APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control

The APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control (DIMPAC ) formed at the request of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1983. The APA asked Margaret Singer, one of the leading proponents of theories of coercive persuasion, to chair a task force to:

1. Describe the deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control that may limit freedom and adversely affect individuals, families, and society. 2. Review the data base in the field. 3. Define the implications of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control for consumers of psychological services. 4. Examine the ethical, educational, and social implications of this problem.

Before the task force had submitted its final report, the APA submitted an amicus curiae brief (10 February 1987) in a case pending before the California Supreme Court. The case involved issues of brainwashing and coercive persuasion. The brief stated that Singer's hypotheses "were uninformed speculations based on skewed data." The APA subsequently withdrew from the brief, portraying its participation as premature in that DIMPAC had not yet submitted its report. (Scholars who had co-signed the brief did not withdraw.)

The task force completed its final report in November 1986. In May 1987 the APA Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP) rejected the DIMPAC final report; stating that the report "lack[ed] the scientific rigor and evenhanded critical approach necessary for APA imprimatur", and also stating that the BSERP did "not believe that we have sufficient information available to guide us in taking a position on this issue". The BSERP board requested that the task-force members not distribute or publicize the report without indicating that the Board found the report unacceptable, and cautioned the members of the task force against using their past appointment to it "to imply BSERP or APA support or approval of the positions advocated in the report".

Singer and her professional associate sociologist Richard Ofshe subsequently sued the APA in 1992 for "defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy" and lost in 1994. Subsequently, judges did not accept Singer as an expert witness in cases alleging brainwashing and mind control.

Members of the task force
The task force comprised:


 * Margaret Singer, Chair
 * Harold Goldstein, National Institute of Mental Health
 * Michael Langone, American Family Foundation
 * Jesse S. Miller
 * Maurice K. Temerlin, Clinical Psychology Consultants, Inc.
 * Louis Jolyon West, University of California Los Angeles

Reported conclusions of the DIMPAC task force
The draft report of the DIMPAC task force (which the BSERP board requested that task-force members not distribute or publicize without indicating that the Board found the report unacceptable ) included the following abstract:

Cults and large group awareness trainings have generated considerable controversy because of their widespread use of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control. These techniques can compromise individual freedom, and their use has resulted in serious harm to thousands of individuals and families. This report reviews the literature on this subject, proposes a new way of conceptualizing influence techniques, explores the ethical ramifications of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control, and makes recommendations addressing the problems described in the report.

Draft recommendations included:


 * Research: "Psychologists should devote more effort toward understanding the mechanisms of action, effects, and ethical implications of social influence techniques, especially those that are deceptive and indirect... The study of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control should include study of how such techniques can be resisted and neutralized, and how those harmed by such techniques can be provided more appropriate therapy."


 * Professional Ethics and Education: "The American Psychological Association ought to consider how future versions of APA's ethical code and ethical casebook material should be revised in light of the ethical implications of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control used in LGATs, innovative psychotherapies, and other settings."


 * Public Policy: "Because of the sometimes grave consequences of unethical application of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control, psychologists ought to direct more attention to educating the public about such techniques."

The amicus curiæ brief
Before the task force had submitted its final report, the APA, together with a group of scholars, submitted on February 10, 1987 an amicus curiæ brief in a pending case before the California Supreme Court, involving issues of brainwashing and coercive persuasion related to the Unification Church. The brief portrayed Singer's hypotheses as uninformed speculations based on skewed data.

The brief characterized the theory of brainwashing as not scientifically proven and advanced the position that "this commitment to advancing the appropriate use of psychological testimony in the courts carries with it the concomitant duty to be vigilant against those who would use purportedly expert testimony lacking scientific and methodological rigor".

On March 24, 1987 the APA filed a motion to withdraw its signature from this brief, as it considered the conclusion premature, in view of the ongoing work of the DIMPAC task force. The amicus as such continued because the co-signed scholars did not withdraw their signatures. These included: Jeffrey Hadden, Eileen Barker, David Bromley and J. Gordon Melton, Joseph Bettis, Durwood Foster, William R. Garret, Richard D. Kahone, Timothy Miller, John Young, James T. Richardson, Ray L. Hart, Benton Johnson, Franklin Littell, Newton Malony, Donald E. Miller, Mel Prosen, Thomas Robbins, and Huston Smith.

