The Psychology of Authority and the Abuse of Power

[skyrider]

Damn.

The Stanford Prison Experiment movie was on cable tv again today......."The Stanford prison experiment (SPE) was an attempt to investigate the psychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between prisoners and Prison officers. It was conducted at Stanford University between August 14–20, 1971, by a research group led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo using college students."

I know this topic has been discussed here at GSC before......but in watching it (again), it seemed so eerily familiar to corps training.

• The psychology of authority........twig  leader, branch leader, area leader, corps coordinator, corps director and "man of god" wierwille
• Stripping of individual identity......everyone is under group authority; no musical instruments for 3 months; $20 /month spending; stay on campus grounds
• Mandatory scheduling........class attendance; work detail; cafeteria too (whether you ate or not); uniformity across the board / no exceptions
• Rigid Conformity to "lights out" at night and morning "roll call"........with thrown in 3am fire alarm drills to measure response and obedience
• Every day was "spontaneous obedience"......each day it seemed like THEY made an example of someone who broke the rules
• The threat of being singled out was REAL.......mocked in front of the whole group, confrontations, cite retemories, verbal abuse
• Elder corps were told to oversee the younger corps and, in essence, whistleblow on them if need be.....
• The psychology of authority was everywhere on campus........peer pressure to "stay in your lane" and obey
• When wierwille came on emporia campus.....he said NONE of us knew how to work  [demeaning of self-worth]
• Indoctrination into the cult.......spiritual protocol, mannerisms, dress code, clichés, nametags to engender authority figures
• Idolatry and adulation of wierwille.......the man whom God waited for since the Apostle Paul to teach us "the word"..... (/s)

Watching this movie was startling.......the gripping power of authority that was inescapable 24/7.  The Emporia Campus was "the four walls" and the younger corps submitted to authoritative figures in dorm rooms, classes, meal time, running on the track to get aerobic points, wherever. 

We were given monthly household responsibilities that extended beyond our daily work assignments.....ie another authority figure over us.  We were assigned bless patrol shifts in the middle of the night and/or mandated prayer vigils for an hour in the prayer room.  So, for example if our twig was assigned at 4am to pray....someone might come looking for you at 4:02am if you didn't show up.  This psychology of authority was OVER US........24/7.  The only two options were 1) obedience/conformity or 2) leave/split/get thrown out.

More later...........

[penworks]

Indeed.

[skyrider]

The Way College of Biblical Research, Emporia Kansas..............was NOT a college; it was a cult compound and indoctrination program.

Yeah, I signed on the line to go way corps and learn at this "college"........but I clearly was not expecting group cloning and the stripping of my individual identity.  Each day was packed with pushing the limits psychologically, emotionally and socially.  For me......it was frustrating as hell to be in their little guilt box, but I determined to persevere thru this "boot camp" because I'd never quit anything in my life.  Surely, this is just to "test" my endurance levels.....wasn't it?

Having been to a real college.....I was expecting a moderation of corps training and college life.  You know,.......some fun, homework, free time, deep pursuit of challenging questions, beer and girls.    ..............I was NOT expecting rigid conformity and authoritarian rule from the moment I got up until lights out at night.  Yeah, that's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but mentally........it often felt like that.

And, the work detail..............really?  I was so thankful that I wasn't put on weed detail.  I think that pulling weeds 4 hours a day would have been too much for me.  Having grown up on a wheat farm, I was driving a tractor at age 10.......and when martindale talked about mowing grass and his dad made him clean the lawn mower before putting it away, I snickered.  Mowing grass to learn detail?  spiritual truths?  Oh my.

But yeah.......it was challenging to keep my emotions and thoughts in check.  I hated the confinement......mentally and emotionally.  The psychology of authority bearing over my shoulder day after day was grueling and frustrating......and that was one of the biggest challenges for me of the corps "training."  Gawd......someone in authority giving us a 20-minute lecture on why the toilet paper should dispense over the roll and not under it. 

[T-Bone]

I went into the corps program during the latter part of my TWI involvement (took the class in the winter of ’74…went into the Family Corps in the fall of ’84)…your posts got me thinking over that time before I went into the corps…I know this is going to sound odd – but I kinda see that time as obedience training (as in obedience training for dogs) in that it served as a prerequisite for way corps indoctrination - - 

- - in other words, it was conditioning for a more efficient uptake of cultic bu11$hit. Given the long time span before I went in the corps – is that much more time to develop a sublime veneration of vpw – which probably made me a real pushover for those cultic bastards.

