From The Psychology of Persuasion-Influence- Robert B. Cialdini, Ph. D. puts the Jonestown incident into a cool perspective, if that's possible. "Although (Jim Jones) was without question a man of rare dynamism, the power he wielded strikes me as coming less from his remarkable personal style than from his understanding of fundamental psychological principles. His real genius as a leader was his realization of the limitations of individual leadership. No leader can hope to persuade, regularly and single-handedly, all the members of the group. A forceful leader can reasonably expect, however, to persuade some sizable proportion of group members. Then the raw information that a substantial number of group members has been convinced, can, by itself, convince the rest. Thus the most influential leaders are those who know how to arrange group conditions to all the principle of social proof to work maximally in their favor."
