posted 05-03-2005 10:57 AM            

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In sociology there is problem known as the “co-option” of scholars, particularly by cults and New Age religions, whereby a scholar, in entering a group and spending considerable time with them, publishes a paper or book that is not as objective as he or she perhaps believes. In fact, sociologists Stephen Kent and Theresa Krebs have identified numerous cases of “when scholars know sin” (an article in a 1998 issue of Skeptic magazine), where allegedly nonpartisan, unbiased scholars find themselves the unwitting tools of fringe groups striving for social acceptance and in need of the imprimatur of an academic. The problem is not merely one of exposure. Such groups need mainstream credibility that they can get from the academy. Academics need original research projects that they can get from studying fringe groups. The process involves a feedback loop between scholar and subject, where the more open and sympathetic the scholar appears, the more the subject opens up with honest portrayals of the group. But it is not enough for the scholar to fake a conciliatory attitude. Humans are good at detecting deception. The best way to beat a lie detector is to believe the lie yourself. That way your body will not betray you. (Evolutionary psychologists speculate that there was a deception/deception-detection arms race in human evolutionary history, where we became good at both lying and detecting lies.) Deception becomes self-deception.

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