Edited August 14, 2017 by T-Bone
clarity

[Rocky]

8 hours ago, skyrider said:

The Way College of Biblical Research, Emporia Kansas..............was NOT a college; it was a cult compound and indoctrination program.

Yeah, I signed on the line to go way corps and learn at this "college"........but I clearly was not expecting group cloning and the stripping of my individual identity.  Each day was packed with pushing the limits psychologically, emotionally and socially.  For me......it was frustrating as hell to be in their little guilt box, but I determined to persevere thru this "boot camp" because I'd never quit anything in my life.  Surely, this is just to "test" my endurance levels.....wasn't it?

Having been to a real college.....I was expecting a moderation of corps training and college life.  You know,.......some fun, homework, free time, deep pursuit of challenging questions, beer and girls.    ..............I was NOT expecting rigid conformity and authoritarian rule from the moment I got up until lights out at night.  Yeah, that's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but mentally........it often felt like that.

And, the work detail..............really?  I was so thankful that I wasn't put on weed detail.  I think that pulling weeds 4 hours a day would have been too much for me.  Having grown up on a wheat farm, I was driving a tractor at age 10.......and when martindale talked about mowing grass and his dad made him clean the lawn mower before putting it away, I snickered.  Mowing grass to learn detail?  spiritual truths?  Oh my.

But yeah.......it was challenging to keep my emotions and thoughts in check.  I hated the confinement......mentally and emotionally.  The psychology of authority bearing over my shoulder day after day was grueling and frustrating......and that was one of the biggest challenges for me of the corps "training."  Gawd......someone in authority giving us a 20-minute lecture on why the toilet paper should dispense over the roll and not under it. 

There are a number of videos about the Stanford Prison Experiment on youtube. Some excerpts, some reflections on the experiment, and even (for a fee) the entire documentary. When I first heard about it, I couldn't watch the entire documentary... because I couldn't emotionally tolerate it.
 

 

[Grace Valerie Claire]

8 hours ago, skyrider said:

The Way College of Biblical Research, Emporia Kansas..............was NOT a college; it was a cult compound and indoctrination program.

Yeah, I signed on the line to go way corps and learn at this "college"........but I clearly was not expecting group cloning and the stripping of my individual identity.  Each day was packed with pushing the limits psychologically, emotionally and socially.  For me......it was frustrating as hell to be in their little guilt box, but I determined to persevere thru this "boot camp" because I'd never quit anything in my life.  Surely, this is just to "test" my endurance levels.....wasn't it?

Having been to a real college.....I was expecting a moderation of corps training and college life.  You know,.......some fun, homework, free time, deep pursuit of challenging questions, beer and girls.    ..............I was NOT expecting rigid conformity and authoritarian rule from the moment I got up until lights out at night.  Yeah, that's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but mentally........it often felt like that.

And, the work detail..............really?  I was so thankful that I wasn't put on weed detail.  I think that pulling weeds 4 hours a day would have been too much for me.  Having grown up on a wheat farm, I was driving a tractor at age 10.......and when martindale talked about mowing grass and his dad made him clean the lawn mower before putting it away, I snickered.  Mowing grass to learn detail?  spiritual truths?  Oh my.

But yeah.......it was challenging to keep my emotions and thoughts in check.  I hated the confinement......mentally and emotionally.  The psychology of authority bearing over my shoulder day after day was grueling and frustrating......and that was one of the biggest challenges for me of the corps "training."  Gawd......someone in authority giving us a 20-minute lecture on why the toilet paper should dispense over the roll and not under it. 

Sky, I too grew up on a farm; I learned to work hard, at a very young age.  IMO, VPW didn't know how to work, period.  He claimed he did, but he didn't. I would never have made it through the Corps; too much Bullsheet!

[skyrider]

Thanks Rocky.......for the youtube video.

The Stanford Prison Experiment......"The researchers held an orientation session for guards the day before the experiment, during which guards were instructed not to physically harm the prisoners or withhold food or drink. In the footage of the study, Zimbardo can be seen talking to the guards: "You can create in the prisoners feelings of boredom, a sense of fear to some degree, you can create a notion of arbitrariness that their life is totally controlled by us, by the system, you, me, and they'll have no privacy ... We're going to take away their individuality in various ways. In general what all this leads to is a sense of powerlessness. That is, in this situation we'll have all the power and they'll have none."

