My radiant padlet by Elise Mahoney

When and where did the group form?

Mid 1960’s
Melbourne australia

What is the group’s history and their mission?

schizophrenic mother died in asylum when Anne Hamilton-Byrne (the leader) was young and her father struggled after that leaving her spending her childhood in the orphanage system
After her husband dying, Anne retreated to yoga and she convinced her fellow yogis that she was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ
They built their cult through important figures like doctors and scientists and it grew in followers as they then also started adopting many children illegally

What are they notorious for?

Bleach blond hair
LSD
Fake adoptions
Anne Hamilton-Byrne

How does this cult exist as an example of groupthink?
Isolation of group: tucked away behind forests and barbed wire, on the shores of Lake Eildon was the house of the cult

High group cohesiveness: Shared beliefs of Anne, they lived together and the kids grew up only with the knowgae of their environment, they all looked and were expected to act the same

Directive leadership: Anne would use manipulation, physical and verbal punishment. She validated the “aunties” to punish the kids.

Lack of norms requiring methodical procedures-they don’t make sense: LSD trips, the kids were forced to follow a strange daily routine of yoga, meditation, waking up at 5 in the morning

Homogeneity of members social background: Many of the followers of Anne were upper-middle class women unhappy with their marriages.

High stress from external threats: Threatened by any outsiders finding out how they live, especially police. They would be punished if they spoke to an outsider.

Roles of the members of the group:

Roles of the members were to strictly follow Annes rules and expectations of following the routine, obeying the aunties and Anne,

Norms of the cult (the rules)

Kids: Avoid outsiders, don’t misbehave in any way ex. wet the bed

Adults: give 10% of income to Anne,

Factors led to the cohesiveness of the group?

Biggest factors that lead to group cohesiveness were strict rules, punishments, and isolation from the outside world so there was no outside narrative for the kids.

What is the role of obedience to authority?
1. Identify which factors from the list promote obedience to authority in your cult? (I.E. Status of the authority figure)

Anne (authority) has a high status of wealth and popularity as well as her looks. She would also be directly watching or participating in punishment of the kids which led to the “aunties” to severely punish the kids. Peers were compliant: an auntie wouldn't feel as bad punishing because the other aunts were all doing the same thing. For the last factor of the victim not being seen, this is not relevent to this cult.

How does the bystander problem play out in each cult or how could it play out in a hypothetical situation?

If an adult member of the cult feels like there is something they don’t agree with being done with the cult, they may feel like someone else will fight against it. With 500 adult members, the members felt as though their responsibilities were weakened, this is diffusion of responsibility.

Compare and contrast 3 specific elements of obedience to authority and/or group think that you see in Prophet’s Prey!

Group Isolation: For both cults, the base and locations were extremely isolated with natural physical barriers like trees, or mountains.

Homogeneity of social background: Both FLDS and The Family have members that are so isolated and have grown up in the cult that their shared social background is of growing up in the same cult and is all they know. The Family is a cult that was growing both through kids and new adult followers while FLDS was not a cult that outsiders would join.

High stress from external threats: Both threatened by the government as they were doing highly illegal practices and if caught, would be separated and leaders would be arrested.

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