used in other types of research too. In such groups, members may be asked personal questions about their finances and asked to donate more than they would do voluntarily, or more than would be prudent given their circumstances, expenses and responsibilities. It had so many positives too. Then they compare the results of these groups. You experience fear and dread in relation to belief in magical beings such as demons or the devil, as discussed earlier. Good leaders are modest about their knowledge and abilities, acknowledging those things that they do not know. Those feelings and concerns are then fully addressed and where possible alleviated. These beliefs in supernatural beings and forces will not only frame the worldview of members but it will affect many aspects of their lives, in some cases, even to the point of obsession. The Ebook of Boba Fett Recap: And Now For One thing Utterly Completely different (Episodes 5 & 6) - euro-journal, Was ist eine high-control-group? In high-control groups there are often unspoken rules. They will be patient with your decision-making process, and will even tell you more than you want to know. Required fields are marked *. Individual well-being and human rights always trumps the rights of the group to outdated religious or cultural practices. 11 control group examples Here are 11 examples of common control groups that different industries may use in their research: 1. Model ideal behavior Make a habit of demonstrating behavior you want to see, as many studies show that modelling effectively teaches students how to act in different situations. Cults are a very real thing, yet they are insidious in how they present themselves. There are draconian and intrusive rules for members. Control groups are the customers who don't receive that campaign or go through a new customer journey. In many ways, high-control groups like this are far more dangerous than sensationalist cults because they are just as harmful but gain a far greater following, since they do not engage in bizarre and outlandish activities that would put off most prospective members. You pay the students in the treatment group for achieving high grades. Scientology calls it "security checking" or "sec checking." There is a dramatic loss of spontaneity, individuality and sense of humour in those who have become members. There will be no formal or informal/unspoken spiritual hierarchy, where the leader/leaders are put on a pedestal as being more holy, spiritual or wise than others. In safe groups, the leadership is democratic, and decision-making is shared with members. They conduct supposed faith healings, exorcisms or communications with the dead or with supernatural beings in order to reinforce magical thinking and the idea that the leader has special powers. Safe groups will never foster feelings of shame, fear and guilt by telling members they deserve to or should feel that way. Indoctrination or brainwashing is the process by which a group like this slowly breaks down a persons sense of identity and ability to think rationally and independently. Many safe groups use mind-altering practices for real benefits, practices such as meditation, chanting, prayer, rituals and movements or dance. Their accounts will be made available to all and will be independently audited. I make clear in the paper that the 25 points could apply to any group, whether religious or not. The hallmark of this practice is the use of thought-terminating clichs and religious platitudes; general, vague and overused statements that may contain a grain of truth but which in reality, are only true in certain contexts or metaphorically speaking. For example, researchers could study the effects of a new teaching method that was applied in some classes in a school but not others, or study the impact of a new policy that is implemented in one state but not in the neighboring state. Despite successful efforts to control meningitis in several regions of the world, it continues to be a significant public health issue, killing 250,000 people annually and leaving one in five affected individuals with long-term devastating sequelae. There are group activities, events and teachings centred on negative thoughts, emotions and punishment. They may even use technology for surveillance of group members. Starting a Process in a Control Group, 3.8. moving job, moving home, getting married, or becoming the member of other groups etc. The dogma taught by the group is contradictory, confused and internally inconsistent. Most cult members feel a lot of fear. There is no meaningful financial disclosure and no independent auditor. They may want you to keep your relationship a secret from other people in the group and ask to meet with you alone or in secret. The leader then becomes the mediator of worthiness and the foundation of the members self-esteem. In these designs, you usually compare one groups outcomes before and after a treatment (instead of comparing outcomes between different groups). There will always be mistakes and conflict, even in the best of organisations. Below is the list of characteristics that reveal the true nature of high-control and cult groups. Cult leaders convince members to forfeit their critical-thinking ability in return for a sense of belonging, authority and purpose. You will notice that there is a great deal of overlap between extremist and high-control groups. Those who have not been indoctrinated to the fullest extent sometimes become disillusioned and leave at this point. Members are encouraged to remove their children from personal and social education classes at mainstream schools or even encouraged to home-school their children in order to make sure they are not exposed to ideas, lifestyles and viewpoints the group disagrees with. Also, while all humans share certain needs, some of us need more in certain areas than others, and moreover, our tolerance levels in different areas will also vary. A safe group or safe group leader will expect and encourage members to remain in communication with their families and friends outside the group to the same extent as before they joined. February 24, 2020 by anastasia291 40 Comments. Indeed, safe group leaders usually state openly that participants are welcome to leave at any time if they feel uncomfortable. Its interesting that you mention universities and experts as foils to external cult / hc groups, because when we examine your characterisics, so many of them are evidenced and applicable. A member may be demoted from a position of responsibility, or even excommunicated, for minor infractions, or for expressing their true thoughts and feelings (e.g. The flow of information is subject to censorship and control. The group is paranoid