The in-residence corps program was a culture of authority and dominance.  Under the guise of "spiritual oversight," the branch/area/corps coordinators were supported by the elder corps to keep the younger corps in a state of submission.  An "attitude of gratitude" [submitting to the guardians of the spiritual secrets] was expected to be your best state of mind.  Not grumbling, no whining, no dissenting, no outbursts of frustration.......just keep your trap shut and "listen, remember, and obey."

In 1978, my first year in-rez......along with side classes each day [study principles, dale carnegie sales techniques, jet-style packing, memory pegs, etc.] we were delving into the book of Romans on corps nights, Thessalonians taught by corps coordinator, Galatians tapes from wierwille, and Leadership Principles of Jesus Christ during study hall.  Each corps was required to know the 25 corps retemories, the 25 advanced class retemories, the 25 defeating the adversary retemories......and you might be called on to stand up and recite one of them.  Or, called on to stand, speak in tongues & interpret at the 5:30am morning teaching.  They pulled the strings.......and held the power to control each day's outcome.

My first block, I was assigned to Harry Hall dorm and had 3 other roommates.  After Christmas break, we all changed dorm rooms......and I was in Owens Hall with 17 men.  Some set their alarm clocks at 4:15am, or 4:30am, or 4:45am, or 5:00am, or 5:10am......when we had a scheduled be-in-your-seat at 5:20am morning teaching.

Open showers, cold showers, men shaving, men flossing teeth.......hurry, hurry, get to class.

The corps coordinators and assistants played tag-team over us.  We had to be at every meal, every class, every work assignment, every branch meeting/assignment..... whereas they, the powers-that-be, floated in and out of the green room, and skipped breakfast often.  Why not?  They had access to food service delivered to their apartment, refrigerator, shelves stocked with food and snacks, etc.  Two different worlds.  How often did they leave campus and shop?  How often did they go to a local coffee shop or restaurant.....while we were in class?

This was not a 12-week boot camp.........this was 2 years of intense, in-residence indoctrination.

The psychology of authority was like a dark cloud over the emporia campus.

 

 

 

[skyrider]

We were allotted $20 per month for expenditures.......

Some corps had sponsors who sent them gift boxes with toothpaste, deodorant, floss, cookies or whatever.  But still......$20 didn't go very far when you slapped quarters into washers/dryers every week, vending machines for a snack, and a couple donuts or beer on Saturday.

They said this would teach us to be financially responsible with money......but really, this was just ANOTHER way to control us.

 

[skyrider]

"Guards and prisoners were playing the role of their authority, which is subjective.  They may have not acted the same in real life situations. In particular, the environment and authority roles they found themselves in changed their actions."

Corps grads and cult-followers were/are playing the role of their so-called "spiritual authority over others" which was/is subjective.  They WOULD NOT act the same in real life......in the workplace, marketplace, or wherever.  The roles of the cult influenced their surroundings, environment and authority with which they found themselves in the cult.  Each and every meeting, function, and activity strengthened their authoritative role and diminished the follower who stayed submissive.

Chris Geer relishes the authority role of guard......"guardian of the wierwille mystique."

John Lynn basks in the self-glory of guard............"and keeper of the pfal-secrets."

Walter Cummins enjoys being the warden............"overseeing the biblical research complex."

Corps grads who fawn over wierwille-adulation embrace the nostalgia of the good-old days.

.

Edited August 14, 2017 by skyrider

[Grace Valerie Claire]

1 hour ago, skyrider said:

Thanks Rocky.......for the youtube video.

The Stanford Prison Experiment......"The researchers held an orientation session for guards the day before the experiment, during which guards were instructed not to physically harm the prisoners or withhold food or drink. In the footage of the study, Zimbardo can be seen talking to the guards: "You can create in the prisoners feelings of boredom, a sense of fear to some degree, you can create a notion of arbitrariness that their life is totally controlled by us, by the system, you, me, and they'll have no privacy ... We're going to take away their individuality in various ways. In general what all this leads to is a sense of powerlessness. That is, in this situation we'll have all the power and they'll have none."

