APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control
Encyclopedia
The APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control (DIMPAC) formed at the request of the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...

 (APA) in 1983. The APA asked Margaret Singer
Margaret Singer
Dr. Margaret Thaler Singer, was a clinical psychologist and a part-time Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, U.S....

, one of the leading proponents of theories of coercive persuasion, to chair a task force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...

 to:


1. Describe the deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control that may limit freedom and adversely affect individuals, families, and society.

2. Review the data base in the field.

3. Define the implications of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control for consumers of psychological services.

4. Examine the ethical, educational, and social implications of this problem.


Before the task force had submitted its final report, the APA submitted an amicus curiae
Amicus curiae
An amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...

brief (10 February 1987) in a case pending before the California Supreme Court. The case involved issues of brainwashing and coercive persuasion. The brief stated that Singer's hypotheses "were uninformed speculations based on skewed data." The APA subsequently withdrew from the brief, portraying its participation as premature in that DIMPAC had not yet submitted its report. (Scholars who had co-signed the brief did not withdraw.)

The task force completed its final report in November 1986. In May 1987 the APA Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP) rejected the DIMPAC final report; stating that the report "lack[ed] the scientific rigor and evenhanded critical approach necessary for APA imprimatur
Imprimatur
An imprimatur is, in the proper sense, a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement.-Catholic Church:...

", and also stating that the BSERP did "not believe that we have sufficient information available to guide us in taking a position on this issue".
The BSERP board requested that the task-force members not distribute or publicize the report without indicating that the Board found the report unacceptable, and cautioned the members of the task force against using their past appointment to it "to imply BSERP or APA support or approval of the positions advocated in the report".

Singer and her professional associate sociologist Richard Ofshe
Richard Ofshe
Richard Ofshe is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the advisory board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation advocacy organization, and is known for his expert testimony relating to coercion in small groups, confessions, and...

 subsequently sued the APA in 1992 for "defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy" and lost in 1994. Subsequently, judges did not accept Singer as an expert witness in cases alleging brainwashing and mind control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...

.

Members of the task force

The task force comprised:
  • Margaret Singer
    Margaret Singer
    Dr. Margaret Thaler Singer, was a clinical psychologist and a part-time Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, U.S....

    , Chair
  • Harold Goldstein
    Harold Goldstein (psychologist, mental health)
    Harold Goldstein is a psychologist, specializing in the field of mental health. He is a member of the American Family Foundation's psychology education committee. He was the chief psychologist at the Westfield, Massachusetts Child Guidance...

    , National Institute of Mental Health
    National Institute of Mental Health
    The National Institute of Mental Health is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health...

  • Michael Langone
    Michael Langone
    Michael D. Langone, is an American counseling psychologist who specialises in research about "cultic groups" and alleged psychological manipulation. He is executive director of the International Cultic Studies Association, editor of the journal Cultic Studies Review.Langone is author and co-author...

    , American Family Foundation
  • Jesse S. Miller
    Jesse S. Miller
    Jesse Stephen Miller was a psychologist and psychodynamic psychotherapist.-Education:*Ph.D., Psychology, UC Berkeley, 1970s*B.A., Art history, Columbia University, 1961-Biography:...

  • Maurice K. Temerlin
    Maurice K. Temerlin
    Maurice K. Temerlin , was a psychologist and author.His contribution "Suggestion Effects in Psychiatric Diagnosis," in the 1975 Thomas J...

    , Clinical Psychology Consultants, Inc.
  • Louis Jolyon West
    Louis Jolyon West
    Louis Jolyon West was an American psychiatrist, human rights activist and expert on brainwashing, mind control, torture, substance abuse, post traumatic stress disorder and violence....

    , University of California Los Angeles

Reported conclusions of the DIMPAC task force

The draft report of the DIMPAC task force
(which the BSERP board requested that task-force members not distribute or publicize without indicating that the Board found the report unacceptable) included the following abstract:


Cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...

s and large group awareness training
Large Group Awareness Training
Large-group awareness training refers to activities usually offered by groups linked with the human potential movement which claim to increase self-awareness and bring about desirable transformations in individuals' personal lives...

s have generated considerable controversy because of their widespread use of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion
Persuasion
Persuasion is a form of social influence. It is the process of guiding or bringing oneself or another toward the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and symbolic means.- Methods :...

 and control. These techniques can compromise individual freedom, and their use has resulted in serious harm to thousands of individuals and families. This report reviews the literature on this subject, proposes a new way of conceptualizing influence techniques, explores the ethical ramifications of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control, and makes recommendations addressing the problems described in the report.


