This meaning coalesced in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the work of Robert Jay Lifton, a psychologist, who pioneered studies of thought reform (a practice colloquially known, if somewhat inaccurately, as brainwashing). In a 1991 paper, Lifton shared the following definition that remains gospel among anti-cultists: “Cults can be identified by three characteristics: 1) a charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship…; 2)… coercive persuasion or thought reform; 3) economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie.”
