Don't Call it a Cult: The Shocking Story of Keith Raniere and the Women of NXIVM

by Sarah Berman

In Thinking, Fast and Slow, psychologist Daniel Kahneman writes about the difference between “system one,” our associative brain, and “system two,” our skeptical processing brain. Research tells us that the first system is quick and freely associating and linked to believing in a statement. The second system is a slower, more critical process “in charge of doubting and unbelieving.” One study by psychologist Daniel Gilbert found that participants made to hold a set of digits in their head while reading a series of nonsensical statements like “Whitefish eat candy” were more likely to think false sentences were true. “The moral is significant: when system two is otherwise engaged, we will believe almost anything,” Kahneman writes. “Indeed, there is evidence that people are more likely to be influenced by empty persuasive messages, such as commercials, when they are tired and depleted.”