Evolution acts slowly. Our psychological characteristics today are those that promoted reproductive success in the ancestral environmen.

People repeat behaviour that leads to flooding their brains with pleasurable chemicals. The short-term reward loop acts over hours to years, and the long-term reproductive success loop over generations.

People can undergo a sudden change of thinking and loyalties under threat of death or intense social pressure and isolation from friends and family.

Anyone who has ever had the feeling of being higher than a kite after giving a public speech is well aware of the effects of attention.

Brigham Young had 47 children, and over 50 women as wives.

Most of the suicide hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, a place not lacking in wealth. But due to rapid population growth, the wealth per capita has fallen by about half in a generation.

Cult recruiting methods based on dosing victims with the brain chemicals released during capture bonding would make cults even more of a problem than they are now.