Steven Hassan
Dr. Steven Hassan is a prominent mental health professional, author, and advocate known for his expertise in cults and undue influence. Having experienced firsthand the effects of mind control and manipulation as a former member of the Unification Church (commonly known as the Moonies), Dr. Hassan has dedicated his life to helping individuals recover from cultic experiences and regain their autonomy. His personal journey escaping the clutches of the cult and subsequent academic pursuits in psychology and counseling uniquely positions him as a leading authority in the field of cult psychology. Through his books, lectures, and counseling work, Dr. Hassan continues to educate the public about the dangers of cults and provides support to those seeking to reclaim their lives from undue influence.
After a near fatal van crash due to sleep deprivation in 1976, I was deprogrammed from the Moonies (known by many as the Unification Church) and the influence of the movement’s leader, Sun Myung Moon. Waking up from an authoritarian cult has motivated me for the last 45 years to help others understand mind control tactics and to free themselves. I was deceptively recruited and did not understand the systematic social influence processes that had been used on me (and I used on others) until my deprogramming got me to open my mind.
How had I been turned against my family, my religion, my country? How could I give blind allegiance to a malignant narcissist? I would have died on command or killed on command. I slept three to four hours each night and worked seven days a week for no pay.
I went on to study the Chinese Communist brainwashing of the 1950s, which later led me to the work of psychologist Leon Festinger, who identified control of behaviors, thoughts and emotions as the three key elements of successful undue influence and developed what has come to be known as “cognitive dissonance theory.” Further research and personal experience convinced me that there is a fourth critical element — control of information —which lead me to develop the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control.
I was a member of a cult. Here’s how to bring QAnon believers back to reality
Opinion by Steven Hassan for CNN, February 4, 2021
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/04/perspectives/qanon-cult-truth/index.html
The BITE Model
BITE offers a clearly defined model based on observable behaviors that expert witnesses can use to evaluate the presence of mind control or thought reform across a variety of settings and groups.
Steven Hassan, The BITE Model of Authoritarian Control: Undue Influence, Thought Reform, Brainwashing, Mind Control, Trafficking and the Law, https://stevenhassan.substack.com/p/the-bite-model-of-authoritarian-control-undue-influence-thought-reform-brainwashing-mind-control-trafficking-and-the-law
The BITE model is a framework Steven Hassan developed to analyze and assess the control and influence tactics used by cults or high-control groups. “BITE” stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control, and it serves as a tool to identify the key ways in which cults manipulate their members:
- Behavior Control: Cults often exert control over members’ behavior through strict rules, regulations, and expectations. This may include dictating how members dress, eat, sleep, work, and interact with others. Cults may also employ tactics such as sleep deprivation, isolation from friends and family, and punishment for disobedience to maintain control over members’ actions.
- Information Control: Cults typically control the flow of information to their members, restricting access to outside sources of information and promoting only the teachings and materials approved by the group’s leaders. This can involve censorship, propaganda, and the distortion or revision of historical facts to fit the cult’s narrative. Members are often discouraged from questioning or critically examining the beliefs of the group.
- Thought Control: Cults employ techniques to manipulate and regulate members’ thoughts and beliefs, often through indoctrination, thought-stopping techniques, and the suppression of dissenting opinions. Members may be discouraged from questioning the teachings of the group or expressing doubt, and critical thinking may be discouraged or labeled as sinful or dangerous.
- Emotional Control: Cults use various tactics to manipulate and exploit members’ emotions, often fostering dependency, fear, guilt, and shame to maintain control. This can involve love-bombing (excessive displays of affection and approval), threats of punishment or ostracism for disobedience, and the manipulation of emotions through rituals, group dynamics, and charismatic leadership.
By examining a group’s practices and policies through the lens of the BITE model, researchers and former members can gain insight into the extent to which a group exhibits characteristics of a cult or high-control organization. This framework can help individuals understand and recognize the signs of undue influence and make informed decisions about their involvement with such groups.
Developing the BITE Model
One of the things that helped me get out of the Moon cult back in 1976 was the work of Robert Jay Lifton, who was a military intelligence psychiatrist in the 50’s studying Chinese communist brainwashing techniques. He wrote a landmark book called Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. In this book he outlined eight criteria that any environment may be judged as a brainwashing or a thought reform environment. That book was critical, and that model was critical to helping me understand what had happened to me in terms of my recruitment into the Moonies, the three-day workshop, the seven-day workshop, and all the other indoctrination features. Based on his model, I developed a BITE model of mind control. The B stands for behavior control then there’s Information control, Thought control, and Emotional control.
