Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.” Why did all those people die in Jonestown? “They drank the Kool-Aid!” Why don’t abused polygamist sister wives get the hell out of Dodge as soon as they can? “They’re mind controlled!” Simple as that. But it’s actually not that simple. In fact, brainwashing is a contested term that some of the psychologists I interviewed avoid altogether. Truer answers to the question of cult influence can only arrive when you ask the right questions: What techniques do
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