about the supposed dangers of the outside world. A safe group applies reason and evidence in coming to its beliefs and developing its practices, and encourages members to do the same. If you belief Christian churches are the best example of a cult you can come up with, youve never seen a real cult (or were a part of one and didnt realize it). Last modified on Fri 21 Apr 2023 14.22 EDT. A safe group is completely transparent regarding its internal problems and engages openly with the press and law enforcement. All organisations require donations to upkeep their buildings, rentals and to pay for activities etc. I am certainly aware, having been affected by exploitation in academia to some extent (the endemic generational exploitation of junior academics by older, senior academics) that there are serious issues and social injustices to be addressed in the system. Members will devote their time and energies to group priorities such as evangelism and prayer. They encourage diversity and individuality. Access Control; Audit and Accountability; Awareness and Training; Configuration Management; Contingency Planning; Assessment, Authorization and Monitoring; Identification and Authentication; Incident Response; Maintenance; Media Protection; Personnel Security; Physical and Environmental Protection; Planning; Risk Assessment; System and Services In safe groups, members are very unlikely to feel guilt, shame or fear as a consequence of being in the group. Instead, they share alternative research and arguments from their own far less qualified and heavily biased sources, which would not stand up to rigorous external peer-review processes. They may appear to already know (or claim to know) things about you that you havent told them. ""My life was narrated for me by others. Eating a high-protein diet can help . Safeguarding measures may be absent altogether. False generalisations are made about outsiders and wider society e.g., that non-members are all dissolute, promiscuous drunks or that they are all set against the group etc. The Secular Liturgies Network is itself an organisation which seeks to bring together people who share a progressive and humanistic outlook, and to explore how this worldview can be applied to improve human well-being, meet our sustainable living goals and build cohesive communities. | Secular Liturgies, -: ( 5 6) freezpost.com, High Control Groups - Questioning Lighthouse International Group, Separating Families - Fear, Abuse and Control - Golden Dawn Tabernacle Church Research, Why do you love me? High-control groups often impose some kind of shunning to shame former members and prevent them from infecting other members with their ideas. They may make general pleas for donations or ask everyone to contribute a reasonable amount to cover a fixed expense from which they are all benefitting e.g. It could apply to a group calling itself Humanist, secular, progressive or liberal. Do experiments always need a control group? They may demote someone in a position of responsibility for minor cases of inappropriate behaviour but if anyone actually breaks the law, the group will immediately report them to the relevant external authority such as the police force. Even political organisations indulge in magical thinking, by claiming leaders have special powers, for example, the power to detect disloyalty and misdemeanours among followers. Sometimes this results in conflict with high-control religious groups which consider their dogma and traditions to be more important than individual liberties, well-being and equality. They are instructed to be busy instead with work that has no influence on group policy, work such as caring, cooking, cleaning and serving others. The group has a preoccupation with money. Even if you aren't part of a high-control group, feel free to take the questionnaire to rate the level of control in your club, church or other organization, or to rate the levels of control of a group you have left . They justify this by insisting they are saving people from an evil world. Definitions: A cgroup associates a set of tasks with a set of parameters for one or more subsystems. By mainstream press I would probably include all the news outlets that still encourage free and independent journalism and which are neither dominated by far right nor far left propagandists. The control group is matched as closely as possible to the experimental group, including age, gender, social class, ethnicity, etc. Members do not show more interest in and affection for others than they really feel; they treat strangers with respect and compassion but understand that it is only when you take the trouble to get to know another individual as your equal, with their own beliefs and experiences, that you have the potential to feel more deeply for them. Im not very well at the moment but hope to get back in touch when Im feeling better. If you sleep with the lights on or fear people with mental health issues because you think they might be possessed, then you are most likely in a high-control group or cult. However, if group leaders target and repeatedly ask individuals (as opposed to the group as a whole) for money, then you are most likely in a high-control group or cult. Youre encouraged to learn about the group from leader-approved sources which are notably positive and uncritical of the group. A common claim made by high-control religious groups is that liberal and secular societies seek to destroy them, when in reality, religious groups are protected by these societies. You are told to doubt your doubts or to accept them but view them as temptations coming from an evil external source, like the devil, or supposedly ill-meaning outsider groups. Scribbr. Metabolism booster and fat burner. A fundamentalist preacher once told me that wives need to be loved and husbands need to be respected. You either quietly distance yourself and watch from the side-lines, which may result in members becoming suspicious, perceiving you as lacking faith or commitment, or you may force yourself to take part in spite of feeling deeply uncomfortable and false. Just like a controlling partner, cult leaders like to know where you are, what you are doing and who you are with. Select New . Group leaders will encourage you to check things out but they will steer you only in the direction of approved sources, which defend the doctrine of the group. Even though I've written pieces of my journey, I decided I wanted to write a short summary of the experience of leaving the high-control environment I used to live in. It reinforces their fight against critical-thinking. The leader is the ultimate authority and is always right. For example, it is appropriate to have female-only meetings for women