Draft recommendations included:
  • Research: "Psychologists should devote more effort toward understanding the mechanisms of action, effects, and ethical implications of social influence techniques, especially those that are deceptive and indirect... The study of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control should include study of how such techniques can be resisted and neutralized, and how those harmed by such techniques can be provided more appropriate therapy."

  • Professional Ethics and Education: "The American Psychological Association ought to consider how future versions of APA's ethical code and ethical casebook material should be revised in light of the ethical implications of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control used in LGATs, innovative psychotherapies, and other settings."

  • Public Policy: "Because of the sometimes grave consequences of unethical application of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control, psychologists ought to direct more attention to educating the public about such techniques."

The amicus curiæ brief

Before the task force had submitted its final report, the APA, together with a group of scholars, submitted on February 10, 1987 an amicus curiæ brief in a pending case before the California Supreme Court, involving issues of brainwashing and coercive persuasion related to the Unification Church
Unification Church
The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...

. The brief portrayed Singer's hypotheses as uninformed speculations based on skewed data.

The brief characterized the theory of brainwashing as not scientifically proven and advanced the position that "this commitment to advancing the appropriate use of psychological testimony in the courts carries with it the concomitant duty to be vigilant against those who would use purportedly expert testimony lacking scientific and methodological rigor".

On March 24, 1987 the APA filed a motion to withdraw its signature from this brief, as it considered the conclusion premature, in view of the ongoing work of the DIMPAC task force. The amicus as such continued because the co-signed scholars did not withdraw their signatures. These included: Jeffrey Hadden, Eileen Barker
Eileen Barker
Eileen Vartan Barker OBE, born in Edinburgh, UK, is a professor in sociology, an emeritus member of the London School of Economics , and a consultant to that institution's Centre for the Study of Human Rights...

, David Bromley and J. Gordon Melton
J. Gordon Melton
John Gordon Melton is an American religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently a research specialist in religion and New Religious Movements with the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara...

, Joseph Bettis, Durwood Foster, William R. Garret, Richard D. Kahone, Timothy Miller
Timothy Miller
Timothy S. Miller is a historian of religion whose special interest is new religious movements and the history of communitarianism.Miller received his Ph.D...

, John Young, James T. Richardson
James Richardson (sociologist)
James T. Richardson is a Professor of Sociology and Judicial Studies, and the Director of the Master of Judicial Studies Degree Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. Richardson specializes in social and behavioral science evidence, Sociology of Religions and New Religious Movements, Sociology...

, Ray L. Hart, Benton Johnson
Benton Johnson
Benton Johnson is an American sociologist and professor emeritus of the University of Oregon's Sociology Department.-Life:Benton Johnson is the son of Guy Benton Johnson and Guion Griffis Johnson...

, Franklin Littell, Newton Malony, Donald E. Miller, Mel Prosen, Thomas Robbins, and Huston Smith
Huston Smith
Huston Cummings Smith is a religious studies scholar in the United States. His book The World's Religions remains a popular introduction to comparative religion.-Education:...

.

The APA memorandum: dismissal of the DIMPAC report

On May 11, 1987 the APA Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP) rejected the DIMPAC report because "the brainwashing theory espoused lacks the scientific rigor and evenhanded critical approach necessary for APA imprimatur."

Along with the rejection memo came two letters from external advisers to the APA who reviewed the report (the APA did not make its internal review public):
  • One of the letters, from Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi of the University of Haifa
    University of Haifa
    The University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....

