Examples Of Groupthink In The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem witch trials were a series of trials that took place after what is known as a witch hunt took place in the city of Salem. Several people were persecuted and executed after being accused of witchcraft. People were not the only victims. Animals were also persecuted as witches. These accusations seem absurd and preposterous, but at the time ,witchcraft was a very dangerous thing to be accused of and many paid with their lives. The question is, what made these people go along with accusations that their family members and even family pets were witches? Few people stood up against the accusations and many people made these accusations. Both conformity and fear had an effect on the results of this event. Some might even argue that groupthink …show more content…
People normally engage in groupthink because they do not want to interrupt the harmony the group has. Groupthink is caused by several things, one of the most common reasons is when group members work together for long periods of time or are similar in personality and have a powerful leader (Cherry, 2016). Sometimes those who may not agree with the decisions of the group may go along with the group anyway and remain silent. Since the people in Salem were highly religious they fit the criteria for groupthink in several ways. They all had the same core values and a strong leader. They were also extremely scared of witchcraft which was another belief most had unanimously. Reverend Samuel Parris was a very forceful leader and he was strict to the beliefs of the Puritans. He would not be a person that would be easy to disagree with. With this being said, it is relatively simple to understand why groupthink with this particular group was prominent. The village people were all very close and they had the same beliefs. This made it easy for groupthink to take …show more content…
The leader they had and took orders from was a forceful one and he was very controlling of the way things should be done in the Puritan church. Conformity may not be easily prohibited and since it is a natural thing to conform to the needs of society this would be difficult to accomplish, however, the power of groupthink is something that could be prohibited with certain steps. Some of the steps that could have been taken to prevent groupthink in the group would be, to not turn down other individuals ideas, but to give those ideas thought. Samuel Parris was not known to be understanding of the ideas of others, it was his way or no way. To make group members more comfortable in sharing ideas it is a good idea to confront others with an encouraging spirit ( Loria,2013). This helps in making group members relaxed enough to share their