Investigating the Psychological Grounds Affecting the Acceptance of the Claims of False Claimants of Mahdism in Contemporary Iran

"Study of deviant movements of Mahdism" is one of the great and thought-provoking questions in the field of Mahdism studies. Despite the pervasive approach to the issue of deviations in the field of Mahdism, there is little research on the grounds of inclination to these movements. The reviews in this article are a prelude to answering the question of what are the psychological grounds for accepting the false claims of Mahdism. Knowing these areas and trying to fill the existing gaps paving the ground for it are among the necessities to address this issue. It is also possible to avoid the numerous numbers of negative consequences on beliefs, such as sectarianism, wasting the capacities of the Shiite community and destroying the salvific idea of Mahdism. The following article, with descriptive-analytical method with reference to written, published and unwritten sources such as audio, video files and court cases of some false claimants of Mahdavi, seeks to represent some areas of psychology affecting the false claim of Mahdism. The results of analyzing and combining the collected data show that some areas exist among the disciples, such as "low self-esteem", "simplification" and "motivation for the progress of the disciples", "power-seeking" and "personality disorder". Some followers influence the establishment of platforms for attracting claimants; and these are in addition to factors such as "effective communication and charismatic personality of the claimant,” which, in itself, is very effective in this process of discipleship and disciple-training.