The APA memorandum: dismissal of the DIMPAC report
On May 11, 1987 the APA Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP) rejected the DIMPAC report because "the brainwashing theory espoused lacks the scientific rigor and evenhanded critical approach necessary for APA imprimatur."

Along with the rejection memo came two letters from external advisers to the APA who reviewed the report (the APA did not make its internal review public):


 * One of the letters, from Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi of the University of Haifa, stated among other comments that "lacking psychological theory, the report resorts to sensationalism in the style of certain tabloids" and that "the term 'brainwashing' is not a recognized theoretical concept, and is just a sensationalist 'explanation' more suitable to 'cultists' and revival preachers. It should not be used by psychologists, since it does not explain anything". Beit-Hallahmi recommended not making the report public.
 * The second letter, from Jeffrey D. Fisher, said that the report "[...] seems to be unscientific in tone, and biased in nature. It draws conclusions, which in many cases do not mesh well with the evidence presented. At times, the reasoning seems flawed to the point of being almost ridiculous. In fact, the report sometimes seems to be characterized by the use of deceptive, indirect techniques of persuasion and control — the very thing it is investigating".

The BSERP board also cautioned the members of the task force "against using their past appointment to imply BSERP or APA support or approval of the positions advocated in the report", and stated that they should "not distribute or publicize the report without indicating that the report was unacceptable to the Board."

The memorandum concludes with "Finally, after much consideration, BSERP does not believe that we have sufficient information available to guide us in taking a position on this issue."

Impact of the DIMPAC report dimissal on court cases
In August 1988 the District of Columbia Court of Appeals overturned the Kropinski v. World Plan Executive Council case, based on the lack of scientific support for the theories presented by Margaret Singer, during her testimony as an expert witness.

In 1989 the Fourth Appellate District Court of Appeal of California, in the Robin George v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness case, rejected Singer's expert testimony on the basis that the brainwashing theory of false imprisonment constituted an attempt to premise tort liability on religious practices that the plaintiff believed to be objectionable, and that such premise appeared inconsistent with the First Amendment.

In 1990 District Court Judge Lowell Jensen excluded Singer's testimony in United States v. Fishman, because the Court remained unconvinced that the medical community widely accepted the application of coercive persuasion theory to religious cults and because the Court did not accept the theory of coercive persuasion in the context of cults.

In 1991, in the Patrick Ryan v. Maharishi Yogi case filed in the US District Court in Washington, DC, Judge Oliver Gasch refused to allow Singer to testify, based on the premises that Singer and Ofshe's theory did not enjoy substantial scientific approval and was therefore not admissible as the basis of expert opinion.

Margaret Singer, et al. v. APA, et al. (RICO lawsuit)
When the APA's BSERP declined to accept the DIMPAC findings, Singer sued the APA and other scholars in 1992 for "defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy", under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), and lost in 1994. The lawsuit alleged that several top executives at the APA and ASA attempted to destroy careers, charging that from 1986 to 1992 they resorted to improper influence of witnesses in state court litigations, filed untrue affidavits, attempted to obstruct justice in federal litigations, deceived federal judges, and committed wire and mail fraud. Ofshe and Singer said that these actions damaged their reputations as forensic experts in the fields of psychology and sociology in the area of coercive persuasion, preventing their testimony against cults, and specified acts of collusion between several of the defendants and cult groups.

In an interview with The Cult Observer, Michael Flomenhaft, a lawyer in the firm representing Singer and Ofshe, said: "All the facts are there. It's a very insidious thing, and it's hard to believe that such institutions could have engaged in this behavior. This case had to be brought very deliberately because the nature of the complaints causes skepticism".

Flomenhaft referred to the relationships of some the defendants as "incestuous".

An article in the same The Cult Observer describes a press release by Flomenhaft which stated that besides the APA, other defendants named included:


 * Raymond Fowler (then APA chief executive officer)
 * Leonard Goodstein (former APA executive director)
 * Donald N. Bersoff (lawyer)
 * Bruce J. Ennis (lawyer)
 * Newton Malony (professor at the Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California)
 * James T. Richardson (professor at the University of Nevada)
 * Rodney Stark (professor at the University of Washington)
 * Joan Huber (former president of the ASA and professor at Ohio State University)
 * William D'Antonio (former ASA president and professor at the University of Massachusetts)
 * Dick Anthony (a psychologist resident in Albany, California, and writer on new religious movements.)

