Social psychology really took off during the 1950,s and 60’s, partly in response to questions posed by the atrocities that occurred during the second world war in which so many Germans collaborated in mass genocide. Much of the work by Milgram (1963-1974) sought to explain how seemingly normal non pathological human beings could be influenced / persuaded by people in positions of responsibility to cause physical harm to others.

Persuasion is a form of social influence that we see all the time. Persuasion works by appealing to somebody’s reasoning or emotions with the intention of changing their attitudes or behaviours. Persuasion can be fairly passive and most of us use it all the time in ways that are not indented to cause harm to anybody. What are the different types of persuasion methods that we commonly use to get other people to do things we want them to? (Foot-in-the-door / Low-ball / Door-in-the-face). Such methods are likely to have been used by Jim Jones in some way or other. We don’t know what things Jim Jones said to his followers but it is likely that he justified such extreme actions in the name of the ideology he was preaching.

Other social influences such as ‘Conformity’ and ‘Obedience’ may also have contributed to the extreme actions of Jim’s followers. The work of Kellman (1958) looks at how individuals behave when they are part of a larger group. An individual can be influenced by the actions of the others that are part of that group. Kellman identified two types of social conformity; ‘normative’, which explains how people behave (often differently than they normally would) simply to fit in, feel part of a group or to be liked. The other is ‘informational’ which explains how people act when they are compelled to be right about something. Both types could be used to explain the follower’s behaviour. The more people that were persuaded to take the poison the more likely it would have been that others would have followed.

Kellman and other psychologists including Deutsch & Gerard (1955) looked at different types of conformity / obedience. They made distinctions between how people sometimes conform completely willingly on all levels (internalization) or sometimes conform whilst keeping feelings of dissent to themselves. In the case of the followers it might be fair to assume that they agreed to take poison completely willingly. After all they would have known the consequences!

Another factor influencing the follower’s decision to take poison could lie in their belief concerning Jim Jones and his authority. Milgram (1963-64) proved that people could behave in extreme ways simply by denying responsibility for their actions and accepting the commands of someone who they believed had credentials and was in a position of responsibility. This is really a form of cognitive dissonance. An individual belief regarding conflicting emotions about a particular action might be alleviated by the acceptance that their behaviour is no longer their own responsibility.