The in-residence corps program was a culture of authority and dominance.  Under the guise of "spiritual oversight," the branch/area/corps coordinators were supported by the elder corps to keep the younger corps in a state of submission.  An "attitude of gratitude" [submitting to the guardians of the spiritual secrets] was expected to be your best state of mind.  Not grumbling, no whining, no dissenting, no outbursts of frustration.......just keep your trap shut and "listen, remember, and obey."

In 1978, my first year in-rez......along with side classes each day [study principles, dale carnegie sales techniques, jet-style packing, memory pegs, etc.] we were delving into the book of Romans on corps nights, Thessalonians taught by corps coordinator, Galatians tapes from wierwille, and Leadership Principles of Jesus Christ during study hall.  Each corps was required to know the 25 corps retemories, the 25 advanced class retemories, the 25 defeating the adversary retemories......and you might be called on to stand up and recite one of them.  Or, called on to stand, speak in tongues & interpret at the 5:30am morning teaching.  They pulled the strings.......and held the power to control each day's outcome.

My first block, I was assigned to Harry Hall dorm and had 3 other roommates.  After Christmas break, we all changed dorm rooms......and I was in Owens Hall with 17 men.  Some set their alarm clocks at 4:15am, or 4:30am, or 4:45am, or 5:00am, or 5:10am......when we had a scheduled be-in-your-seat at 5:20am morning teaching.

Open showers, cold showers, men shaving, men flossing teeth.......hurry, hurry, get to class.

The corps coordinators and assistants played tag-team over us.  We had to be at every meal, every class, every work assignment, every branch meeting/assignment..... whereas they, the powers-that-be, floated in and out of the green room, and skipped breakfast often.  Why not?  They had access to food service delivered to their apartment, refrigerator, shelves stocked with food and snacks, etc.  Two different worlds.  How often did they leave campus and shop?  How often did they go to a local coffee shop or restaurant.....while we were in class?

This was not a 12-week boot camp.........this was 2 years of intense, in-residence indoctrination.

The psychology of authority was like a dark cloud over the emporia campus.

 

 

 

Sky, are you sure you were in the USA??  I swear, this sounds like it could has been someplace in Nazi Germany.  VPW really admired Hitler; IMO, both of them were losers.

[Grace Valerie Claire]

12 minutes ago, skyrider said:

"Guards and prisoners were playing the role of their authority, which is subjective.  They may have not acted the same in real life situations. In particular, the environment and authority roles they found themselves in changed their actions."

Corps grads and cult-followers were/are playing the role of their so-called "spiritual authority over others" which is subjective.  They WOULD NOT act the same in real life......in the workplace, marketplace, or wherever.  The roles of the cult influenced their surroundings, environment and authority with which they found themselves in the cult.  Each and every meeting, function, and activity strengthened their authoritative role and diminished the follower who stayed submissive.

Chris Geer relishes the authority role of guard......"guardian of the wierwille mystique."

John Lynn basks in the self-glory of guard............"and keeper of the pfal-secrets."

Walter Cummins enjoys being the warden............"overseeing the biblical research complex."

Corps grads who fawn over wierwille-adulation embrace the nostalgia of the good-old days.

.

Sky, I heard VPW teach live quite often. I thought on tape, or live, he was boring as hell.  I would be embarrassed, to be associated in any way with him.

[Grace Valerie Claire]

10 hours ago, T-Bone said:

I went into the corps program during the latter part of my TWI involvement (took the class in the winter of ’74…went into the Family Corps in the fall of ’84)…your posts got me thinking over that time before I went into the corps…I know this is going to sound odd – but I kinda see that time as obedience training (as in obedience training for dogs) in that it served as a prerequisite for way corps indoctrination - - 

- - in other words, it was conditioning for a more efficient uptake of cultic bu11$hit. Given the long time span before I went in the corps – is that much more time to develop a sublime veneration of vpw – which probably made me a real pushover for those cultic bastards.

T-Bone, it surprises me that so many smart young people went into the Corps. Even as a very young girl, I knew that the Corps wasn't for me; why should I have to pay money to work for free??

[Rocky]

43 minutes ago, Grace Valerie Claire said:

T-Bone, it surprises me that so many smart young people went into the Corps. Even as a very young girl, I knew that the Corps wasn't for me; why should I have to pay money to work for free??

It was sold as "who didn't want to be the spiritual elite?"

[Grace Valerie Claire]

6 minutes ago, Rocky said:

It was sold as "who didn't want to be the spiritual elite?"

Me!!

