Cult Hackers

Today's guest is Brent Lee who describes himself as a recovering conspiracist of 15 years. Brent explains how he became drawn into a Grand Conspiracy, his journey out and the reasons he now feels he must talk about his own experience. Stephen and Celine also discuss how society might deal with this phenomena.

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Brent Lee TV https://youtube.com/c/BrentLeeTV

ko-fi.com/brentleetv

Twitter @BrentLeeTV

The Milgram experiments of the 1960s tried to answer the question of how seemingly normal people can do the most awful things. These experiments have been part of Psychology 101 for years and the subject of many a documentary. What are these experiments? And what can they tell us about how people behave in cults? Stephen also discusses sometimes difficult feelings ex members may have about things they may have done while part of a cult or high control group.

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Interesting links

Footage of The Milgram Experiment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOUEC5YXV8U&t=2s

Adam Haslam, The Psychology of Tyranny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxXMKg8-7o0

Clip from Derren Brown, The Heist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxq4QtK3j0Y

References

Hollway, W., Lucey, H., & Phoenix, A. (2006). Social psychology matters. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Miell, D., Phoenix, A., & Thomas, K. (2002). Mapping psychology 1. The Open University.

Sapphire Phoenix was raised as an 'exemplary' Jehovah's Witness until he found himself disfellowshipped and outside the organisation and his circle of family and friends. Sapphire talks about his experience and the realization that he wanted a different life. Now a singer-songwriter we feature two of his latest tunes.

Instagram: @officialsapphirephoenix

Today Celine and Stephen talk about being wrong and why it's so often hard to accept. They look at the psychology of being wrong and how some cognitive biases may feed into the reasons why we don't always notice it when we are. Celine and Stephen also start the show with a side discussion about the joy of watching young people listen to progressive rock music for the first time, Virtual Reality, states of flow and scary video games. An eclectic episode!

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Links 

Psychology Today: Why is it so hard to admit when we are wrong?

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/tech-happy-life/202101/why-is-it-so-hard-admit-when-we-are-wrong

https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/

Ambrose Cynthia YouTube Channel listening in Firth of Fifth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5lKBO8TMAs

Beat Saber

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/2448060205267927

Little Nightmares

https://store.steampowered.com/app/424840/Little_Nightmares/

Growing up as a Jehovah's Witness or other fundamentalist religious group members are taught a particular view about the role of women, but what does the Bible really say? Upon leaving we have decisions to make about what our opinion now is and how that might affect our decisions and attitudes. Today Celine and Stephen talk again to Producer Bob, a born in ex Jehovah's Witness about her experience when in, and how she feels about it now. 

Does the 2014 movie Whiplash starring Miles Teller and JK Simmons depict a cultic relationship? One of our favourite movies with fabulous music great acting and a compelling story the movie is the story of a young man's rise to jazz drumming greatness, but there's a darker side to the story? On today's podcast we explore whether what we are watching is a sort of cult or at least a coercive relationship. 

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It's a fascinating and emotional episode this week, as Lizzie tells us about her life being raised within an Amish community in Ohio and how she ran away to start a new life. Lizzie is now a Health Coach with her own business called Undiet Yourself.

Lizzie's Website: https://undietyourself.live/

Lizzie's Instagram: @lizzieens 

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Recorded just before Christmas Day, Stephen's favourite podcasts of the year plus other recommendations to help make sense of a complicated, confusing but wonderful thing we call the world.

Happy New Year to all our listeners from Stephen and Celine.

Video version available at https://youtu.be/1jywnBWcx2A

Featured Podcasts

Top Ten Podcasts Very Bad Wizards - pod.link/557975157

Timesuck - pod.link/1156343076

Stories of Jesus, as told by atheists - pod.link/1435789453

In our time - pod.link/73330895

Freakonomics - pod.link/354668519

People I mostly admire - pod.link/1525936566

Philosophize this - pod.link/659155419

Kermode & Mayo - pod.link/73802698

You're dead to me - pod.link/1479973402

Mindscape - pod.link/1406534739

Podcast Friends

Falling out - pod.link/1550448436

The Free Thought Prophet - pod.link/1355376385

The World of Work Podcast - pod.link/1446563591

I was a teenage fundamentalist - pod.link/1558606464

Mindshift - pod.link/1199559501

Not too busy to write - pod.link/1550576952

Provisional Aspirations - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onbsOOYRP78

As a Jehovah's Witness dad didn't really 'do' New Year, but upon leaving he observed the common tradition of the New Year's Resolution. What does the research suggest about how effective they are and what makes them more likely to be successful?

We also discuss a 'tweet of the week' addressing the question of whether all religions are cults. 

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Links

https://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/

Norcross, J. C., Ratzin, A. C., & Payne, D. (1989). Ringing in the New Year: The change processes and reported outcomes of resolutions. Addictive Behaviors, 14(2), 205-212.

http://www.changeologybook.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ringing-in-the-new-year.pdf

Early in 2021 Stephen talked to his daughter, Celine about his life as a Jehovah's Witness, being raised in the group, getting married to a fellow JW, struggling with doubts and finally leaving around the time she was born. The story originally spanned three separate episodes so this Christmas we've put all three together into a single episode.