 According to Taylor , cults emphasize positive aspects of the group over negative aspects of outsiders , endlessly repeat simple ideas in " highly reductive , definitive - sounding phrases " , and refer to " abstract and ambiguous " ideas associated with " huge emotional baggage " . Taylor writes that brainwashing involves a more intense version of the way the brain traditionally learns . In the final portion of the book , Part III : " Freedom and Control " , Taylor describes an individual 's susceptibility to brainwashing and lays out an acronym " FACET " , a tool to combat influence and a <unk> mindset . FACET stands for Freedom , Agency , Complexity , Ends @-@ not @-@ means , and Thinking . The FACET model is based on Lifton 's eight criteria for thought reform , and Taylor emphasizes education and freedom of thought as a way to negate some of these criteria . 
