Robert Jay Lifton (b. 1926) developed these criteria to identify the manipulative techniques with which authoritarian groups gain control over their members, clouding their minds to rational thinking.
This list can be used to measure the degree of control, not only in groups, but also in relationships, families and even entire countries.
Milieu Control:
Control the social environment and communication with the outside world.
Loaded Language:
Create a language that limits thinking.
Mystic Manipulation:
Plan the predictable to happen “spontaneously.”
Sacred Science:
We alone have the Truth; our facts are unquestionable.
Demand for Purity:
Make impossible rules for right thinking and behavior.
Cult of Confession:
Tell us every last detail of your private life.
Doctrine Over Person:
If your facts do not match our Truth, your facts are wrong.
Dispensing of Existence:
Our Truth is worth more than life itself. Dissenters should suffer.
For more information, check out Robert Lifton’s “Losing Reality”, Jon Atack’s “Opening Our Minds”, and subscribe to Jon Atack, family and friends on YouTube