Under each one (this is on my website at freedomofmind.com): sleep deprivation, change of name, change of clothing, being in a controlled environment with rewards and punishment, needing to ask permission…
Information control: where the group doesn’t give you informed consents when they’re recruiting you, they either lie to you, or they hold back critical information, or they distort information, or they use information from other sources to manipulate you to make you feel like you’re having mystical experiences when in fact this information supplied, either by you or by someone else, about you, they use spies, they have you do confessions and use that material against you…
Essentially the BITE model offers my cutting edge approach for how anyone can evaluate whether or not they’ve been a victim of mind-control. In the new book Freedom of Mind, I’m shifting away from the term mind-control because it elicits the idea of somehow somebody with chips in your brain, or some type of puppeteer holding it which in some ways is the case psychologically, but when we’re moving towards the term undue influence, which is a legal term, which talks about how a discrepancy of power is used to undermine a person’s ability to think for themselves and make good decisions for themselves.
So, models have been developed now, my friend Alan Schieffelin law professor at Santa Clara University, for example, has developed the model where you take into account the predisposing vulnerabilities of a person as well as the sophisticated techniques of influence that an individual a group are using to combine to basically create what we refer to in mental health field as a dissociative disorder, where a person is split from themselves and a new cult identity is created to suppress their real identity.
So the question that people ask me often is, ‘well how how do you know if you’re in them under undue influence or mind control, or that you’ve been brainwashed?’ What I say is, ‘you wouldn’t, that’s part of the dilemma,’ because you’re your operating system your mind has been co-opted if you have been. So, for me, the answer really is you need to take a time out from the environment that you’re in and the people who are influencing you. You need to go to a separate geographical location and separate yourself from that. You need to study models of mind-control and undue influence, including Lifton’s model, and the BITE model. You need to deliberately seek out critical information about the leader, the doctrine, and the group, or the people that you are involved with, which is directly in in contradiction to what the group tells you: don’t talk to those people they’re negative, don’t talk to those people they’ve fallen away from God, or those people are under Satan’s control.
You want to find out for yourself and trust that you have the ability to know and to fact check whether or not things are true or not. In that context, I ask people to reflect back when they first met the person or first met the group, what did they think they were getting involved with, and compare it with what they now know, having been involved with the group for weeks or months or years, and ask themselves the question: “If I knew then what I know now, would I have ever gotten involved?” If the answer is “not in a million years,” then you know that you’ve been under undue influence.
Dr. Steven Hassan, Cult Expert: The BITE model
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pvpd6wCeM4
Combating Cult Mind Control
What exactdly is a cult then? That’s quite a question!
Does anyone join a group and then say, “Hey, I’ve just joined a cult, and it’s great. Come and join me!” Well, no. So how would you know if you or maybe a member of your family was in a cult?
Sadly, if you’re already on the inside, you probably wouldn’t know. After all, that’s how cults need to operate. Unless maybe you’re the leader, in which case, shame on you.
Anyway, how can a member or their friends or their family tell if they are in a cult? Well, the cult word the “C” word can be very offensive to some. The word’s high emotive and it’s often very upsetting when used on members, so we need to somehow define the word cult, or some would say a high control group, or maybe a group that exercises undue influence.
Let’s have a look at some names, past and present, have you heard of any of these which would you think were cults or not? The Moonies, Scientology, the SLA, Jonestown wacko, the Branch Davidians, Charles Manson, the way, al-qaeda, Islamic state, Boko Haram, North Korea, child sex trafficking, Mormons, we could go on and on. In fact, some go so far as to consider all religions to be cults.
There are very specific indicators of a cult, or a high control group, and it’s when that level of control becomes dangerous that we need to worry. So, when is that? Just for a minute, let’s go back to the 60s where a professor Robert Jay Lifton was researching mind control in his 1962 book, Thought Reform and The Psychology of Totalism. He gave eight indicators of cult behavior or brainwashing, and he did this after studying at length the Korean War, Chinese prisoners of wars. Liftin came up with these eight indicators and they are:
- A milieu or environmental control.
- Mystical manipulation.
- Demand for purity.
- Cult of confession.
- Sacred Science.
- Loaded Language.
- Doctrine Over Person.
- Dispensing of Existence.
So that language, maybe those words don’t mean a lot to you. Maybe they’re a little bit dated and it’s possible quite difficult to grasp exactly what he means without reading the book, but moving forward.
