Margaret Singer citations (12 citations)

“Liars. Tricksters. It's been the same ever since Eve got the apple, and I doubt it will ever change. A real religion is truthful, you can come or go from it if you wish. And most importantly, there is no one leader claiming he is a god. Big, big difference.”

Help us translate this quote

Margaret Singer

"Psych Sleuth : Margaret Singer has made history delving into the psychology of brainwashing", in The San Francisco Chronicle (26 May 2002) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/05/26/CM67534.DTL&ao=all
2002
Contexte: Just look up to the sky and talk to God yourself. You don't need an organization to do that. …They're all the same, really, these groups — they prey on the most lonely, vulnerable people they can find, cage you with your own mind through guilt and fear, cut you off from everyone you knew before, and when they're done doing that, they don't need armed guards to keep you. You're afraid that if you leave, your parents will die, you will die, your life will be ruined. Flim-flam men, pimps, sharpsters — that's what they are. Liars. Tricksters. It's been the same ever since Eve got the apple, and I doubt it will ever change. A real religion is truthful, you can come or go from it if you wish. And most importantly, there is no one leader claiming he is a god. Big, big difference.

“Just look up to the sky and talk to God yourself. You don't need an organization to do that.”

Help us translate this quote

Margaret Singer

"Psych Sleuth : Margaret Singer has made history delving into the psychology of brainwashing", in The San Francisco Chronicle (26 May 2002) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/05/26/CM67534.DTL&ao=all
2002
Contexte: Just look up to the sky and talk to God yourself. You don't need an organization to do that. …They're all the same, really, these groups — they prey on the most lonely, vulnerable people they can find, cage you with your own mind through guilt and fear, cut you off from everyone you knew before, and when they're done doing that, they don't need armed guards to keep you. You're afraid that if you leave, your parents will die, you will die, your life will be ruined. Flim-flam men, pimps, sharpsters — that's what they are. Liars. Tricksters. It's been the same ever since Eve got the apple, and I doubt it will ever change. A real religion is truthful, you can come or go from it if you wish. And most importantly, there is no one leader claiming he is a god. Big, big difference.

“Thought reform is accomplished through the use of psychological and environmental control processes that do not depend on physical coercion. Today's thought reform programs are sophisticated, subtle, and insidious, creating a psychological bond that in many ways is far more powerful than gun-at-the-head methods of influence. The effects generally lose their potency when the control processes are lifted or neutralized in some way. That is why most Korean War POWs gave up the content of their prison camp indoctrination programs when they came home, and why many cultists leave their groups if they spend a substantial amount of time away from the group or have an opportunity to discuss their doubts with an intimate.”

Help us translate this quote

Margaret Singer

Thought Reform Exists: Organized, Programmatic Influence http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/singer_margaret_thoughtreform.htm, Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph.D., The Cult Observer, Vol. 11 No. 6 1994.
1990s

“While everyone is influenced and persuaded daily in various ways, vulnerability to influence fluctuates. The ability to fend off persuaders is reduced when one is exhausted, rushed, stressed, uncertain, lonely, indifferent, uninformed, aged, very young, unsophisticated, ill, brain- damaged, drugged, drunk, distracted, fatigued, frightened, or very dependent.”

Help us translate this quote

Margaret Singer

Undue Influence and Written Documents: Psychological Aspects http://home.roadrunner.com/~tvfields/SingerCSJArticle/Frameset021.htm, Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, Journal of Questioned Document Examination, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1992, the official publication of the Independent Association of Questioned Document Examiners, Inc.
1990s

“I do not endorse them [Landmark Education] - never have. The SOBs have already sued me once. I'm afraid to tell you what I really think about them because I'm not covered by any lawyers like I was when I wrote my book.”

Help us translate this quote

Margaret Singer

Quoted in Drive through Deliverance http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/Issues/2000-10-19/news/feature_print.html, Phoenix New Times, October 19, 2000
2000

“Hundreds of other cult leaders have gathered far more followers than Jones by promising new psychological and spiritual utopias. They have succeeded by combining various ages-old psychological and social persuasion techniques in an atmosphere os Madison Avenue soft-sell approaches. Because most of the followers have been youthful or poor, little attention and credence has been given to reports from ex-members, families and friends who report the effects of the techniques of manipulation used by the groups.”

Help us translate this quote

Margaret Singer

Margaret Singer, Ph.D., The "Not Me" Myth: Orwell and the Mind http://www.ideajournal.com/articles.php?id=12, January 19, 1996 - Vol.2, no.2, ISSN 1523-1712, Idea Journal
1990s

“I started hearing from families who had missing members, many of them young kids on our campus, and they all would describe the same sorts of things. A sudden change of personality, a new way of talking…and then they would disappear. And bingo, it was the same sort of thing as with the Korean War prisoners, the same sort of thought-reform and social controls. You find it again and again, any time people feel vulnerable. There are always sharpies around who want to hornswoggle people.”

Help us translate this quote

Margaret Singer

Margaret Singer - expert on brainwashing http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/25/BAGAG3A5A11.DTL, San Francisco Chronicle, November 25, 2003
2003

“The term "cult" is always one of individual judgment. It has been variously applied to groups involved in beliefs and practices just off the beat of traditional religions; to groups making exploratory excursions into non-Western philosophical practices; and to groups involving intense relationships between followers and a powerful idea or leader. The people I have studied, however, come from groups in the last, narrow band of the spectrum: groups such as the Children of God, the Unification Church of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the Krishna Consciousness movement, the Divine Light Mission, and the Church of Scientology. I have not had occasion to meet with members of the People's Temple founded by the late Reverend Jim Jones, who practiced what he preached about being prepared to commit murder and suicide, if necessary, in defense of the faith.”

Help us translate this quote

Margaret Singer

Coming Out of the Cults http://www.cultfaq.org/coming-out-of-the-cults.html, Dr. Margaret Singer, Psychology Today, January, 1979
1970s

“An estimated 5,000 economic, political, and religious groups operate in the United States alone at any given time, with 2.5 million members. Over the last ten years, cults have used tactics of coercive mind control to negatively impact an estimated 20 million victims in the last ten years. Worldwide figures are even greater.”

Help us translate this quote

Margaret Singer livre Cults in Our Midst

Dr. Margaret Singer, Cults in Our Midst
1990s

“The public takes care of their fear by thinking only crazies and stupid people wind up in cults. I've interviewed over 4000 ex-cult members. There's no one type of person who is vulnerable.”

Help us translate this quote

Margaret Singer

The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1997, as cited in Margaret Thaler Singer http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-4232879_ITM, The Lancet, January 31, 2004
2004

“In addition to her high-profile work on cults, Singer was also an authority on schizophrenia, and was nominated twice for a Nobel Prize for her research.”

Help us translate this quote

Margaret Singer

"Margaret Thaler Singer." Biography Resource Center Online. Gale, 2004.
About, Recognized expert

“Psychologist Margaret Singer, 69, an outspoken Scientology critic and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, now travels regularly under an assumed name to avoid harassment.”

Help us translate this quote

Margaret Singer

Richard Behar, The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972865-9,00.html, Time Magazine, May 6, 1991
About, Recognized expert