Why do People Join Cults?

Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.

There is no “personality profile” of people who become involved in cults. All kinds of people become involved for all kinds of reasons. Although some cult members may have had psychological problems before joining their groups, the majority were psychologically normal before becoming affiliated with a cultic group.

People may get involved with cults at any age. ICSA’s research has found that the average age of affiliation is about 25 years old, although some people become involved as children while others join as senior citizens. (For statistics, see our collections on Prevalence and Research.)

Although a sizeable number (about 25%) of cult members were recruited by people who were strangers to them at the time, most affiliate with a group because of friendships or other reasons. Sometimes, however, prospects seek out the group, e.g., because they read group materials that interested them.

The vast majority of people who are approached by cult members—whether strangers or friends—do NOT join. Yet some do. Why some and not others?

Research and clinical work with thousands of former members suggest that those who join cults were experiencing significant stress (frequently related to normal crises, such as romantic breakup, school failure, vocational confusion, or transitions, such as college graduation) prior to their cult conversion. Individuals are especially vulnerable to cult recruitment during late adolescence, when they might be separating emotionally and physically from their families and, therefore, more open to new groups. Because their normal ways of coping were not working well for them, these stressed individuals were more open than usual to people selling a “road to happiness.”

Whether or not prospects “buy” is a function of their personal vulnerabilities (Are they gullible? Afraid to say, “no”? Unable to think critically about what is presented to them?), the content of what is presented to them (e.g., a distressed Christian may be more open to somebody selling an “alive” Christian community than to somebody selling an eastern guru), and the sales techniques of the presenter.

Because some cultic groups utilize highly orchestrated and manipulative programs of recruitment, there is a common misconception that people become involved in cults because they are “brainwashed” into joining by recruiters using powerful “mind control” techniques. Although there are some striking examples of such manipulative recruitment, there are many pathways into a group, and not all involve manipulation.

I have elsewhere written about three models of cult recruitment: The deliberative model says that people join because of what they think about the group. The psychodynamic model says that people join because of what the group does for them (e.g., meet unconscious psychological needs). The thought reform model says that people join because of what the group does to them (i.e., manipulation). In fact, all three models probably play a role in most cult conversions: Those observers who are rigidly partial to one or another of the models will, in my opinion, have difficulty gaining a well-rounded picture of a particular conversion.