The BITE Model
Fast forward to 1988. Steve Hassen, himself a former Moony cult member, published a best-selling widely acclaimed book called Combating Cult Mind Control, which is often being reprinted, and has recently actually been updated to its new 30th anniversary edition. In the book, Steve breaks it down into a model he calls the BITE model. We’re gonna take a look at that now and and select the key indicators from each of the categories so they are: behavior control, information control, thought control, and emotional control. As we run through them, please do bear in mind that for a group to be considered a cult it wouldn’t necessarily need to tick all of the boxes. In fact, actually many cults will proudly declare for instance that we don’t make anyone live with us in a commune, or lots of members leave us, or have left in the past, so we can’t be a cult. But there they neatly and conveniently sidestep and ignore all the other indicators. Ironically that kind of thinking, that black-and-white thinking is in itself quite cultish. All of the indicators within the model can be a cause for concern.
Number one is Behavior Control and that’s all about controlling who you are. Dictating to you where you can maybe live, who you can live with, who you can associate with, who you can perhaps partner with, who you can have sex with. Is there control over the type of clothing that you can wear? And what you can’t wear? Or hair styles? Is your diet regulated? The type of food that you can eat, and the kind of drink that you can drink? Is maybe hunger and fasting part of it? Sleep: Does the group deprive you of sleep, or perhaps keep you so busy you don’t really get enough sleep? Finance/money is often a big thing: Do they ask for your money? Do they manipulate you so they can get it? Do they expect you to leave money to them? Leisure, holidays, entertainment: Do they dictate where you can go on holiday? What you should do on holiday? Perhaps they suggest that you should spend more time on group activities. Do you have to spend a lot of time with the group getting indoctrinated? Are things very repetitive and ritualistic almost? Do they maybe use the internet and multimedia as a means? Do you have to get their permission for major decisions in your life? Or are you expected to decide things a certain way? Do they try and control your thoughts your feelings and your activities? Is there a kind of reward system or punishment system in use? And do they encourage you to spy and tell on others particularly things that you might have even been told in confidence? It’s all about instilling a dependency and an obedience to the group. In extreme cases they could even threaten to harm your family and your friends, or even in really extreme cases to to be raped and/or beaten.
Number two is information control. This one’s all about deception. Do they deliberately withhold information? Do they distort information and lie to you? Do they minimize or discourage access to information that they haven’t produced themselves? This would usually especially be information on the internet, TV, radio, books, articles, newspapers, etc. that ex-members may have produced. In fact, anything critical of them, They might also keep you so busy that you don’t even have the time to think and investigate things. They could control you through modern phones, iPhones, iPads, cellphones, with texting calls, internet tracking. Do they break things down to “them” and “us”? Insider and outsider?
The third category then is thought control. Do they expect you to accept and internalize the group’s doctrine as the absolute truth? Their map of reality is reality itself, very black-and-white thinking. They can decide between good and evil, and there’s only two: you’re either with us, or you’re against us. They usually use something called loaded language, cliches, and little sentences which constrict knowledge. They actually stop critical thoughts forming, and reduce quite complex things into just simple buzzwords, things like: the way, or the truth. And, of course, you must only have good proper thoughts. Some use hypnotic techniques: chanting, meditating, excessive, praying, speaking in tongues, singing, as well as chanting, humming. The rejection of science and rational analysis, critical thinking, and constructive criticism. Can you ask open questions about the leader or the group of leaders? Their doctrines or policies and how they’ve come up with them? Can you say that other belief systems are quite legitimate and people are welcome to have them?
The fourth one is emotional control. Very often modern media, film or video, is used to to gain emotional control over members. They make you feel that the problems always your own fault, never the leadership or the groups fault. In fact, often, they may well blur the actual distinction between the leadership and God or the higher authority himself. Do they make you feel guilty? unworthy? a sinner? Identity guilt that you’re not living up to your potential. Maybe your family’s deficient, you come from a bad background and your past is very suspect with that fear of thinking independently always there. Seeing other people as part of the outside world and enemies. And if you’re with them, you might lose the prize, lose your salvation. And if you go elsewhere, you’ll be shunned and not spoken to by even family members. You may have heard about love bombing – the way new members are treated with lots of extra attention and praise, and certainly not revealing to new members the more extreme thoughts and practices of the group. Another common one is phobia indoctrination – irrational fears. Do they make you scared of demons and things like that. Tell you that there’s no happiness or fulfillment that you can possibly get outside the group. The fear of being rejected. Shunning. Do they say that any that have left are weak, undisciplined, not spiritual, worldly, brainwashed, and have been got off by their family and other stuff that the world can offer.
That’s a brief summary of the four categories from Steve Hassan’s BITE model. Sometimes the indicators may overlap. If you’ve got concerns that you, or your loved ones, family, friends, may be in a cult or group like that, what can you do?