    , stated among other comments that "lacking psychological theory, the report resorts to sensationalism in the style of certain tabloids" and that "the term 'brainwashing' is not a recognized theoretical concept, and is just a sensationalist 'explanation' more suitable to 'cultists' and revival preachers. It should not be used by psychologists, since it does not explain anything". Beit-Hallahmi recommended not making the report public.
  • The second letter, from Jeffrey D. Fisher, said that the report "[...] seems to be unscientific in tone, and biased in nature. It draws conclusions, which in many cases do not mesh well with the evidence presented. At times, the reasoning seems flawed to the point of being almost ridiculous. In fact, the report sometimes seems to be characterized by the use of deceptive, indirect techniques of persuasion and control — the very thing it is investigating".


The BSERP board also cautioned the members of the task force "against using their past appointment to imply BSERP or APA support or approval of the positions advocated in the report", and stated that they should "not distribute or publicize the report without indicating that the report was unacceptable to the Board."

The memorandum concludes with "Finally, after much consideration, BSERP does not believe that we have sufficient information available to guide us in taking a position on this issue."

Impact of the DIMPAC report dimissal on court cases

In August 1988 the District of Columbia Court of Appeals overturned the Kropinski v. World Plan Executive Council case, based on the lack of scientific support for the theories presented by Margaret Singer, during her testimony as an expert witness.

In 1989 the Fourth Appellate District Court of Appeal of California, in the Robin George v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness case, rejected Singer's expert testimony on the basis that the brainwashing theory of false imprisonment constituted an attempt to premise tort liability on religious practices that the plaintiff believed to be objectionable, and that such premise appeared inconsistent with the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...

.

In 1990 District Court Judge Lowell Jensen excluded Singer's testimony in United States v. Fishman
Steven Fishman
Steven Fishman is an American former Scientologist whose inclusion of Scientology's secret Operating Thetan levels in a court filing led to the first public confirmation by the Church of Scientology of its doctrines regarding Xenu and the Wall of Fire....

, because the Court remained unconvinced that the medical community widely accepted the application of coercive persuasion theory to religious cults and because the Court did not accept the theory of coercive persuasion in the context of cults.

In 1991, in the Patrick Ryan v. Maharishi Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...

case filed in the US District Court in Washington, DC, Judge Oliver Gasch refused to allow Singer to testify, based on the premises that Singer and Ofshe's theory did not enjoy substantial scientific approval and was therefore not admissible as the basis of expert opinion.

Margaret Singer, et al. v. APA, et al. (RICO lawsuit)

When the APA's BSERP declined to accept the DIMPAC findings, Singer sued the APA and other scholars in 1992 for "defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy", under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...

 (RICO), and lost in 1994.
The lawsuit alleged that several top executives at the APA and ASA attempted to destroy careers, charging that from 1986 to 1992 they resorted to improper influence of witnesses in state court litigations, filed untrue affidavits, attempted to obstruct justice in federal litigations, deceived federal judges, and committed wire
Wire fraud
Mail and wire fraud is a federal crime in the United States. Together, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, and 1346 reach any fraudulent scheme or artifice to intentionally deprive another of property or honest services with a nexus to mail or wire communication....

 and mail fraud. Ofshe and Singer said that these actions damaged their reputations as forensic experts in the fields of psychology and sociology in the area of coercive persuasion, preventing their testimony against cults, and specified acts of collusion between several of the defendants and cult groups.

In an interview with The Cult Observer, Michael Flomenhaft, a lawyer in the firm representing Singer and Ofshe, said:

"All the facts are there. It's a very insidious thing, and it's hard to believe that such institutions could have engaged in this behavior. This case had to be brought very deliberately because the nature of the complaints causes skepticism".


Flomenhaft referred to the relationships of some the defendants as "incestuous".

An article in the same The Cult Observer describes a press release by Flomenhaft which stated that besides the APA, other defendants named included:
  • Raymond Fowler (then APA chief executive officer)
  • Leonard Goodstein (former APA executive director)
  • Donald N. Bersoff (lawyer)
  • Bruce J. Ennis (lawyer)
  • Newton Malony (professor at the Fuller Theological Seminary
    Fuller Theological Seminary
    Fuller Theological Seminary is an accredited Christian educational institute with its main campus in Pasadena, California and several satellite campuses in the western United States...

