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Nabil Shukri Robert Zimmerman Psych 105 3/14/2014 Assignment Seven: Social Psychology http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1085869/Return-camp-suicide-30-years-nightmare-Jonestown-happen-again.html When I came across this article, I couldn’t believe what I just read and how something like this could had happen. They followed a guy named Jim Jones and believed he is some sort of messiah. He convinced his followers to kill themselves for unknown reason. To him, their deaths were honourable and act of innovative suicide. This became a shocking news to the world. The story goes that they were The People’s Temple and was founded by Jim Jones. Their based was in Jonestown, Guyana. People who joined it were those who are neglected by their society, without strong family ties, or unsuccessful in dealing with life’s problems. These are possible reasons why, but they may joined for various reasons, but they did have one thing in common: they had Jim Jones. If this tragedy was to look through conformity, cognitive dissonance, and obedience from social psychology, people would understand why the followers followed Jim Jones. The characteristics of his followers were from low income families in which lives were not easy, but tough. So this led them with a desire for better belonging and security. Perhaps some looked for community and acceptance. Even alcoholics and drug addicts joined the group hoping for help and understanding. Jones had a status for socialism. Maybe this fact attracted the people in. As mentioned before, the followers were looking for a belonging. The people were able to create bonds via their work and other stuffs from the group. Then they began to conform under Jim Jones’s rule. They gave up... ... middle of paper ... ...ommunity and belonging that they had wanted. They’d gone through hard times, however they gained a community that they can call “family.” After all, they believed that their hard work benefited the community and enjoyed in knowing that. Because of them, the community became a “family.” The Jonestown is a good example of social psychology and how conformity, obedience, and cognitive dissonance can negatively affect us and everyone. These principals do happen in our everyday life, but people tend not to see them. Works Cited Jones, David. "Return to Camp Suicide: 30 Years On, Could the Nightmare of Jonestown Happen Again?" Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 14 Nov. 2008. Web. 09 Mar. 2014 McLeod, Saul. "Obedience to Authority." - Simply Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014 Myers, David G. Psychology in Modules. Tenth Ed. New York: Worth, 2010.
Cults are dangerous institutions that have existed for many years, corrupting and reforming the minds of innocent people into believing outrageous doctrines that eventually result in disaster. Horrifying cases involving men such as Charles Manson, Jim Jones and David Koresh have bewildered people and raise the question: how could individuals be easily susceptible to the teachings of these men, so influenced that masses go as far as to commit the unthinkable? Individuals who are in a vulnerable position in search for an identity are attracted to cults because they offer a sense of belonging. In addition, isolation from society contributes to the functioning of a cult for it creates an atmosphere where submissiveness and obedience runs high. These two factors seem to hold true for one of the most notorious cults currently established in the United States and Canada. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or, FLDS, is an international polygamist sect that incorporates belonging and isolation along with a dangerous mentality that have resulted in the abuse of women and children in the name of God.
A cult society is an organization that basically disguises itself as a religion. In a cult, they normally perform rituals. There are usually many people in these societies. In Jim Jones’s cult, there were at least one thousand people in this community.
Yet another similarity between Jim Casey and Jesus Christ can be seen when Casey decides to venture off and join a union group in order to prevent strike wages from falling even farther. This represents the event of Jesus Christ and his faithful disciples, traveling with him in an effort to spread their beliefs throughout the people as a whole. In addition, there were many people who wanted to follow Christ and his quest, yet they declined due to fear of persecution, just as the migrant workers feared an upset of government retaliation against trouble-makers or "reds".
People join cults as a way of feeling a sense of belonging within a community (Winner 2011:417). This need for belonging is eventually why members find themselves so involved that they cannot get out. This is especially true in the case of the cult created by Jim Jones. He established a cultic Church called the People’s Temple, most famously known for being the largest group suicide consisting of 909 people, including 276 children (Nelson 2006). Between five to seven million young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 are involved in cult groups (“Cult statistics” 2010). Nearly 180 000 people are recruited into cults each year (“Cult Statistics” 2010). The sense of identity, purpose, and belonging are appealing aspects to why people join cults as the use of power and manipulation coerces them to stay.
The People’s Temple was religious cult founded and lead by Jim Jones, based in Jonestown, Guyana. The converts belonging to Peoples Temple may have joined for various reasons differing from one another, yet the one common bond they all shared was Jim Jones. They loved Jim, they feared Jim, and eventually they died for Jim .
Jim Jones and his infamous cult entitled, “The People’s Temple,” holds an interesting value to social psychology. Jonestown is a topic that can relate back to many sociology terms and ideas. Jonestown can be related to social deviance, the effect of American culture on social groups, labelling theory, charismatic authority, and even shows how societal history often repeats itself. American society during the late 60’s-70’s is what led to the creation of Jonestown. Jonestowns downfall provided a lot of insight to the American public of how society needed to change, proving that the deaths of about 900 people weren’t for nothing.
Jim Jones could finally start his own church with all of the followers he had gained in 2 years. The first church was opened in Indianapolis in 1956 which he called the “peoples temple”. Jim thought that there was a bad balance in the world that the rich were way to rich and the poor were working way too hard for the little that they got. So the people’s temple helped get homes for the mentally ill and the elderly and also helped people find jobs. The temple grew larger and larger as the days went by, in 1966 Jim Jones decided ...
