Conformity And Social Influence

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Conformity & Social Influence After reading the story regarding the cult Heaven’s Gate I had many thoughts and ideas than went through my head. I tried to put myself in their shoes and it was a bit difficult. I learned that the group was formed and recruited for members instead of money. The leader was Marshall Herff Applewhite, age 65 at death. He had made true believers and followers from the members of his cult. All cult members had changed their identities by getting close cut haircuts; they wore the same type clothes, seemed to be involved in the IT industry, and had common beliefs about ET, UFO, Star Trek and Star Wars ideology. The collectivist cult lived in a multi-million dollar gated community and rented a 9200 sq ft. house for the members who paid $7000 cash per month. They lived a “normal” life according to their neighbors. However the neighbors did report that none of the members spoke to anyone in the neighborhood or had any interaction. It seemed that after Applewhite made his claim on national television that he was dying from cancer that his followers believed that after he died there was nothing else to live for on planet Earth. They believed that their bodies were simply carriages to get them to the next level in life. When Applewhite decided to perform the mass suicide using barbiturates and pudding, all of his followers did the same exact actions by ensuring the house was immaculate, their identities and press packages for the newspapers and news stations. Each member lied in their bunk with their hands crossed and glasses lay to their side with plastic bags over the faces. I believe this is an ultimate form of a collectivist cult due to the members following only one person and changing their own identities to become what the leader wanted. Ultimately, becoming a follower led to the death by following the

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