    , Pasadena, California)
  • James T. Richardson (professor at the University of Nevada
    University of Nevada, Reno
    The University of Nevada, Reno , is a teaching and research university established in 1874 and located in Reno, Nevada, USA...

    )
  • Rodney Stark
    Rodney Stark
    Rodney Stark is an American sociologist of religion. He grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota in a Lutheran family. He spent time in the U.S. Army and worked as a journalist before pursuing graduate studies at The University of California, Berkeley...

     (professor at the University of Washington
    University of Washington
    University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

    )
  • Joan Huber (former president of the ASA and professor at Ohio State University
    Ohio State University
    The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

    )
  • William D'Antonio (former ASA president and professor at the University of Massachusetts
    University of Massachusetts
    This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...

    )
  • Dick Anthony
    Dick Anthony
    Dick Anthony is a forensic psychologist noted for his writings on brainwashing, and one of the most prolific researchers of the social and psychological aspects of involvement in new religious movements.-Academic career:...

     (a psychologist resident in Albany, California, and writer on new religious movements.)


The court summons filed by Singer and Ofshe
Richard Ofshe
Richard Ofshe is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the advisory board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation advocacy organization, and is known for his expert testimony relating to coercion in small groups, confessions, and...

's lawyer described the rejection of the DIMPAC report by the APA's BSERP as a "rejection of the scientific validity of the theory of coercive persuasion".

The court dismissed the case on the basis that the claims of defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy constituted a dispute over the application of the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...

 to a public debate over academic and professional matters. The court stated that one could characterize the parties as the opposing camps in a long-standing debate over certain theories in the field of psychology; and that the plaintiffs could not establish deceit with reference to representations made to other parties in the lawsuit.

In a further ruling, James R. Lamden ordered Ofshe and Singer to pay $80,000 in attorneys' fees under California's SLAPP suit law, which penalizes those who harass others for exercising their First Amendment rights. At that time, Singer and Ofshe declared their intention to sue Michael Flomenhaft, the lawyer who represented them in the case, for malpractice.

PIRI resolution

APA Division 36 (then Psychologists Interested in Religious Issues (PIRI), subsequently Psychology of Religion) in its 1990 annual convention approved a resolution stating that insufficient consensually accepted research then scientifically supported the assertion that equated the use of "techniques of influence as typically practiced" by religious groups with "coercive persuasion", "mind control", or "brainwashing". The Executive Committee invited researchers to submit proposals to present their work on the topic.

Use of the DIMPAC report

Professor Eugene Subbotsky cited the DIMPAC report in a July 2006 conference in Melbourne, Australia, stating: "controversial religious cults, manipulative psychotherapies and outbursts of religious fanaticism are on the increase".
Doctoral and post-doctoral students at Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

's David O. McKay
David O. McKay
David Oman McKay was the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , serving from 1951 until his death. Ordained an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1906, McKay was a general authority for nearly 64 years, longer than anyone else in LDS Church...

 School of Education use the DIMPAC report as a reference text in psychology.

Comments on the DIMPAC report

The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements
The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements interprets the DIMPAC report as a the result of the "professionalization of the Anti-cult movement" based on a broad-based effort to reconceptualize mind-control theory so that it would pass muster with the judiciary and professional associations, as part of an alleged campaign to gain professional legitimacy. It also asserts that the effort never achieved complete success, and that it influenced popular
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...

 more than scientific culture.

Andrew P. Bacus' statement delivered to the Illinois Senate Committee on Education
In a statement titled "Challenging 'Mind Control" in Illinois", Bacus referred to Singer's theories as being "reviled by her peers" and stated that Singer's theories "continue to be viewed as sophomoric by her peers", and referred to the APA rejection as "research [that] has been rejected by the overwhelming majority of mental health professionals as not reliable."

Dick Anthony's "Pseudoscience and Minority Religions"
Dick Anthony
Dick Anthony
Dick Anthony is a forensic psychologist noted for his writings on brainwashing, and one of the most prolific researchers of the social and psychological aspects of involvement in new religious movements.-Academic career:...

, in an article published in the Social Justice Research journal in 1999, wrote that relevant professional academic organizations had opposed testimony based on brainwashing theory as unscientific and that courts had repeatedly excluded such testimony from American legal trials.

