Cults are a very secretive community that makes one very curious about how the thing works inside and what exactly attracts new members. The curiosity can be both fascinating and terrifying. The people who run such cults have a way with words and use other psychological techniques to join them. Apart from having some ideology that attracts people, some more things make people join these Korean church cults knowingly and unknowingly. Some such psychological things are as follows:
Use people’s low self-esteem
It is a fact that in a cult, there are all types of people from different financial backgrounds, professions, etc. But one thing that somewhat remains constant is that these people tend to have low self-esteem. Low self-esteem makes it easy to manipulate and break down their feelings and to gain trust.
Show illusion of comfort
Humans are always looking for ways to comfort themselves. When these cult leaders start promising things that seem to comfort one, it drives them to join such groups unknowingly. The comfort can be in the form of monetary support, eternal life, mental peace, and better health conditions.
Young minds
It is seen that a part of the cult is young minds that have had a good sheltered life, but at some point in time suffered a failure, failed to meet expectations, fear intimacy, or are constantly falling prey to the rat race. Such minds are tired of running every day, and when they meet people who offer mental peace, they become easy targets.
Showering with love
Recruits are usually low on self-esteem or feel less appreciated, so to make them believe that they belong to the cult, the leaders and other members shower them with love. That is constantly complimenting and flattering them. It is a sweeter form of psychological manipulation.
Mind control
The most important players who can attract recruits are the cult leaders. They have a way with words that enable them to convince people to join the cult. They brainwash people into leaving their possessions and connections to live a better life. The cult leaders use guilt, paranoia, and self-incrimination, to show that the cult can give them what they want.
Better than others
Cults seem to run on the ideology that they are better than the other non-cult people. They show that their beliefs are superior and, if followed, people will be happier than the other people who are not part of such cults. The leaders try to isolate the people from their outside lives and fill their minds with a sense of family, making them completely dependent on the cult.
Most of the time, cult followers don’t have any idea that they are part of one. Cults use such psychological methods, which make people start thinking differently but not in a good way. And once they leave the cult, it takes them years to regain trust and repair the emotional damages. No one has the right to take one’s freedom.
