Social Psychology
Application paper 2
11/11/12

In the late 1970’s a music teacher, Marshall Applewhite, and a nurse, Bonny Nettles, set out to find their purpose on earth. Together they had created Heavens Gate. Applewhite, or also known as ‘BO’, believed that the earth was going to be recycled and that it was also a garden to grow souls. Once the souls were developed it was time to exit. To most people the “exit” was suicide, but for members of the cult it was moving on to a more developed kingdom. ‘Do’ had told his members to look for a sign in the night sky. They believed that a spaceship, or UFO, would pick them up and take them to start their new lives. If someone were to stay a member of Heavens Gate, they had to follow many strict rules. They were first cut off from all contact with family and friends. Each member was given a new name. All aspects of life were regulated, such as, what they read, what they watched on TV and even how they shaved. Applewhite and several others underwent castration in Mexico as a means of maintaining the ascetic lifestyle. There was to be no emotion and no gender. Women did not wear dresses and did nothing to bring attention to their body. They even cut their hair. Sex was also “too human” and considered bad. Their purpose in this group was to prepare for what they had called “graduation”. In 1997 Applewhite had said that the commit, Hale Bopp, was the sign that it was time to exit and when it had become brighter in late March of 1997 the members started doing fair-well videos for their family and friends. On March 26th, 1997, Rio Diangelo, a former Heavens Gate member, walked into the San Diego mansion and found 21 women and 18 men dead. They were in identical positions, covered with a purple sheet. They had been faced up with their “graduation outfits” on, Nike shoes, and a suitcase at the end of their bed. The poison that killed them was made with pudding, applesauce, vodka, and a drug. With a total of 39 people dead, it was the greatest mass suicide ever. If we look at this at a social psychological view, we can relate this to many different theories that would explain why these people acted the way they did in this cult, and even in other forms of groups. Conformity and a type of persuasion, peripheral, are some theories that would be reasonably acceptable. In a Heavens Gate Documentary, ‘Do’ had said “If you don’t believe it that’s fine, but for your sake I hope you do believe it, for those who do believe it stand a possibility for a future beyond this recycling time. It’s suicide not to leave.” Here is an example of conformity and even the peripheral route to persuasion. What Applewhite does here, is gives you the option to believe it or not, but says that if you do believe it then you may possibly have another life ahead of you. This statement may have been attractive and made members of the group intrigued as to what he had to say. The Barnum effect is a tendency for people to accept very general and vague characterizations of them selves and take them to be accurate. A good example of this would have to be horoscopes. They are written to relate to everyone and use very simple characterizations. This effect could have been used by Applewhite whenever he was presenting Heavens Gate to a new group of people, or an individual. A person could have easily been manipulated into this cult because he would use the right set of words to solve their problems or show them that his group was the “right way”. Applewhite was a very powerful man and was very good at manipulating the way people had thought and acted. In a video of a man talking about Heavens Gate he had said “We’re going home.” Somehow Do, had gotten so deep in the individuals heads that they abandoned their families, castrated themselves, and most importantly, committed suicide because they honestly believed Applewhite and his theories. Conformity, the peripheral route to persuasion, and the Barnum Effect are just a few of the many possible theories that could help us understand the way people think in some situations like this cult, but because we are not them, we have no way to be sure why anyone would have followed Applewhite.