"Social scientists need to pay more attention to not just the effectiveness of the strategies we study and uncover but also the ethical ramifications of the use of these principles and practices." "Sources of influence can be like dynamite-they can be used for good or used for ill," Cialdini says. Others agree with Zimbardo that such findings raise ethical questions for social psychologists, given that the likes of Jones draw from social psychology tenets and use them for harm, says Robert Cialdini, PhD, who researches influence and is the Regents' Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. Though "1984" is fiction, Orwell possessed a deep understanding of influence processes from social psychology, and his depictions of mind control have been used systematically and effectively by cult leaders, Zimbardo says. Through 25 years of research and interviews with Jonestown survivors, Zimbardo has found parallels between the mind control techniques used by Jones at Jonestown-namely sophisticated types of compliance, conformity and obedience training-and those described in Orwell's fictional book "1984." In the book, Orwell provides a model for resistance as his main character, Winston Smith, stands up against an omnipotent party system. In as-yet unpublished research, Zimbardo has found that Jones quite possibly learned his ability to persuade from a famous social thinker: George Orwell. Zimbardo, PhD, APA's past-president and a psychology professor at Stanford University. Most disturbingly, perhaps, leaders such as Jones appear to have derived some of their techniques from social psychologists' research, raising questions about research ethics and the future direction of cult research, says Philip G. Jonestown, they say, offers important lessons for psychology, such as the power of situational and social influences and the consequences of a leader using such influences to destructively manipulate others' behavior. Twenty-five years later, social psychologists continue to examine how Jones came to command such enormous influence over his followers' thoughts and actions. Instead, they found something that resembled a concentration camp in which they worked long hours with little food and much abuse, those who escaped Jonestown have reported. Jones' followers originally came to the Guyanese community, known as Jonestown, seeking paradise and an escape from racism and persecution in the United States. Mothers and fathers gave the deadly drink to their children and then drank it themselves. There have been other documentaries, and a 2013 movie called The Sacrament featured a fictionalized account of the same events in this movie…but stick to the truth of the situation.In the middle of the jungle in Guyana, South America, nearly 1,000 people drank lethal cyanide punch or were shot to death, following the orders of their leader, Jim Jones. I feel that the movie would have benefited from more background on Jim Jones and his followers to understand how they got there, and why they were able to be convinced to die by Jones (or forced in many cases). The last twenty minutes of the documentary are obviously the most powerful by showing the death of over nine hundred people and the aftermath. There is so much that can be done with Jonestown and Jonestown: Paradise Lost gets close to exploring it. I think that he is probably worthy of an entire documentary himself…how he got there and what happened to him after the massacre. The most captivating of the people interviewed has to be Jim Jones’ son Stephan Jones who was not at the compound at the time of the massacre…and has more incite to his father’s actions. I really like the first hand interviews because although time can affect them, the interviews are real people involved in the real events.
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