First, remember that the Internet is your friend no matter what any cult leader may say. Of course, you don’t have to believe everything that you find on the Internet. We all know that by now. You can weigh up any evidence that you find from multiple sources. You can make up your own mind. That’s what true control is all about. It’s also important to remember that, sadly, no matter how clearly you have may have come to see it, confronting established cult members with facts would almost certainly have little effect. This is what cognitive dissonance is all about. Our minds don’t like to be confronted with conflicting ideas.Cognitive dissonance is a very interesting subject all on its own. So if you want to understand and know more about cults and mind control then that key is understanding mind control itself. For that Steve’s book is the resource, the essential reading. I can thoroughly recommend it. You can also visit his website freedomofmind.com
Steven Hassan’s BITE Model Whiteboard explainer: What is a Cult?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLGGlHggSJs
Other insightful quotes from Dr Steven Hassan’s books.
“Truth is stronger than lies, and love is stronger than fear.”
“Faith can be a wonderful thing if it is balanced by critical thinking.”
“Information provides the tools with which we think and understand reality. Without accurate, up-to-date information, we can easily be manipulated and controlled.”
“It is important to remember that, for the most part, people don’t join cults. Cults recruit people.”
Dr. Steven Hassan
Combating Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue and Recovery from Destructive Cults
Mind control (undue influence) refers to the process of controlling people by mentally hijacking their rational thought processes. Mind control is the process by which individual or collective freedom of choice and action is compromised by agents or agencies that modify or distort perception, motivation, affect, cognition and/or behavioral outcomes. It is neither magical nor mystical, but a process that involves a set of basic social psychological principles. Conformity, compliance, persuasion, dissonance, reactance, guilt and fear arousal, modeling and identification are some of the staple social influence ingredients well studied in psychological experiments and field studies. In some combinations, they create a powerful crucible of extreme mental and behavioral manipulation when synthesized with several other real-world factors, such as charismatic, authoritarian leaders, dominant ideologies, social isolation, physical debilitation, induced phobias, and extreme threats or promised rewards that are typically deceptively orchestrated, over an extended time period in settings where they are applied intensively.
Dr. Steven Hassan
Combating Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue and Recovery from Destructive Cults
“Few people understand that cult indoctrination superimposes a new identity that suppresses and controls the individual’s authentic identity.”
“There are always two or more sides to an issue, so don’t accept any information at face value. Instead, be willing to hear all sides of the story. Take the time to explore both pro and counter–cult sites. Then you can develop your own, informed opinions.”
Steven Hassan, Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs
The BITE Model from Dr. Steven Hassan offers a valuable lens through which to understand the methods of control used by cults and high-control groups. It’s essential to approach any organization or religion with a critical mind, especially those that claim divine authority while asking for your money, like the Mormon or LDS church.
Question everything, and don’t shy away from exploring all sides of the story. If you suspect that you may have joined or been born into a group that exerts undue influence, please consider taking a break to gain clarity. Use this time to examine the organization with open eyes, free from the constraints they may have imposed. Seek out material that the group’s leaders might discourage you from reading, and give yourself the freedom to make up your own mind. Independence of thought and freedom of choice are fundamental rights—don’t surrender them to a group that would exploit you and your loved ones for generations.
Have you escaped? Consider sharing your own story, that’s the reason this site at wasmormon.org exists. It’s a collection of stories by those who got out of the Mormon church. All might not consider the church to be a cult, but none can deny that according to this BITE model, the Mormon church does exhibit several characteristics common to cults: namely controlling behavior, information, thought, and emotion.
More reading:
- How to tell if you’re brainwashed?” Steven Hassan, Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/steve_hassan_how_to_tell_if_you_re_brainwashed
- Steven Hassan’s BITE Model Whiteboard explainer: What is a Cult? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLGGlHggSJs
- https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-control/bite-model-pdf-download/
- Combatting Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults, by Steven Hassan
- Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs by Steven Hassan
- Mormonism and The BITE Model
- https://freedomofmind.com/the-bite-model-mormonism-an-exploration-with-john-dehlin/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/s004jq/ama_im_steven_hassan_ask_me_anything/
- https://medium.com/@JChallis/how-to-spot-a-cult-from-a-former-recruiter-f3b0c9dbc032
- https://publicsquaremag.org/politics-law/politics/solution-political-cults/
- Releasing the Bonds: Steve Hassan’s 2008 presentation to the Exmormon Foundation
- The Lloyd Evans Channel: An Expert Explains the BITE Model with Steven Hassan, PhD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP-tuAT9_3k
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Reform_and_the_Psychology_of_Totalism
- https://archive.org/details/thoughtreformpsy0000lift