This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1993, Volume 10, Number 1, pages 45-52. 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.
 

Cult Conversion, Deprogramming, and the Triune Brain

Geri‑Ann Galanti, Ph.D.
California State University
Los Angeles, California

Abstract

This article presents a theoretical analysis of cult conversion and deprogramming based on the model of the triune brain. During participant‑observation at a Unification Church training camp, the author found, to her surprise, that her intellect was unaffected; the "brainwashing" affected her emotionally (limbic system). Cult life involves much ritual behavior (R‑complex) but de-emphasizes intellectual processes (neocortex). Interviews with deprogrammers indicated that their goal is to get the cultist to see contradictions between cult doctrine and practice in essence, stimulating the neocortex. Thus, cult conversion and deconversion emphasize different parts of the brain.
 

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