Doomsday cult

== Psychological studies ==
{{See also|When Prophecy Fails}}

A [[psychological research]] study by Festinger, Riecken, and Schachter found that people turned to a cataclysmic [[world view]] after they had repeatedly failed to find meaning in mainstream movements.<ref name="pargament">{{cite book | last =Pargament | first =Kenneth I. | author-link= Kenneth Pargament|   title =The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice | publisher =Guilford Press | year =1997 |  pages =150–153, 340|chapter= Compelling Coping in a Doomsday Cult | isbn = 1572306645}}</ref> [[Leon Festinger]] and his colleagues had observed members of the group for several months, and recorded their conversations both prior to and after a failed prophecy from their charismatic leader.<ref name="stangor">{{cite book | last =Stangor | first =Charles |   title =Social Groups in Action and Interaction | publisher =Psychology Press | year =2004 |  pages =42–43 |chapter=When Prophecy Fails | isbn =184169407X }}</ref> The group had organized around a belief system which foretold that a majority of the [[Western Hemisphere]] would be destroyed by a cataclysmic flood on December 21, 1955.<ref>{{cite book | last =Newman | first =Dr. David M. |   title =Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life | publisher =Pine Forge Press | year =2006 | isbn = 1412928141 |  page =86}}</ref><ref name="petty">{{cite book | last =Petty  | first =Richard E. |author2=John T. Cacioppo | title =Attitudes and Persuasion: Classic and Contemporary Approaches | publisher =Westview Press | year =1996 | isbn =081333005X  | page =139|chapter= Effect of Disconfirming an Important Belief }}</ref> Their work was later published in the 1956 book ''[[When Prophecy Fails|When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World]]''.<ref name="NovaReligio 1999"/><ref name="festinger">{{cite book | last =Festinger | first =Leon | author-link =Leon Festinger |author2=Henry W. Riecken|author-link2=Henry Riecken |author3=Stanley Schachter|author-link3=Stanley Schachter | title = When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World | publisher =University of Minnesota Press | year =1956 |   url =http://www.whenprophecyfails.org/ | isbn = 1591477271}}</ref>

[[Social science|Social scientists]] have found that while some group members will leave after the date for a doomsday prediction by the leader has passed uneventfully, others actually feel their belief and commitment to the group strengthened. Often when a group's doomsday prophecies or predictions fail to come true, the group leader will simply set a new date for impending doom, or predict a different type of catastrophe on a different date.<ref name="snow">{{cite book | last =Snow | first =Robert L. | title =[[Deadly Cults|Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers]] | publisher =Praeger/Greenwood | year =2003 | pages =[https://archive.org/details/deadlycultscrime00snow/page/70 70, 79, 108, 111] | isbn =0275980529 }}</ref> Niederhoffer and Kenner say: "When you have gone far out on a limb and so many people have followed you, and there is much '[[sunk cost]],' as economists would say, it is difficult to admit you have been wrong."<ref>{{cite book | last =Niederhoffer | first =Victor |author2=Laurel Kenner | title =Practical Speculation | url =https://archive.org/details/practicalspecula0000nied | url-access =registration | publisher =[[John Wiley and Sons]] | year =2004 |  pages =[https://archive.org/details/practicalspecula0000nied/page/117 117–118]  | isbn =0471443069 }}</ref>

In ''Experiments With People: Revelations from Social Psychology'', Abelson, Frey and Gregg explain this further: "...continuing to proselytize on behalf of a doomsday cult whose prophecies have been disconfirmed, although it makes little logical sense, makes plenty of psychological sense if people have already spent months proselytizing on the cult's behalf. Persevering allows them to avoid the embarrassment of how wrong they were in the first place."<ref name="abelson">{{cite book | last =Abelson | first =Robert P. |author2=Kurt P. Frey|author3=Aiden P. Gregg | title =Experiments With People: Revelations from Social Psychology | publisher =Routledge | year =2003 |  pages =64–65 | isbn = 0805828974}}</ref> The common-held belief in a catastrophic event occurring on a future date can have the effect of ingraining followers with a sense of uniqueness and purpose.<ref>{{cite book | last =Reynolds | first =Michael |author2=Russ Vince|author3=Joseph A. Raelin|author4=M. Ann Welsh|author5=Gordon E. Dehler|author6=Ann Cunliffe|author7=Mark Easterby-Smith | title =Organizing Reflection | publisher =Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. | year =2004 | isbn = 0754637476 |  page =74}}</ref> In addition, after a failed prophecy members may attempt to explain the outcome through [[rationalization (making excuses)|rationalization]] and [[Cognitive dissonance|dissonance]] reduction.<ref name="pargament" /><ref>{{cite book | last =Albarracin | first =Dolores |author2=Blair T. Johnson|author3=Mark P. Zanna|author4=Icek Ajzen|author5=John N. Bassili|author6=Pablo Brinol | title =The Handbook Of Attitudes | publisher =Routledge | year =2005 | isbn = 0805844937 |  page =227|chapter= Dissonance Reduction}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last =Kim | first =Min-Sun |   title =Non-Western Perspectives on Human Communication: Implications for Theory and Practice | publisher =Sage Publications Inc | year =2002 |  pages =75–76 | isbn = 0761923519}}</ref>

Explanations may include stating that the group members had misinterpreted the leader's original plan, that the cataclysmic event itself had been postponed to a later date by the leader, or that the activities of the group itself had forestalled disaster.<ref name="pargament" /> In the case of the Festinger study, when the prophecy of a cataclysmic flood was proved false, the members pronounced that their faith in God had prevented the event. They then proceeded to attempt to convert new members with renewed strength.<ref name="petty" />

In his book ''Politeia: Visions of the Just Society'', Eric Carlton debates whether or not the term is appropriate to describe these types of groups.<ref name="carlton">{{cite book | last =Carlton | first =Eric | title =Politeia: Visions of the Just Society | publisher =Fairleigh Dickinson University Press | year =2006 | pages =[https://archive.org/details/politeiavisionso00carl/page/23 23, 55–56] | isbn =0838641024 | url =https://archive.org/details/politeiavisionso00carl/page/23 }}</ref> Carlton writes that the event is only seen as a "doomsday" for the "wicked and unrepentant," whereas members of the group itself often regard it as a "day of deliverance," or a "renewal of the world."<ref name="carlton" /> He regards these groups as "the ultimate in exclusivity," and while the future will be bleak for nonbelievers due to an unforeseen [[Doomsday event|cataclysm]], members of the group are promised existence in a new [[utopia]].<ref name="carlton" />