Some who joined cults in the '70s might have been influenced by their opposition to the Vietnam War and fears of getting drafted, for example.He also worries about the implication that "medicalizing" brainwashing could have on court decisions, which have traditionally not been very receptive to On one hand, Stein believes that proof of brainwashing is self-evident: "How do you explain Heaven's Gate?"
Steven Hassan was a college junior in the mid-1970s when he was recruited into the Unification Church, a cult also known as the "Moonies." ""We can be programmed with specific mind control techniques and methods to shut off critical thinking, to have irrational fears or phobias implanted in our minds that take away our choices," Hassan said.In his clinical work with former cult members, he said, he aims to increase their self-awareness through means such as having them research how other groups work and revisiting the memories of their cult experiences.When Stein left the cult in Minneapolis, her critical thinking "clicked back" almost immediately. "Whether it's the death of a loved one or some illness or moving to a (new) city ... that's going to create a vulnerability that then a cult recruiter can deceptively appeal to. I wanted to prove to my parents that I was not brainwashed or mind-controlled." Someone who is emotionally vulnerable, who suffered abuse or neglect as a child or whose relationship with their family is strained may be more easily converted, But Stein said that "the vulnerabilities are situational, not dispositional." Generated: 2019-12-31 11:00:03pm "Cults don't want people who are "disturbed" or unstable, because they can be more difficult to control, Hassan argued. Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. "It's like I had gone from a monochromatic experience to one with full color. Here, she mugs for the camera at the Federal Correctional Institute at Pleasanton, California, on January 31, 1979.Hearst holds up the executive grant of clemency as she leaves prison on February 1, 1979.
At her trial for bank robbery, Hearst said she had been brainwashed by the group and feared for her life, but a jury found her guilty.
"But she also experienced a lot of joy when she came out of the group, she said. On that night in February, Hearst was abducted at gunpoint from the apartment she shared in Berkeley, California, with her fiance, Steven Weed, seen here with Hearst. "I had a secret life that nobody knew about," said social psychologist Stein was 26 when she joined a political cult in Minneapolis -- the O, it was called -- though she didn't really realize it was a cult at first. He said he felt a certain empathy for her while she was on the run from authorities and later stood trial.Even Richardson, generally opposed to the term "brainwashing," said that "if you were ever going to use the term," Hearst's violent case is the closest you might get. It broke her down, she said.Richardson believes that some people are more susceptible to being recruited by groups like cults and new religious movements.
She was sentenced to seven years in prison. Security cameras captured this image of Hearst in the robbery. On the other, Richardson believes that people are looking for "a simple explanation" to a more complex issue.
On April 3, just two months after her kidnapping, the SLA released a tape announcing Hearst's alignment with the organization -- including taking the name Tania. The Moonies, he thought, were singularly tasked with saving the world.
"The concept of brainwashing continued to surface in popular culture with the 1962 film "The Manchurian Candidate" and the high-profile criminal trial of Richardson said her trial was "a real watershed event" that further solidified brainwashing in popular culture.Hearst's brainwashing defense failed in court, but her seven-year sentence was commuted roughly two years later by President Jimmy Carter. Everyones susceptible to brainwashing, the media has been doing it for centuries. "Brainwashing" is often used to describe when an individual or group uses coercive tactics to control another person Scholars are split on what might make some people more susceptible to "mind control" than others With her is her fiance and former bodyguard, Bernard Shaw.Hearst is walked down the aisle by her father, Randolph Hearst, at the Navy chapel at her wedding to Bernard Shaw in April 1979.
Yep.
What took longer was coming to terms with the previous 10 years, reinterpreting what had happened to her and getting her life back on track. "What was the chance Patty Hearst was going to become a bank robber without being violently kidnapped, thrown in the back of a car, put in a closet and mind-controlled for days and days?" "The nature of these groups, of isolating you, means that you have no friends on the outside," no job, no housing, she said. In an autobiography, Hearst details her abuse at the hands of the SLA.