November 1999
One of ICSA’s most important goals is to inspire,
encourage, coordinate, support and contribute to research initiated by
ICSA, ICSA, volunteer professionals, and others who are interested in
the cult problem. In September 1994 ICSA's Dr. Michael Langone organized a
two-day research-planning meeting in which 16 professionals convened to discuss
ongoing and planned research. A second meeting took place in April 1995.
Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center hosted both meetings. The research
outline below summarizes the results of these meetings and subsequent
discussions with ICSA research advisors. This outline continues to guide our
research work. (In order to enhance scientific clarity the term,
“psychologically abusive group,” is used instead of “cult,” with which
considerable ambiguity and controversy is associated.) Although much useful
research has been conducted, fully implementing this ambitious research plan
will take many years. Those interested in contributing to the research program
outlined below should contact
Dr. Langone.
The questions that guide our research follow:
-
How can we
productively conceptualize the term “psychologically abusive group” and the
relevance of certain types of “harm,” “group variables,” and “person
variables” to psychologically abusive groups?
Answering this question will require a series
of conceptual essays [one of which, Dr. Langone’s essay “Psychological
Abuse,” has already been published in Cultic Studies Journal,
9(2), 1992] that will lay the groundwork for a psychological theory of
group-perpetrated psychological abuse. This theory should clearly imply
empirical studies that can test the theory’s validity.
-
How can we productively measure group
psychological abuse and relevant group, person, and harm variables?
Drs. William Chambers, Michael Langone, and
Arthur Dole developed the 28-item Group Psychological Abuse Scale (GPA
Scale) from a factor analysis of the responses of 308 subjects rating their
groups on 112 questions [Cultic Studies Journal, 11(1),
1994].The GPA Scale needs to undergo a full course of psychometric
development, including reliability and validity studies and the collection
of data from a wide range of cultic and noncultic groups. If the GPA Scale
lives up to its promise, it should prove useful in distinguishing cultic
from noncultic groups and in differentiating various types of cultic groups.
It will provide, for the first time, an objective measure of the
“cultishness” of a group.
Drs. Langone and Chambers presented a paper
with Ohio University graduate student, Peter Malinoski to the
American Psychological Association. This paper, which is available from
ICSA, summarizes research with the Group Psychological Abuse Scale (GPA)
through 1996.
Dr. Rod Marshall and Lois Kendall
of Buckinghamshire College in London gave an updated report on their
research, which uses the GPA along with other instruments, at ICSA's annual
conference in Seattle, April 28-29, 2000 (they gave a report at the 1999
conference as well). Other researchers are also collecting or analyzing data
involving the GPA.
Despite the GPA Scale’s promise, it is also
desirable to supplement the self-report GPA with other self-report scales
and observational measures of psychologically abusive group environments. In
regard to the first goal, Dr. Nadine Winocur developed a related
scale as part of her doctoral dissertation at Pepperdine University. She and
her colleagues report on the Individual Cult Experience Index in
Cultic Studies Journal, 14(2), 1997. Because of the complexity of
the second goal, the first step will be to write a carefully thought out
methodological essay on issues to consider in developing observational
measures of abusive groups.
In testing the GPA, ICSA has found that
families of individuals involved in cultic groups also find the scale
useful. In order to meet their needs more effectively ICSA would like to
develop a companion scale for families. This scale will explore how families
are affected by and perceive cultic groups.
Research conducted at Ohio University, Boston
University, Buckinghamshire College, and Wellspring Retreat and Resource
Center have utilized a battery of standardized psychological instruments to
assess harm in populations of former group members.
See Question 4.
-
How can we usefully classify psychologically
abusive groups?
It would be helpful to write a critical review
of existing classification systems, including those proposed by sociologists
(An “unassigned” task at present).
The psychometric development of the GPA Scale
may lead to an empirically based classification scheme.
-
With regard to psychologically abusive
groups, what is the relationship between person variables, group variables,
and psychopathology?
ICSA’s
Executive Director,
Dr. Michael Langone, whom Boston University named the 1995
Albert V. Danielsen Visiting Scholar, conducted a study at Boston
University of the International Churches of Christ movement. He used the
GPA Scale and a new scale (the DDD Scale—Deception, Dependency, and
Dread Scale) to assess the abusiveness of the Boston Movement, as rated
by former members. He also used a psychological test battery to assess
the nature and degree of psychological distress experienced by former
members of the
Boston Movement and two comparison groups: graduates of a
mainstream campus ministry and former members of a mainstream religion.
This test battery is identical to that used in an Ohio University study
described below. Dr. Langone's report to the Danielsen Institute is
available from ICSA.
A team of three psychology graduate
students under the direction of Ohio University’s Dr. Steve Lynn gave a
standardized test battery to clients of the Wellspring Retreat and
Resource Center and a matched comparison group of college students
in order to assess the nature and degree of psychopathology among former
cult members. A report on this research was published in Cultic
Studies Journal, 16(1), 1999. Members of this team also
wrote a comprehensive review of the empirical literature in this field
[Aronoff, J.B., Lynn, S.J., & Malinoski, P.T. (in press). Are cultic
environments psychologically harmful? Clinical Psychology Review].
