Speaking of Cults Chris Shelton

This week I am talking about how responsibility, causation and blame are used by cult leaders/predators to psychologically enslave their targets with guilt and gaslighting and how this can create not only unrealistic expectations or goals but can trap a person in a prison of belief.

This week I welcome Dr. John Hunter, a psychologist from South Africa who has done some amazing and detailed research on the neurological and psychological factors at play in Large Group Awareness Training systems (such as Est, Landmark and many others) going all the way back to the 1970s to now. We cover a lot in this podcast about how these LGATs were started, what they are doing to the participants and why this is deceptive as a practice. Enjoy!
Dr. Hunter's website: https://JohnHunterPhD.com

This week I welcome guests Rod and Linda Dubrow-Marshall, who created and run the Masters program at the University of Salford in the psychology of coercive control. We had a great deal more to discuss than just the program and dived deep into the legal and ethical problems with cults and how coercive control touches on so many aspects of our lives. Enjoy!
Salford University site: https://www.salford.ac.uk/

This week I welcome guest Annie Dawid, author and professor of creative writing here in Colorado. In this very wide-ranging episode we discuss the history, psychology and life of Jim Jones and the People's Temple as described in a historical fiction novel that Annie wrote. Enjoy!
Annie Dawid's website: https://www.anniedawid.com/

This week I welcome guest Anne L. Peterson, author of "Is This a Cult?", her experiences working in and for Landmark Forum including her multiple interactions with Werner Earhardt, the founder of Est and Landmark. Enjoy!
Anne Peterson's website: https://isthisacultbook.com

This week I offer a discussion on Carl Sagan's "baloney detection kit" and how it helped me learn a more scientific way of thinking and how to avoid manipulation, propaganda and pseudoscience before it became a huge problem. Enjoy!