2001 Amitrani, Di Marzio article
In 2001 Alberto Amitrani and Raffaella Di Marzio
Raffaella Di Marzio
Raffaella Di Marzio is an Italian clinical psychologist. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the academic journal, Cultic Studies Review. Di Marzio is the director of the Sectes, Religion, Spirituality Counseling Center, in Rome, Italy...

, from the Roman seat of the GRIS (Group for Research and Information about Sects), published an article in which they state that one should not construe the rejection of the report as a rejection of the theories of thought reform and mind control as applied to New Religious Movement
New religious movement
A new religious movement is a religious community or ethical, spiritual, or philosophical group of modern origin, which has a peripheral place within the dominant religious culture. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may be part of a wider religion, such as Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism, in...

s, and that the rejection by one division of the APA does not represent the whole association. They quote Benjamin Zablocki
Benjamin Zablocki
Benjamin Zablocki is and American professor of sociology at Rutgers University where he teaches sociology of religion and social psychology. He has published widely on the subject of charismatic religious movements and cults....

, professor of sociology and one of the reviewers of the rejected DIMPAC report, as describing in 1997 people as "misled about the true position of the APA and the ASA with regard to brainwashing", and as writing that the APA urged scholars to do more research on the matter. They also write that they have reason to believe that the APA still considers "psychological coercion" as a phenomenon worth investigating, and not a notion rejected by the scientific community.

"Cults of hatred" panel session
In 2002, at the APA's 2002 Annual Convention in Chicago during the panel session "Cults of hatred", Alan W. Scheflin, professor of law at Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private, not-for-profit, Jesuit-affiliated university located in Santa Clara, California, United States. Chartered by the state of California and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, it operates in collaboration with the Society of Jesus , whose...

, stated that "Extreme influence [such as mind control and cults] has remained dormant in the field of psychology". He went on to describe such topics as a legitimate field of study and to state that psychology needs an organized response, saying: "We need to stop this germ from spreading."

The panelists also called for the APA to form a new task force to "investigate mind control among destructive cults". (Panelists included Deborah Layton, survivor of the People's Temple mass suicide
Mass suicide
- Examples :Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious or cultic settings. Defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Suicide pacts are a form of mass suicide unconnected to cults or war that are sometimes planned or carried out by small groups of frustrated people...

/murder
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...

 at Jonestown
Jonestown
Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby...

, Steven Hassan
Steven Hassan
Steven Alan Hassan is a licensed mental health counselor and an exit counselor. Hassan was an early advocate of exit counseling, and is the author of two books on the subject of "cults", and what he describes as their use of mind control, thought reform, and the psychology of influence in order...

, Cynthia F. Hartley, Stephen J. Morgan, a faculty member of the American Management Association
American Management Association
The American Management Association , based in New York City, is a corporate training and consulting group that provides a variety of educational and management development services to businesses, government agencies and individuals. The non-profit membership organization offers business courses in...

/Management Centre Europe in Brussels, Belgium, and then APA President Philip Zimbardo
Philip Zimbardo
Philip George Zimbardo is an American psychologist and a professor emeritus at Stanford University. He is president of the Heroic Imagination Project...

.)

See also

  • Anti-cult movement
    Anti-cult movement
    The anti-cult movement is a term used by academics and others to refer to groups and individuals who oppose cults and new religious movements. Sociologists David G...

  • Brainwashing controversy in new religious movements and cults
  • List of cult and new religious movement researchers
  • Opposition to cults and new religious movements

External links

  • Text of the DIMPAC report, with editorial note, at CESNUR
    CESNUR
    CESNUR , is an organization based in Turin, Italy. It was established in 1988 by a group of religious scholars from universities in Europe and the Americas, working in the field of new religious movements. Its director is the Italian sociologist and attorney Massimo Introvigne...

     website
  • Documents on Brainwashing Controversies and the APA, hosted at CESNUR
    CESNUR
    CESNUR , is an organization based in Turin, Italy. It was established in 1988 by a group of religious scholars from universities in Europe and the Americas, working in the field of new religious movements. Its director is the Italian sociologist and attorney Massimo Introvigne...

    site
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