Taking A BITE Out Of Scientology Part 2 Behavior Control

 

Behavior Control

1. Regulate individual’s physical reality
In Scientology this is practiced to a degree with all types of members. The public cult members have rules that escalate over time. The staff have stricter control and the Sea Org members have extreme control.
2. Dictate where, how, and with whom the member lives and associates or isolates.
For public they are forbidden from associating with outcasts from the cult or critics which the cult labels Suppressive Persons. Inevitably the family members of cult members that don't completely agree with the cult are treated as Suppressive Persons and almost all Scientologists are pressured to disconnect from them. The extent escalates for staff and Sea Org members must comply or be expelled.
3. When, how and with whom the member has sex
Scientology practices very extreme sexual control and judgment of all members. The members are convinced the E-meter can find any thoughts or secrets they have and so normal privacy is eradicated.
In Scientology doctrine all sexuality is ultimately condemned. Masturbation is treated as evil. Homosexuality is treated as evil. Both are treated as perverted. Some public Scientologists are encouraged to only have sex with their spouses if married. 

Staff are forbidden from being promiscuous or homosexual. Sea Org members can be ordered to get divorced by executives or transferred to separate organizations which require their members to only have spouses in the same organization. 
4. Control types of clothing and hairstyles
For public the cult has at times encouraged looking professional and successful to make Scientology look good. I remember several times as a public student being told to wear nice clothes. 

The staff face more control and have limited hairstyles and many now wear uniforms. The Sea Org members as usual have even more extreme control and usually must wear uniforms and look very professional.
5. Regulate diet - food and drink, hunger and/or fasting
Public members have some dietary restrictions. They have to pass a metabolism test when receiving auditing. The test is on the E-meter. To pass it one must consume a lot of calories. Drinking alcohol is best given up as one can't study or receive auditing with any alcohol in them. 

Sea Org members due to extreme poverty and being virtual slaves must depend on the cult for all food. If the cult punishes them with just beans and rice for months they must make do. 
6. Manipulation and deprivation of sleep
Here's where the control is turned way up. Public are told to be well rested and usually encouraged to get at least eight hours of sleep. Staff often get less rest as they sometimes work sixty to a hundred hours a week for the cult. And as most of them receive little or no pay many work an additional forty hours a week at another job to pay their bills. The Sea Org members often get four hours sleep a day for months at a time. In particular members on the internal prison RPF often reported working shifts of thirty hours on with three hours off. 

Some reported being in a haze for months at a time due to extreme sleep deprivation.
7. Financial exploitation, manipulation or dependence
The signature of Scientology. Public are routinely pressured to donate savings, max out credit cards and even sell possessions including houses, businesses and cars to donate money to Scientology. Many go bankrupt to keep getting accepted by the cult. Staff get exploited by being tricked into working for no pay, or a pittance. Sea Org members get very low or no pay and become entirely vulnerable to further exploitation. They require housing and food which they are told only the cult will provide. Total dependence to enslave them until death is the goal.
8. Restrict leisure, entertainment, vacation time
This varies within different groups. Scientology ultimately is a slave caste system with only the leader meant to actually be free. For wealthy and famous Scientologists lots of leeway is given. For many public Scientologists the experience is a progressive encouragement to give the cult more and more time. Entertainment is limited to discourage anything that ridicules or criticizes Scientology.

Staff have their time extensively limited. And Sea Org members have extreme control and get virtually no leisure time usually. They often go many decades without vacation.
9. Major time spent with group indoctrination and rituals and/or self indoctrination including the Internet
Scientology cult members usually spend many hours in cult indoctrination through courses and auditing. Public are encouraged to spend at least twelve to forty hours a week receiving indoctrination.  Staff are encouraged to spend twelve hours on course or forty to eighty hours if they are in full-time training. Sea Org members can be required to spend even more time on indoctrination.
10. Permission required for major decisions
Public have to clear changes in schedule or leaving the cult with the cult. Staff are rigidly controlled and find leaving virtually impossible. Sea Org members find almost all major decisions require permission.
11. Thoughts, feelings, and activities (of self and others) reported to superiors
Here Scientology really excels. Because the cult members believe nothing can remain hidden from the E-meter and they are required to tell on each other for hundreds of offenses. They have to write up themselves and others in very detailed reports. They often don't hide anything as they see that as another offense. 
12. Rewards and punishments used to modify behaviors, both positive and negative
Again a stark contrast is found. In Scientology the leader is the only person immune to punishment. Wealthy and famous Scientologists get extreme rewards. They get gifts, praise and giant trophies for donating fortunes and getting positive press for the cult.

In Scientology someone who is in favor with the cult is forgiven virtually anything, including crimes and murder. They are strongly rewarded. But if one is out of favor the punishment can be severe, in fact brutal. People out of favor are often cast aside and expelled. The cult ruins them utterly as a matter of course.
13. Discourage individualism, encourage group-think
Scientology is often unfortunately very effective at discouraging individuals from using independent and critical thinking.

In the most central and important doctrine within  Scientology (the series of policy letters called the Keeping Scientology Working series) there is the key policy Keeping Scientology Working which demands exact and total compliance with the doctrine of Scientology in submission to the authority of Ron Hubbard.

There are hundreds of drills, procedures, auditing methods and policies designed to support and enforce this. The entire body of qualifications, ethics and study technology is designed to fulfil this intention. Several books would be required to describe the full scope of this in Scientology. Hubbard focused on this and tried again and again to control the thinking of his followers to the extent that it's not at all an exaggeration to say he sought to mentally enslave his followers and ultimately mankind.
14. Impose rigid rules and regulations
Scientology has very, very strict rules for all members. Only the leader is entirely exempt from the rules. To a degree wealthy and famous public Scientologists are given a free pass to violate many of the rules, as long as they don't endanger the leader or the entire cult.
Most public Scientologists have very strict control of who they can associate with and how. They have very exact rules regarding schedules and are strongly discouraged from discontinuing Scientology courses and auditing. The staff get more rules and the Sea Org members live under so many rules it's comparable to being in the military or prison, but members of those groups often have more rights.
15. Instill dependency and obedience 
Scientology is extremely gradual and insidious in how it very incrementally through repetition and very deceptive and  slowly shifting language nudges the members bit by bit towards further and further isolation and extreme rejection of any other beliefs and values. This leaves them out very far on a limb with almost no way back.

It's even worse often for members raised in the cult as they have no earlier identity and beliefs to return to. They must sort out what to do and be without the aid of already established ideas. 

Note: Cult expert Rick Ross recently made the following comment on the origin of the bite model:

Rick Alan Ross  

FYI -- The BITE model is taken from other earlier sources. BITE represents B for behavior as already identified through the academic writings of Singer, Ofshe and others. I is for information as identified by Conway and Siegelman in "Snapping," which they called "Information Disease" (1978). T is for thinking identified by Lifton as thought reform (1961). And finally E is for emotional control, which was identified by Conway and Siegelman in their book "Holy Terror" (1982). I find that acknowledging and using the original material is much better, more precise and useful than spinning it with a new label without proper attribution. It's very important when writing to include footnotes that give proper credit to the originators of ideas and theories by recognizing their hard work and research.