Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews the 1692 Salem Witchcraft Trials and the social psychology that dominated during this period. This paper discusses the cultural perspective of the sociology of the time that created distrust and lack of interconnected social fabric breeding. This paper also indicates that skepticism and fear dictated people's belief systems, moralities, influenced their identities and affected their interrelationships.

Contents:
Introduction
Social Psychology and Religion in the Witch Trials
Conclusions

From the Paper:

"The witchcraft trials held during 1692 resulted in roughly 150 accusations and 19 executions of victims proclaimed to be witches (Salem 1). The out of control behaviors demonstrated by young women during the trials was more the result of environmental factors, perhaps including dietary deficiencies and group think than the result of actual witchery (Salem 1). The religious beliefs that dominated during the witch trials, those of the New England Puritans, helps explain why culturally members of society blamed witchery and enchantment by the devil for the woman's behavior rather than seek scientific evidence to explain bizarre behaviors demonstrated by the afflicted.
Religious leaders are also to blame for the hyper reaction many people living in Salem had to the irregular behaviors demonstrated during the trials. Many suggest that ministers acted on "the superstitious beliefs of the masses" (Gragg 208) in an effort to influence the masses toward certain religious leanings. The New England Puritans living during the time of the witch trials were if nothing else "zealously obedient to the admonishment from the apostle Peter" who suggested that citizens must be vigilant and sober as the devil "walketh about seeking whom he may devour" (National Geographic 1). "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Burr, George Lincoln. "A Third Curiositie." (1857-1938). The Wonders of the Invisible World, by Cotton Mather, 1693 ; from Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706 Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library
• Burr, George Lincoln. "The Tryal of Bridget Bishop, alias Oliver, At the Court of Oyer and Terminer Held at Salem, June 2, 1692." (1857-1938). The Wonders of the Invisible World, by Cotton Mather, 1693 ; from Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706 Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library
• Gragg, Larry. The Salem Witch Crisis. Westport, Praeger: 1992.
• Le Beau, Bryan. "The Carey Document: On The Trail of a Salem Death Warrant." The Early American Review. Summer 1997. 28, November 2005 <http://earlyamerica.com/review/summer97/carey.html>
• Linder, Douglas. "A Brief History of Witchcraft Persecutions Before Salem." UMKC. 29, November 2005 <http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/witchhistory.html>

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