The court summons filed by Singer and Ofshe's lawyer described the rejection of the DIMPAC report by the APA's BSERP as a "rejection of the scientific validity of the theory of coercive persuasion".

The court dismissed the case on the basis that the claims of defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy constituted a dispute over the application of the First Amendment to a public debate over academic and professional matters. The court stated that one could characterize the parties as the opposing camps in a long-standing debate over certain theories in the field of psychology; and that the plaintiffs could not establish deceit with reference to representations made to other parties in the lawsuit.

In a further ruling, James R. Lamden ordered Ofshe and Singer to pay $80,000 in attorneys' fees under California's SLAPP suit law, which penalizes those who harass others for exercising their First Amendment rights. At that time, Singer and Ofshe declared their intention to sue Michael Flomenhaft, the lawyer who represented them in the case, for malpractice.

PIRI resolution
APA Division 36 (then Psychologists Interested in Religious Issues (PIRI), subsequently Psychology of Religion) in its 1990 annual convention approved a resolution stating that insufficient consensually accepted research then scientifically supported the assertion that equated the use of "techniques of influence as typically practiced" by religious groups with "coercive persuasion", "mind control", or "brainwashing". The Executive Committee invited researchers to submit proposals to present their work on the topic.

Use of the DIMPAC report
Professor Eugene Subbotsky cited the DIMPAC report in a July 2006 conference in Melbourne, Australia, stating: "controversial religious cults, manipulative psychotherapies and outbursts of religious fanaticism are on the increase". Doctoral and post-doctoral students at Brigham Young University's David O. McKay School of Education use the DIMPAC report as a reference text in psychology.

Comments on the DIMPAC report
The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements interprets the DIMPAC report as a the result of the "professionalization of the Anti-cult movement" based on a broad-based effort to reconceptualize mind-control theory so that it would pass muster with the judiciary and professional associations, as part of an alleged campaign to gain professional legitimacy. It also asserts that the effort never achieved complete success, and that it influenced popular more than scientific culture.
 * The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements

In a statement titled "Challenging 'Mind Control" in Illinois", Bacus referred to Singer's theories as being "reviled by her peers" and stated that Singer's theories "continue to be viewed as sophomoric by her peers", and referred to the APA rejection as "research [that] has been rejected by the overwhelming majority of mental health professionals as not reliable."
 * Andrew P. Bacus' statement delivered to the Illinois Senate Committee on Education

Dick Anthony, in an article published in the Social Justice Research journal in 1999, wrote that relevant professional academic organizations had opposed testimony based on brainwashing theory as unscientific and that courts had repeatedly excluded such testimony from American legal trials.
 * Dick Anthony's "Pseudoscience and Minority Religions"

In 2001 Alberto Amitrani and Raffaella Di Marzio, from the Roman seat of the GRIS (Group for Research and Information about Sects), published an article in which they state that one should not construe the rejection of the report as a rejection of the theories of thought reform and mind control as applied to New Religious Movements, and that the rejection by one division of the APA does not represent the whole association. They quote Benjamin Zablocki, professor of sociology and one of the reviewers of the rejected DIMPAC report, as describing in 1997 people as "misled about the true position of the APA and the ASA with regard to brainwashing", and as writing that the APA urged scholars to do more research on the matter. They also write that they have reason to believe that the APA still considers "psychological coercion" as a phenomenon worth investigating, and not a notion rejected by the scientific community.
 * 2001 Amitrani, Di Marzio article

In 2002, at the APA's 2002 Annual Convention in Chicago during the panel session "Cults of hatred", Alan W. Scheflin, professor of law at Santa Clara University, stated that "Extreme influence [such as mind control and cults] has remained dormant in the field of psychology". He went on to describe such topics as a legitimate field of study and to state that psychology needs an organized response, saying: "We need to stop this germ from spreading."
 * "Cults of hatred" panel session

The panelists also called for the APA to form a new task force to "investigate mind control among destructive cults". (Panelists included Deborah Layton, survivor of the People's Temple mass suicide/murder at Jonestown, Steven Hassan, Cynthia F. Hartley, Stephen J. Morgan, a faculty member of the American Management Association/Management Centre Europe in Brussels, Belgium, and then APA President Philip Zimbardo.)