What follows are some common questions I’ve encountered and answers based upon God’s Word as I’ve wrestled with this issue. The True Believer Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (Book) : Hoffer, Eric : A stevedore on the San Francisco docks in the 1940s, Hoffer wrote philosophical treatises examining mass movements--from Christianity in its infancy to the national uprisings of modern times. Phony faith healers, psychics, … 1. When, as individuals, the members of a group practice truth then as a collective herd their collective intelligence actually rises above the sum total of it’s parts, but when they lie as individual's within a group they collectively become dumber than the aforesaid sum… The True Believer by Eric Hoffer is a journey into the mind of the unreasoned mind. Some of the True Believers in the Keech case in the example below had left their spouses, jobs and given up their possessions to prepare to board the alien spacecraft. I believe there are striking parallels between Trump’s rhetoric and the factors Hoffer explored. Many Christians are confused about “Christian” psychology: Should it be gladly embraced, used cautiously, or rejected outright? It is not merely the psychology of the ardent communist, or nationalist, but of the cultist as well He delves into… He takes a long look at mass movements, and the people who give their lives up to them. He takes a long look at mass movements, and the people who give their lives up to them. Posted Aug 14, 2010 The True Believer—the first and most famous of his books—was made into a bestseller when President Eisenhower cited it during one of the earliest television press conferences. True Believers Thinking about Belief Change Aaron Smith is a professor of management at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, in Melbourne, Australia. Targeting the true believer This particular bunch of True Believers, led by a lapsed Scientologist named Keech, gave up their jobs, spouses, and assorted other valuable aspects of life for the opportunity to fly with obliging aliens, in a literal flying saucer, to the entirely fictional planet of Clarion. True-believer syndrome is an expression coined by M. Lamar Keene to describe an apparent cognitive disorder characterized by believing in the reality of paranormal or supernatural events after one has been presented overwhelming evidence that the event was fraudulently staged. The book analyzes and attempts to explain the motives of the various types of personalities that give rise to mass movements; why and how mass movements start, progress and end; and the similarities between … From Christianity to National Socialism, Eric Hoffer shows how all mass movements are similar. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (Perennial Classics) at Amazon.com. “True believers” unite into a close group which gives them a new identity and new life, and liberates them from the cage of their frustration. Mass movements can rise and spread … Douglas points out that research into the psychology of persuasion has found that those who believe most are also most motivated to broadcast their beliefs. He wrote “The True Believer” in reaction to the rise of fascism, Nazism and communism. "The true believer" begins as a frustrated man driven by guilt, failure and/or self-disgust to bury his own identity in a cause oriented to some future goal. His analysis of the psychology of mass movements is a brilliant and frightening study of the mind of the fanatic. The True Believer by Eric Hoffer is a journey into the mind of the unreasoned mind. The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements is a 1951 social psychology book by American writer Eric Hoffer that discusses the psychological causes of fanaticism.. The irony of Trump’s “true believers” remark probably escaped both the … The True Believer Quotes Showing 1-30 of 153 “Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all the unifying agents. True-believer syndrome is an informal or rhetorical term used by M. Lamar Keene in his 1976 book The Psychic Mafia.Keene used the term to refer to people who continued to believe in a paranormal event or phenomenon even after it had been proven to have been staged. People join movements because of personal feelings of inadequacy or failure, to escape their seemingly powerless individual self. As a psychiatrist, I’m interested in how vulnerable groups can be manipulated by misleading rhetoric. Eric Hoffer’s landmark analysis of the psychology of mass movements identifies the appeal of these campaigns for frustrated people seeking to escape their own incompetency and build a new life. It is not merely the psychology of the ardent communist, or nationalist, but of the cultist as well He delves into… Quick Summary: The True Believer was written over 60 years ago, but it is still frighteningly relevant and accurate today. Called a “brilliant and original inquiry” and “a genuine contribution to our social thought” … Keene is a reformed phony psychic who exposed religious racketeering—to little effect, apparently.