Are you in a cult?

"Brainy What-Why-How"

Your weekly nibble of science-backed goodness to help you move better and feel unstoppable.

🧠

What:

Most people think cults only happen to other people.

And that those people must be moronic and gullible — not intelligent, successful, perfectly normal humans like us, obviously. 🙄

But cult dynamics exist everywhere: fitness groups, startups, yoga styles, group chats that won’t let you mute them without emotional consequences…

And these dynamics can lead to:

genuinely supportive communities,
malicious coercive control,
or something neither harmful nor benign but just… people being people.

Research* actually suggests that cults are less about weird beliefs and more about 🧠 influence + control 🧠

Which is slightly unsettling when you realise how common those ingredients are...

Why:

Cults don’t recruit people who are weak/stupid. They recruit people who are ...human. Often compassionate people searching for ways to feel useful.

🧠 We humans are wired for belonging and identity.

So things like:

social proof (everyone around me is doing it, so it must be legit.)
authority bias (they say everything with such conviction...and with a microphone, so it must be true.)
incremental commitments (it's just one small thing that maybe doesn't feel right...the another and anther...then you're wearing matching outfits)
isolation or information control (I don't need to listen to the other side.)
and good old fashioned Us vs Them narratives

…work like a charm when it comes to slowly reshaping a person’s identity.

Not overnight.

More like how you agree to “Just a quick beer” with that friend and before you know it some stranger is passing a pill to you via a tongue-kiss in a nightclub and you end up so off your face you don't realise how you woke up the next morning in a hammock with no sign of your phone -- just me? (It was one time. Lesson learned, trust me.)

Also important: cults exist on a spectrum.

Not all “cult-like” traits are bad.

Groups need:

shared language
rituals
identity
leaders
inside jokes
a sense of mission

In other words: Humans are constantly building little micro-cultures everywhere we go. (It’s basically one of our hobbies.)

How:

So when does a healthy culture become a harmful cult?

Here’s a rough cheat sheet:

✅ Healthy: encourages autonomy

‼️ Harmful: you can’t question the leader or group rhetoric

✅ Healthy: you can come and go freely

‼️ Harmful: leaving is punished or shamed

✅ Healthy: leaders are transparent and accountable

‼️ Harmful: outside perspectives are discouraged; expressing doubt is shamed or punished