This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1985, Volume 2, Number 1, pages 91-147. 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.

Cults Go To High School: A Theoretical And Empirical Analysis Of The Initial Stage In The Recruitment Process

Philip G. Zimbardo, Ph.D.
Cynthia F. Hartley, M.A.
 

Abstract

The predictive utility of the authors' theoretical model of pre-conversion cult recruitment was tested in a survey of over 1000 high school students from the San Francisco Bay Area. Fifty-four percent of students reported at least one contact with an identified cult recruiter. Many students, including those who were not approached, reported being open to accepting invitations to attend cult-sponsored events. & profile of eleven variables significantly distinguished those students who had been approached from those who had never had any contact with a cult recruiter. An independent composite of fifteen variables classified those contacted students who were open to considering future invitations from cults, as well as those who would reject all prospective inducements from cults. It is concluded that a reciprocal relationship exists between these two interacting parties.

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