"Social proof: people follow the lead of similar others. Use peer power whenever and wherever available to influence horizontally, not vertically. [Close social ties in Mormonism, pressure to conform and live your life like every other Mormon, home teaching, visiting teaching, only marry those who can take you to the temple, help your family members stay in the church]

Public commitments: People align with their commitments. Make their commitments active, public, and voluntary. [Bearing of testimonies often and to as many people as possible.]

Authority: People defer to experts who provide shortcuts to decisions requiring specialized information. [This man is called of god and speaks to us on god's behalf]"

"If a communicator can control the majority of communication avenues, he can affect behaviors with misrepresentations, even ones that are at odds with the target audience's own self-interests. [Don't read anything other than church approved sources. Do you associate with any apostate groups?]"

"If the target audience can comply with a small request [baptism, testimony bearing], it is more likely to comply with larger ones later [unpalatable temple ceremonies, giving 10% of income, many hours of service] - even ones they previously would not have complied with - since a cooperative mode will have been established."

"Using fear in messages is persuasive for most people, especially if the message also provides a way to alleviate that fear by taking some action." [You will be spared god's punishments if you pay tithing, attend the temple, do your home teaching, accept all callings, serve a mission, temple marriage, etc].

"Create an environment in which adopting the desired attitude or belief is considered socially desirable." [Everyone else in Mormonism is doing it and if you want to be accepted and popular you will do this too].

"Inoculation: Expose the audience in advance to your opponent's counterarguments and show the audience how to refute them so they are more inclined to resist the opponent's arguments." [Preparation for missionary work and the continued emphasis on the "us vs. them" inoculates Mormons against the "fiery darts of the adversary"]

dead on, dude.

Sometime during my later years in high school, and then in college, I learned about mind control and behavior control techniques. They were usually attributed to Nazis or communists. But I couldn't help seeing how the same things were done in the LDS church. I tried to tell myself it was somehow okay because the church was trying to lead us to righteousness. The ends justify the means, right? Um, no.

Stray Mutt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sometime during my later years in high school, and
> then in college, I learned about mind control and
> behavior control techniques. They were usually
> attributed to Nazis or communists. But I couldn't
> help seeing how the same things were done in the
> LDS church. I tried to tell myself it was somehow
> okay because the church was trying to lead us to
> righteousness. The ends justify the means, right?
> Um, no.


...and I explained it away the same way. All of those lingering doubts turned out to be true. If I had only listened to my gut sooner.