Want to teach the sociocultural approach and "group behaviour" in an interesting and engaging way? Cults might just be for you. Lessons in this eBook are: Compliance Techniques Conformity Cultural Dimensions Social Learning Social Identity Theory Cognitive Dissonance Acculturation Nothing seems stranger than joining a cult. It’s easy to think that people who join cults are strange themselves – loners and misfits. However, that’s not the case. Often, they’re well-educated, intelligent people from stable families. Bizarre behaviour once in the cult is also interesting from a psychological perspective. For example, two of the most well-known cults are Heaven’s Gate and Jonestown. These are famous partly because of their wild beliefs and, sadly, because of their tragic ends – both resulted in mass suicide. Why? In this chapter, students will learn some psychological explanations for cults. Throughout the chapter, students will also be introduced to famous experiments, including those by Milgram, Asch and Bandura. While not about cults directly, they show the power of social influence. They also help demonstrate the experimental method and its relevance to the key concept of this chapter – causality. The theories covered in this unit are challenging. That’s why they’re introduced here but they appear again in other units. That means students will get another chance to review them later, so don’t panic if you they fully grasp them in this short unit. The chapter finishes with an “Exam Prep” section at the end.
