Yeakley's Study and Hassan's Interpretation

I noticed that there is a big difference between Yeakley's description of his study in The Discipling Dilemma and Hassan's interpretation of Yeakley's study in chapter 11 of Combatting Cult Mind Control and chapter 2 of Releasing the Bonds.

There is online version of The Discipling Dilemma . Mainly, Yeakley's study is described in chapter 2 . There is also an excerpted online version of chapter 2 of Releasing the Bonds .

Hassan begins the description of Yeakley's study in this way:

As I looked back at my involvement with the Moonies, Lewin's three terms -- unfreezing, changing, and refreezing -- struck a chord in me. When I was first recruited, I experienced a meltdown of my personality. During indoctrination, I underwent a radical personality change. When my identity refroze, it was as if I had become a clone of our leader, Sun Myung Moon.

This aspect of cult indoctrination was scientifically demonstrated by Dr. Flavil Yeakley, a well-respected psychologist and a member of the mainline Church of Christ.

Yeakley is not only a member of the mainline Church of Christ. He has been a minister of this church for a very long time. However, this is not the only Hassan's error. Yeakley does not say anything about unfreezing, changing, and refreezing. He does not say anything about creation of the cult identity. He even does not say anything about mind control at all. All these conclusions that Yeakley's study demonstrates the process of creation of the cult identity (unfreezing, changing, and refreezing) were made by Hassan, not by Yeakley.

What Yeakley's study demonstrated is the change of MBTI personality types of members of the International Church of Christ (ICC) and some other cults and no change of personality types of members of the mainline Church of Christ and some other Christian churches. Thus, this change of personality types of members of ICC toward one type (ESFJ) was not the result of their spiritual growth, but the result of undue influence. This was Yeakley's conclusion.

Yeakley writes that a person's true personality type does not change. However, the outward expression can be changed through the undue influence. He gives an illustration of a right-handed person who has to use left hand for writing. Well, I am right-handed, but I am able to write with the left hand, though not so well as with the right hand. This is the point. A right-handed person can learn to use the left hand for writing and doing other things. However, he or she will not cease to be right-handed. He or she will just change the outward behavior.

Yeakley also sometimes children imitate their parents' personality types - when their parents unhealthy influence them. These children have their own personality types, but behave according to their parents' personality types. Of course, their parent do not use mind control techniques and do not create cult identity in their children.

So, there is a difference between Hassan's idea of creation of the cult identity and Yeakley's idea of the change of the outward expression, not the change of the true personality type itself. Yeakley's study did not demonstrate that mind control creates the cult identity as Hassan interprets his study.