who have been abused by men, or male-only meetings to discuss experiences of prostate cancer or male suicide. For example, the leader of Universal Medicine targets women who have cancer, claiming to provide healing through things including inappropriate massage. For example, they convince you that there is nothing good about you because anything good you think, say or do comes from God and everything bad that you think, say or do comes from you. Select Save. Loneliness is a killer, so never give up on finding a community or communities where you can be valued and find value in others. I have some healing to do now, but I am so glad to be out of this. Some groups start out well and remain an overwhelmingly positive influence, or at least a benign one. You will not be criticised or penalised in any way for choosing not to take part or for leaving part-way through an activity. Even when a group does not break the law and is never formally classified as a cult or extremist group, it can still cause considerable and long-term material and psychological harm to involved individuals and their families. This ensures that the treatment is the only source of potential differences in outcomes between the two groups. Would you mind if I quoted your work on my own blog? There are huge amounts of harm, criminality and suffering that occur on an international basis, to a level of which no right-thinking society can tolerate or excuse. The group has no official forum or channel for critical enquiry or for formally raising concerns, complaints and grievances. Safe groups do not consider themselves to be superior or special in relation to other groups and outsiders, nor do they have internal hierarchies in which some people are considered more holy, worthy or wise than others. Members may even say that you will be hunted down and killed if you leave, and that they will never stop looking for you. The safeguarding official and procedures are there but not used properly. Instead, in the followers mind, as his or her involvement with the group or leader continues and deepens, these identities become increasingly and substantially fused. Both people were otherwise very positive about the article. You will here talk from group members how they have been chosen for a special mission. Control Groups and Treatment Groups | Uses & Examples. If there is a problem it is always someone elses fault. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The 25 Signs youre in a High-Control Group or Cult by Anastasia Somerville-Wong. Mutual respect and kindness are much clearer and healthier terms upon which to build a relationship or form a group! Rewrite and paraphrase texts instantly with our AI-powered paraphrasing tool. They claim these behaviours are in the interests of the group and even essential for the achievement of its goals. Nazi Germany is perhaps the most famous example of what happens when an ugly assortment of ruthless sociopaths has the opportunity to seize control and purvey a toxic ideology. Distribution groups (distribution lists) are used for sending emails to a set of . Obtaining Information about Control Groups, 2.4.2. Only the elite or inner circle of the group holds meetings to discuss the dogma, theology and practice of the group and its overall direction. They may recommend texts and other sources that support the groups dogma or show the group in a good light but they will not put pressure on you to read these or attempt to dissuade you from accessing wider sources of information. These groups are often very aggressive and mechanical in their recruitment efforts, going door to door, targeting certain vulnerable groups and repeating rote learnt lines and arguments. only male members or long-term members, this is just as concerning, since it is a clear admission on the part of the leadership that they are unwilling to hear or value the voices of many of their members. Only later do their actions, or lack of them betray the shallowness or falseness of that emotion. On the other, they make people feel ashamed of the way they are outside the group by playing on any pre-existing feelings of guilt they may be harbouring about the life they have led or something they have done in the past. The leader is unusually certain and dogmatic about this supposed knowledge, whether it originates with the leader him/herself, and is presented through his/her own preaching or writings, or whether it is revealed through the leaders interpretation of existing scriptures, teachings and traditions. In a scientific study, a control group is used to establish causality by isolating the effect of an independent variable. The leadership is authoritarian, charismatic and narcissistic, Safe groups include individuals and families with a wide range of lifestyles and cultures. Control group 1 gets an identical-looking sugar pill (a placebo), Control group 2 gets a pill already approved to treat high blood pressure. This is because so many of these churches are in communities which are themselves isolated and homogeneous and where people are not so often exposed to external people, perspectives and information. Remember, extreme cults can be closer to home than you might think. These enduring after-effects include seizures, hearing and vision loss, cognitive impairment, neuromotor disability, memory and behaviour changes . While a safe group leader may have disgruntled former followers, he or she will not vilify, excommunicate or forbid others from associating with them. You are taught theological dogma that directly undermines your confidence in yourself. Leaders behave in ways that they may have previously condemned and/or which they have condemned in others. Members are dependent upon the group or leader for problem solving, solutions, decision-making, definitions and even their self-worth. Many of the books, authors and other sources will have been critiqued and discredited by subject experts at mainstream academic and research institutions and by the free investigative press. Outsiders are demonised and dehumanised to the extent that their lives are considered of much less worth than the lives of members (or of no worth at all). a controlled experiment) always includes at least one control group that doesnt receive the experimental treatment. Viewing the Control Group Hierarchy, 3.7. After all, if people believe in the supernatural, its so very easy for a charismatic and influential individual to persuade them he/she has some sort of hotline to this being/force or some sort of special knowledge about it and what it wants etc. They are always listened to and taken seriously. Members feel deeply ashamed when they have doubts about the group doctrine or curiosity about the outside world.