The Marshall and Kendall studies,
mentioned above, are also using a standardized battery to assess harm.
A team of four psychology graduate
students under the direction of Pepperdine University’s Dr. David Foy
have used the Los Angeles Symptom Checklist (a standardized instrument
designed to measure symptoms common to victimization populations) to
measure distress and the Group Experience Index (GEI) to assess the
severity of exposure to cult-related pressures and abuses in order to
study the relationships between post-cult distress and variables related
to pre-cult history and adjustment, cult-related experiences, and
post-cult history. A multiple regression research design was used to
evaluate the relative contributions of the variables under investigation
to post-cult distress. The Winocur article mentioned above also reports
on this aspect of these studies.
Data from the ICSA questionnaire from
which the GPA Scale was derived await analyses and reporting by Dr.
Langone and colleagues. This questionnaire explored subjects’
psychological and social history, background variables related to cult
joining, characteristics of the group environment, subjects’ responses
to the cult experience, subjects’ post-group experiences (including
recovery), and subjects’ evaluations of helping resources.
Dr. Arthur Dole has written a
methodological paper, published in Cultic Studies Journal,
12(2), 1995, explaining how to apply case study methodology to the
cult area. Over the next few years, ICSA would like to enlist the
support of clinicians in this field to conduct a series of case studies
using Dr. Dole’s methodology.
Although considerable research has been
conducted, much more research is needed to adequately answer this
question.
-
What is the prevalence of membership in
psychologically abusive groups and how many such groups are there in the
United States?
The first
research-planning meeting decided that existing prevalence data are
sufficient for current research purposes and that a full-scale
epidemiological study on cultic groups would be an inappropriate use of
limited resources at this time. It was decided, however, that surveys of
professional populations (e.g., clergy, psychologists), such as Dr.
Edward Lottick’s survey of primary care physicians [Lottick, E.A. (Feb.
1993).Survey reveals physician's experiences with cults. Pennsylvania
Medicine, 96, 26-28 -- available from ICSA], would provide useful
data at relatively low cost (and would also contribute to professional
education). Such surveys will be conducted as funds allow.
Scientifically determining the number of psychologically abusive groups,
or cults, in the U.S. is a daunting task. Perhaps the most feasible
approach would be to compile a comprehensive list of groups about which
ICSA receives inquiries, select a random sample from this list, and
conduct in-depth studies of this sample, using when possible the GPA
Scale and/or other scales to be developed in the future. This study
would enable us to make reasonable and empirically based generalizations
about the broad population of groups we receive inquiries on (e.g., what
percentage appears to be abusive). This study obviously will require
considerable funding.
Develop a methodology for assessing the nature and extent of cultic
influence on a university campus. ICSA believes that if we could
develop an effective and efficient survey instrument, colleges and
universities could use this instrument to help them assess cult-related
problems on their campuses. Dr. Russell Eleven's research, which was
published in Cultic Studies Journal, 15(1), 1998, has laid
the groundwork for the development of such a measure.
-
What is the relationship between person,
group, and treatment variables and amelioration in post-group distress?
Currently, the most thorough outcome
evaluation of psychological treatment for former group members is that
of Dr. Paul Martin and his colleagues at Wellspring Retreat and Resource
Center, published in Cultic Studies Journal, 9(2),
1992.Although controlled outcome studies are obviously preferred, such
studies require considerable funding. In the meantime, the state of
knowledge would be advanced if other clinicians in this field attempted
to evaluate treatment effectiveness using standardized pre- and
post-measures, as Wellspring does.
-
What are the legal implications of the cult phenomenon?
The American Bar Association report published in
Cultic Studies Journal, 12(1), 1995 provides a literature
review and analysis of case law relating to mind control issues, undue
influence, and fraud. Cultic Studies Journal has also published articles
on other aspects of the legal dimension of this subject, including
custody, violence against women laws, emancipation of minors, hypnotic
testimony, and certain reports of governments. The international
dimension of the cult issue greatly complicates the legal arena. It
would be helpful to develop a manual of pertinent laws, precedents, and
unresolved issues in various countries in order to make the scholarly
analysis above accessible to greater numbers of people. Obviously, this
is a major task that would require funding and the skills of a legal
scholar.
-
What are the cultural implications of the cult issue?
ICSA
believes that the cultural implications of cultism can be explored
fruitfully by answering the following key question:
How does a free, constitutionally based
society protect itself against the totalist impulses and practices of
cultic groups without becoming closed and repressive?
The answer to this question
includes, but is not limited to, legal considerations. A key component
of the answer, for example, has to do with the ethics of how we
influence each other, a subject on which ICSA has published a number of
articles. Answering this question also demands an analysis of
fundamental societal values and how conflicting values can most
effectively be reconciled.
|
