Mind control is an old, natural and often misunderstood science. Only recently have psychologists began uncovering these secrets that have allowed governments and religious organizations to capture the hearts and emotions of their followers, sometimes leading to disastrous and horrible results. One doesn't have to look very far to see the devastating effect blind allegiance to a leader with evil intentions. Even today, the headlines are filled with such stories.

If these happen, why are they possible? Did great religious organizations like the Catholic Church purposely set out to covertly grab the thoughts of millions? This was likely not the case. Rather, the church happened across these two powerful elements, as their very prevalence leaves it almost impossible to tap them in some respect.

What are they? The two most powerful elements that people respond to is social proof, sometimes called the bandwagon effect, and authority. Social proof plays into effect whenever people follow a fad, wear the same designer sunglasses, or even during jury votes.  Next time you are walking down the street, pay attention to your feelings and emotions whenever you pass a large crowd that happens to be looking at something. Many find that they feel an almost irresistible urge to do what the crowd is doing.

Authority works the same way. Police officers, doctors, likeable politicians all have the effect of the content of their message bypassing the critical factor of most people.  The same message said by two different people will be interpreted two different ways based on their individual level of authority.

When you study large religious groups like the Roman Catholic Church, the use of just these elements becomes apparent. Keep in mind that using these two elements in any combination is not right or wrong in and of itself. They are merely natural human response mechanisms. They can be used, for either good or evil.

Because mainstream religions have a reputation for being relatively beneficial organizations in today's society, most don't look at religious teachings with an overly critical eye.

But you can be sure that if a beloved pastor at a large, well established church gave a controversial sermon, it would be take completely differently that a strangely dressed single man on a corner shouting through a bullhorn.

The reason that humans respond to authority and group thinking so readily is that during our evolution, it was beneficial to do so. But all things that were beneficial to us in our evolutionary past may not be beneficial in today's modern society. For example, a cave man would do well to gorge himself to capacity every time he came across a source of food, because food sources were few and far between. Those that ate with a size 4 cavewoman outfit in mind didn't last very long. Obviously, in today's society of abundant food, gorging yourself at every opportunity has quite the opposite effect.

And one doesn't have to look very far to find stories of group thinking and blind allegiance to authority to give evidence that these two may have outlived their usefulness.

Luckily, humans have the capacity for reason and critical thinking. Perhaps it's time to start using these two resources more often.

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