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Talk6 min

The sneaky language tricks cults use to influence you

Amanda Montell · TED

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About

In the age of social media and wellness trends, the comments section is as good as a cult compound, says linguist and cultural commentator Amanda Montell. Using Taylor Swift's throng of devoted Swifties as her guide, she exposes three sneaky language tactics that cults use to influence us (for better or for worse), revealing why none of us are as cult-proof as we'd like to think.

The talk

  1. The sneaky language tricks cults use to influence you 6 min · TED's player

Credits and licence

Institution
TED
Department
TEDNext 2025
Speaker
Amanda Montell
Year
2025
Level
For everyone
Language
English
Subjects
Society and politics, Languages and linguistics
Source
TED
Licence
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, as TED states it. Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions. TED's terms
Attribution
TED Talks are licensed by TED under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International and are shown here in TED's own player, as TED's usage policy asks.
Who can watch
TED gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from what the source says about it. How courses are placed