This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 2001, Volume 18, Part 1, pages 172-207. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

 

Arousal, Capacity, and Intense Indoctrination

Robert S. Baron
Department of Psychology
The University of Iowa
 

Abstract

This article considers the process of intense indoctrination, specifying procedural conditions, internal states, mechanisms of social influence, and key output behaviors associated with extremely manipulative and coercive programs of attitude and value change. Most descriptions of intense indoctrination point out that emotional arousal and stress are integral features of such programs of systematic persuasion. This article focuses on the hypothesis that this arousal, coupled with other features of the indoctrination process, compromise the attentional capacity of indoctrinees and that this impairment of attentional capacity increases the impact of several social influence mechanisms in such settings. The research evidence relevant to this hypothesis is reviewed.
 

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