Compliance with a group 2. Dependance on a leader 3. Avoiding dissent 4. The more extreme these behaviors, the more potential for abuse exists in the group activity. Cult activity refers to any devotional or ritualistic attention to a person, doctrine or object.
Most religions have cult activity, or a cult, that is central to devotional activity.
In ancient Judaism they had the cult of the Ark of the Covenant. Some Asian religions have the cult of ancestor worship. Vampires practice the cult of drinking blood. Northwest Native Americans have the cult of totem animals. Labelling something a cult tells us very little about the morality or ethics of the person or group that supports such cult activity.