In Addition to the Pull of Charismatic Leaders, the Social

question 160

Multiple Choice

In addition to the pull of charismatic leaders, the social support of fellow cult members, and the isolation of cult members from dissenting viewpoints, why else do cult members behave as they do?

• A) They are people of low intelligence.
• B) The leaders are authoritarian and the followers are unintelligent.
• C) The members usually are suicidal and depressed.
• D) There is a high degree of cognitive dissonance in members' minds.

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Definitions:

Higher-order Conditioning

A learning process in which a conditioned stimulus is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus.

Secondary Reinforcers

Stimuli that have become reinforcing through association with primary reinforcers; they do not satisfy biological needs but often hold value, such as money or praise.

Concepts

General ideas or understandings that can be used to group together objects, events, qualities, or abstractions that are similar in some way.

Visualized

The process of forming mental visual images of objects, scenarios, or outcomes.