[Grace Valerie Claire]

8 minutes ago, Rocky said:

It was sold as "who didn't want to be the spiritual elite?"

Me!!

[Bolshevik]

24 minutes ago, Grace Valerie Claire said:

Me!!

But . . . then you'll spend eternity constantly shunned by others in the Grace Administration for your unwillingness to give to others from the heart??

[T-Bone]

3 hours ago, Grace Valerie Claire said:

T-Bone, it surprises me that so many smart young people went into the Corps. Even as a very young girl, I knew that the Corps wasn't for me; why should I have to pay money to work for free??

Yeah Grace, what I think was lacking was street-smart - you know, necessary skills  for survival in the real world - like the ability to spot a scam and to recognize a bunch of control-freaks, etc.

Edited August 14, 2017 by T-Bone
Clarity

[Grace Valerie Claire]

1 hour ago, T-Bone said:

Yeah Grace, what I think was lacking was street-smart - you know, necessary skills  for survival in the real world - like the ability to spot a scam and to recognize a bunch of control-freaks, etc.

T-Bone, I think many of us here at the GSC feel the same way.  But, thank God, we left TWI far, far behind.  

[Grace Valerie Claire]

2 hours ago, Bolshevik said:

But . . . then you'll spend eternity constantly shunned by others in the Grace Administration for your unwillingness to give to others from the heart??

Bol, I think a lot of people went into the Corps, to take, not to give.

[skyrider]

2 hours ago, T-Bone said:

Yeah Grace, what I think was lacking was street-smart - you know, necessary skills  for survival in the real world - like the ability to spot a scam and to recognize a bunch of control-freaks, etc.

T-Bone.......or flip it around the other way; namely, smug "street-smart" folk entered the corps program as opportunists and frauds. 

Remember all the crazy street/park/apartment witnessing we did thru the years.  Knocking doors and pounding the pavement to get someone....anyone to take the class?  How many of them (us) were still in our youth?  still searching for identity?  in the drug culture?  high school or college drop-outs?  wanting to ditch your past abuse or divorce?  no career goals in sight?  So......along comes this "opportunity to climb a spiritual ladder and really 'make' something of yourself?"

Who here at GSC hasn't heard about ....... rosalie f. shumate.

She didn't go WOW or ever serve as a twig coordinator on the field.....nope.  Straight from being a divorced teacher to family corps!  Bamm......now she had spiritual cred, because she kept her butt in a seat at the Indiana campus.  Whoop-dee-doo.  Straight-up opportunist and fraud, to boot.

And then, there's that old pesky 80-20 rule,....ie pareto principle where 80% of the bullying, intimidation and manipulation comes from 20% of the guards (corps leaders).  Even in that Stanford prison experiment.....things escalated rapidly on the second day when that ONE GUARD took every situation to another level of intimidation and humiliation of the prisoners.  That one guy set the stage for other guards to follow.....and the bullying exponentially multiplied. 

[Bolshevik]

7 minutes ago, skyrider said:

. . .

And then, there's that old pesky 80-20 rule,....ie pareto principle where 80% of the bullying, intimidation and manipulation comes from 20% of the guards (corps leaders).  Even in that Stanford prison experiment.....things escalated rapidly on the second day when that ONE GUARD took every situation to another level of intimidation and humiliation of the prisoners.  That one guy set the stage for other guards to follow.....and the bullying exponentially multiplied. 

Is it fair to speculate that after POOP paper its that analogous 20% that held on for years and decades onward?

[Grace Valerie Claire]

3 minutes ago, Bolshevik said:

Is it fair to speculate that after POOP paper its that analogous 20% that held on for years and decades onward?

Bol, yes.  But why??!!

[Bolshevik]

44 minutes ago, Grace Valerie Claire said:

Bol, yes.  But why??!!

They were naturally more committed in that they accepted and promoted behaviors that most did not?

[Rocky]

10 hours ago, T-Bone said:

Yeah Grace, what I think was lacking was street-smart - you know, necessary skills  for survival in the real world - like the ability to spot a scam and to recognize a bunch of control-freaks, etc.

Perhaps this is the "critical thinking skills" that don't get taught in schools... or by very many parents.

[T-Bone]

1 hour ago, Rocky said:

Perhaps this is the "critical thinking skills" that don't get taught in schools... or by very many parents.

Yeah - - maybe so....youth and naïveté go together like peanut butter and jelly.