<P> In the second half of the 20th century, the rapid growth of new religious movements (NRMs) led some psychologists and other scholars to propose that these groups were using "brainwashing" or "mind control" techniques to gain converts . This theory was publicized by the popular news media but disputed by other scholars, including some sociologists of religion . </P> <P> In the 1960s sociologist John Lofland lived with Unification Church missionary Young Oon Kim and a small group of American church members in California and studied their activities in trying to promote their beliefs and win converts to their church . Lofland noted that most of their efforts were ineffective and that most of the people who joined did so because of personal relationships with other members, often family relationships . Lofland published his findings in 1964 as a doctoral thesis entitled "The World Savers: A Field Study of Cult Processes", and in 1966 in book form by Prentice - Hall as Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith . It is considered to be one of the most important and widely cited studies of the process of religious conversion, and one of the first modern sociological studies of a new religious movement . </P> <P> The Church of Scientology attempts to gain converts by offering "free stress tests". It has also used the celebrity status of some of its members (most famously the American actor Tom Cruise) to attract converts . The Church of Scientology requires that all converts sign a legal waiver which covers their relationship with the Church of Scientology before engaging in Scientology services . </P> <P> Research in the United States and the Netherlands has shown a positive correlation between areas lacking mainstream churches and the percentage of people who are a member of a new religious movement . This applies also for the presence of New Age centres . </P>

The idea of conversion is best explained as which of the following