ABSTRACT
Inhabitants of the place known as 'Jonestown' were influenced into taking their own lives through blind obedience to their charismatic 'religious' leader, the Reverend Jim Jones. Psychologists became fascinated by the Jonestown case, appearing as it did to show the dangers of blind obedience, compliance, propaganda and persuasion in affecting people's behaviour in a catastrophic way. There is no doubt that the personality of Jim Jones managed to attract a remarkable number of people to the People's Temple. Jones had always been impressed by people who were so immersed in their revolutionary goals that they were prepared to commit suicide for their cause. Needless to say many of the people in Jonestown had left close relatives behind in the USA. Stanley Milgram was fascinated by how the Nazis managed to get so many ordinary people to actively participate in the Holocaust atrocities. Milgram's gradated shock technique still operates with the 'foot-in-the-door' technique beloved of sales people.