The reporter stats that the move happened nearly over night and that The People’s Church, was now known as Jonestown. Jim Jones had all of his people come with him to build the community and get away from everything else. He cut off his followers from the outside world; they had no access to radio, or contact with other people in any way. This is one of the techniques he used when getting those to not be able to leave him. He made people feel loved and when they would say they wanted to leave he would tell them, “you can’t leave me, you are my people.” People stayed just so they could make Jim Jones happy. As Jim Jones’ drug and alcohol addiction became worse and worse, he grew paranoid and was no longer the leader he once was. This is where I believe Jones thought he was in too deep and had no other choice but to finally go through with his massive suicide. He told his people, “if we can not live in peace, then we shall die in peace.” He handed out drinks that were injected with poison and told his people to drink it. The followers of Jones drank the drink with no hesitation and this to me is the best example of how strong of a leader Jim Jones was. He made the people believe that it was their time, and a total of 909 people were recorded dead in the
The Peoples Temple was first founded by Jim Jones in 1955 in the city of Indianapolis,Indiana. In 1956 Jim jones bought his very own church building the church was first called “Wings of Deliverance” and later that year it was renamed into ‘People’s Temple of Gospel Church.” His church has racially integrated, something
Jim Jones and his gaining supporters aimed to better society and move past segregated worship services. In their beliefs, the Peoples Temple founded many social services such as orphanages, homeless shelters, and soup kitchens (Groenveld). This vision of social responsibility and community attracted many people to join Jim Jones church. PBS documentary on the Jonestown massacre states that, “As the church grew however, the sermons on equality and tolerance were belied by his own increasing demands for personal loyalty”(PBS). Although slowly Jim Jones was growing into the man who caused the mass suicide of 900+ people, he still remained to gain more and more followers. The reason why is still a mystery
The cult had many beliefs that our human bodies were only vessels, occupied by members of the “Kingdom of Heaven.” They believed that Marshall Applewhite was a link between their cult and their god. It was said that god spoke to them through Applewhite. He was considered an equivalent to the Christian religions Jesus. And that people need to follow him as people had followed Jesus 2000 years ago. The cult believed that their time on earth was only a schooling to learn how to become a member of the kingdom of heaven. Do (Applewhite) taught them that in order to leave behind this world and move on to the next, people had to give up their family, sensuality, selfish desires, your human mind and your human body if necessary.
On November 18, 1978, a notorious religious organization lead by Jim Jones became international news. As a result of manipulation and isolation, Jim Jones influenced his followers to commit suicide. Not only, but his followers were utterly convinced that what they were doing was for a good cause, specifically, a political movement. With kool-aid and a dash of cyanide, 918 people, adults and children, ended their lives that day. The aftermath of this horrific event resulted in numerous documentaries, on of which being, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. Created in 2006, this documentary gives a thorough and accurate account of the events that lead up to as well as occured that day.
In my interview I chose my girlfriend's neighbor. Hector is of Mexican decent and he is here because in Meigs county the produce fields hire Mexican laborers on worker permits. Hector started out doing this then he became the boss about five years ago and received his green card and now is an American and can speak very good English. He explained to me that in Mexico there is no age when you can start working so there are young boys working at six to ten years old to help support his needy family. He also stated that women do not usually work they are only aloud to go to the village markets and get goods for their family's and raise there many children. I asked about minimum wage and he kinda laughed and said some teens and men who work are lucky to get a dollar an hour, but he said the people who are lucky enough to get to do what he got to do make there family's a lot of money. He said when he started coming to America to work he was picked like a lottery pick because there are only so many jobs for little positions he and his entire family was dirt poor, but now he said his family is the richest in the village. He said that he has also got to move all of his immediate family to America.
This relationship is referred to as The Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX). This theory discusses how close followers feel to their leader (Yulk 154). This basic concept behind this theory is that humans want to feel special, needed, and valued. By sharing geographical similarities and offering stability and hope, all three leaders start the affiliation, but due to a smaller number of followers Jim Jones is the best example of LMX. It is important to note that an actual relationship between the follower and the leader is not necessary, as long as the follower perceives there to be a relationship, Jones was able to create the allusion of being close to every follower, by preaching every Sunday. He would call random people from the congregation and say that god had told him to heal them. This produced the idea that he was speaking on all of their behalves to god, which when coupled with his continual preaching on acceptance, an aura of care was built around him. It also helped that he intermingled with his followers, shaking hands and listening stories, which helped form what seemed to be bonds. These high LMX relations allowed all three leaders much leeway in their actions. When an individual is liked, people are less likely to question their motives, because it is perceived that the person is acting in the best interest of the
Social Psychologist tend to ask questions when they want to answer a question about people’s behavior. Why do people do the things they do? Social psychologists want to explain this behavior. For example, the questions, “why do we hurt each other? Why does genocide happen?” can be answered by testing a hypothesis formed from their previous knowledge. To approach this question, social psychologist can use what they have observed to create an experiment. There are many influences on aggression, such as: the physical environment, wealth inequality, social rejection, culture, and media. Social psychologists use all this information to conduct their studies to explain why people hurt others and how people can even participate in genocide.