In the early eighteenth century, the Mississippi Company, owned by the French Royal Bank, offered investors the chance to make enormous rewards by buying shares in the new Louisiana Territories in America. French currency came to depend on the illusory trade of this company. Many French people lost everything they owned to the fraudulent Mississippi Company, and the French currency collapsed. At the same time, British investors were gulled into buying shares in the South Sea Bubble. The Panama Canal scam bankrupted investors in the Victorian era. Clever, wealthy and accomplished people lost everything.

Dishonest dealings also factored in the Wall Street Crash that precipitated the Great Depression in the 1930s. Share prices were inflated in an ever-increasing spiral. With the Crash, the banks, which had poured investors’ money into this illusion, were forced to foreclose on mortgages; property prices collapsed. Later on, the same trickery happened on a grand scale with the banking crash at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Bankers really believed that they could package up ‘sub-prime’ debts and so give them value. Two economists were awarded Nobel prizes for ‘proving’ that the economy would never collapse again. Trillions of dollars leached out of the economy because of this belief. Once the mind is convinced, it continues in the same direction – inertia, the commitment of consistency, bedevils human belief.

This highlights another innate problem of such scams: if other people flock to invest, we will be very tempted to follow suit. However, just because the majority of people believed that the world was flat, it did not mean that Columbus would actually sail off the edge. Any examination of history shows that people can be brought to believe almost anything. So, Germans voted away the right to vote and put all power in the hands of a scruffy, small, dark-haired, brown-eyed Austrian, who proclaimed the era of the neat, tall, blond, blue-eyed Aryan superman. Fifty million people died in the aftermath of this group delusion. There is nosafety in numberswhen it comes to belief, and following the crowd often leads to catastrophe.

Scarcityis another well-known aspect of confidence trickery. This can be the insistence that we ‘buy now’ (or the computer will die) or the precious rarity of a ‘limited edition’ of 10,000 coins, stamps or porcelain mice.

We also tend to feel obliged to offer something in return. Charities will send a free ballpoint pen, a couple of cardboard table coasters or some name-tags along with a request for donations. This is thereciprocity principle. The supervisor who almost managed to scam me said he would fix my computer for free, and I should only pay if I was satisfied. The truth is that most people will pay up, after this seemingly friendly gesture, which is another way of building rapport.

cults in our midst

The techniques of the scammer have been elevated to new heights in destructive or ‘totalist’ cults. The term ‘totalist’ means the same as ‘totalitarian’, and refers to dictatorial leadership which allows no disagreement. These groups have proliferated in our society. Experts list as many as three thousand destructive cults in the US alone. Some claim to be religious or philosophical, some are political or offer supposed therapy, others promise revelations leading to wealth or success in relationship, yet others promise eternal life. There are even more ‘family’ cults: abusive, high-demand groups that form around a group of relations, even a small nucleus of immediate family members. Such a group may consist of a single follower, and be regarded as a marriage, but the dynamics of manipulation are the same.

This definition of a ‘totalist cult’ was arrived at by a group of experts under the direction of Professor Louis Jolyon West, MD:‘A group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing, and employing unethical, manipulative or coercive techniques of persuasion and control designed to advance the goals of the group’s leaders, to the possible or actual detriment of members, their families or the community.’²

There is a general belief that only weak people are taken in by these cults, but this simply isn’t true. Cult groups have no interest in recruiting incapable followers; they want the smartest and most capable. The majority of cult members are ‘fairly well educated’ and come from ‘normal, functioning families.’³It is not uncommon to find scientists, doctors and lawyers in a cult group. Susceptibility has nothing whatsoever to do with intelligence or education.

Most people join a totalist group at a time of transition, such as after a bereavement or break-up, or a move to a new town or a new job. Students in their first year away from home are particularly susceptible. When familiar habits and routines are disrupted, we become more open to new ways, and, when those ways come in a friendly, welcoming package, it is easy to accept them without sufficient reflection.

There is a very broad range of groups that create dependence among members. Some derive from traditional religions; others – such as the Teachers or the Sullivanians – are therapy-based. Some are simply business trainers, like est or The Forum, which also tout ‘self-realization.’ These groups have long since penetrated everyday life: today, almost every major corporation uses the training methods of such totalist groups. These may be called ‘team building’ or ‘assessment’, but, in reality, they derive from the control techniques developed by cult leaders, and are designed to over-ride critical thinking.

In this new century, the most notorious form of cult is the terrorist group, but the dynamics of cult involvement are also found in gangs, paedophile rings, human traffickers and even in some of our institutions. The horrifying child abuse scandals that have recently rocked the UK show how authority and unethical influence have often been used to maintain criminal and immoral activities, within institutions directed by both the church and state. This is possible because the same dynamics apply to all human behaviour, and, until we are familiar with those dynamics, we will continue to fall prey to them.

recommended reading:

Robert Cialdini,Influence

Pratkanis and Shadel, Weapons of Fraud.

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