Hi, I was raised mormon and was fully enveloped in magical thinking until I was about 27, 4 years ago. The process was alot more gradual than I can detail in this post, but here is a list of attributes of a cult by Hassan that you can use. Anyone familiar with Mormonism or with their missionary program will definitely see that they are a cult and that all religions are cults to some degree. For those that come from a normal background, it can be hard to imagine what these cults are like. Here is link that evaluates mormonism using the list below.
http://rationalrevelation.com/library/bite.html
Here is the list:
Steven Hassan
In *Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves* , cult counselor Steven Hassan describes his “BITE model”, stating that it is not necessary for every item to be present:
—————————
Behavior Control
—————————
* Regulation of individual’s physical reality
* “Where, how, and with whom the member lives and associates, what clothes, colors, hairstyles the person wears, what food the person eats, drinks, adopts, and rejects, how much sleep the person is able to have, financial dependence, little or no time spent on leisure, entertainment, vacations.”
* Major time commitment required for indoctrination sessions and group rituals
* Need to ask permission for major decisions
* Need to report thoughts, feelings, and activities to superiors
* Rewards and punishments (behavior modification techniques—positive and negative)
* Individualism discouraged; “group think” prevails
* Rigid rules and regulations
* Need for obedience and dependency
——————————
Information Control
——————————
* Use of deception
* Deliberately holding back information, distorting information to make it more “acceptable,” “outright lying.”
* Access to non-cult sources of information minimized or discouraged
* Media (books, articles, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio), critical information, former members, keep members so busy they don’t have time to think and check things out.
* Compartmentalization of information; Outsider vs. Insider doctrines
* “Information is not freely accessible, information varies at different levels and missions within pyramid, leadership decides who “needs to know” what and when.”
* Spying on other members is encouraged
* “Pairing up with “buddy” system to monitor and control, reporting deviant thoughts, feelings, and actions to leadership, individual behavior monitored by whole group.”
* Extensive use of cult generated information and propaganda
* “Media (newsletters, magazines, journals, audio tapes, videotapes, etc), misquotations, statements taken out of context from non-cult sources.”
* Unethical use of confession
* “Information about “sins” used to abolish identity boundaries, past “sins” used to manipulate and control (no forgiveness or absolution).”
———————————
Thought Control
———————————
* Need to internalize the group’s doctrine as “Truth”
* “Adopting the group’s map of reality as “Reality” (Map = Reality), Black and White thinking, Good vs. Evil, Us vs. Them (inside vs. outside).”
* Use of “loaded” language (for example, “thought-terminating cliches”). Words are the tools we use to think with. These “special” words constrict rather than expand understanding, and can even stop thoughts altogether. They function to reduce complexities of experience into trite, platitudinous “buzz words.”
* Only “good” and “proper” thoughts are encouraged.
* Use of hypnotic techniques to induce altered mental states
* Manipulation of memories and implantation of false memories
* Use of thought-stopping techniques, which shut down “reality testing” by stopping “negative” thoughts and allowing only “good” thoughts
* Rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking, constructive criticism. No critical questions about leader, doctrine, or policy seen as legitimate
* No alternative belief systems viewed as legitimate, good, or useful
—————————-
Emotional Control
—————————-
* Manipulate and narrow the range of a person’s feelings.
* Make the person feel that any problems are always their fault, never the leader’s or the group’s.
* Excessive use of guilt: identity guilt (who you are, not living up to your potential, your family, your past, your affiliations, your thoughts, feelings, actions), social guilt, historical guilt.
* Excessive use of fear: fear of thinking independently, fear of the “outside” world, fear of enemies, fear of losing one’s “salvation”, fear of leaving the group or being shunned by group, fear of disapproval.
* Extremes of emotional highs and lows.
* Ritual and often public confession of “sins”.
* Phobia indoctrination: inculcating irrational fears about ever leaving the group or even questioning the leader’s authority. The person under mind control cannot visualize a positive, fulfilled future without being in the group.
