How and why does a person actually join a new religious movement?
The Psychology of Conversion In dealing with the current controversy over contemporary fringe religions one cannot avoid discussing the nature of religious conversion, which is open to a variety of theological, sociological, and psychological considerations. The psychological study of conversion began toward the end of the nineteenth century. Research was channeled into three major areas. The first dealt with the time frame within which conversion takes place. The debate centered about sudden or gradual personality changes, sometimes called respectively self-surrender and voluntary conversions. Psychologists showed more interest in, and were fascinated by, conversion of a sudden nature that usually occurred at a crucial turning point in life. The second examined the age at which people usually experienced a religious conversion. Adolescence was found to be the most common period in ones life when conversion could transpire, with sudden conversions tending to take place earlier than gra
