The movie “12 Angry Men” demonstrates multiple psychological constructs. This tumultuous story features a group of twelve jurors that are deciding the fate of an 18 year-old boy who is accused of murdering his father. Initially the jury voted 11 to 1 in favor of guilty. Upon one juror voting not guilty and urging the other 11 to talk it out, he gradually brings up facts that cause the other 11 to change their vote to not guilty. Upon examination, the film highlights social psychology theories in areas of conformity and attitude change.
Conformity
Conformity due to social influence is portrayed all through the movie. The first vote was taken publicly, and was susceptible to normative social influence, an element of social influence, or conformity due to a fear of appearing deviant. As the jurors voted the hesitation to vote guilty was apparent on most faces. According to Informational Social Influence, individuals conform because they believe that others interpretations of a situation that they themselves are not sure of is more valid and thus correct. As the discussion continues through the afternoon more information about the case is
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According to social psychologists Richard Petty and John Cacioppo, there are two routes to persuasion: peripheral and central. Central persuasion is the process by which a person thinks carefully about a communication and is influenced by the power of argument. The main instance of central persuasion in “12 Angry Men” is with Henry Fonda and Lee Cobb. Fonda stipulates his ideas of the boys innocence through well thought out imperial reasoning and data eventually swaying the other jurors to vote not guilty. Central route persuasion describes Fonda’s approach. Cobb utilizes his powerful personality to create a counter argument based in fact to persuade the jurors in the opposite direction of
When someone is persuaded not on facts but on other cues, ex: attractiveness, sound of voice, persuader has special ‘powers’, etc.
The jurors are transformed by the process of deliberating. Eleven men voted guilty because of their prejudices, fears, laziness and insecurities, but they are eventually persuaded by reason to give up these limiting beliefs, to see the potential in the facts, and to find justice. The critical turning points in the jury votes occur, not when there is passion and anger, but when there is reasoned discussion, as the rational Juror 8 triumphs over the prejudices of his fellow jurors. The facts of the case do not change, but the jurors come to see the facts differently, and change by the process they go through. Despite the hostility and tension created in this process, the twelve men end up reconciled, and justice is done.
Informative social influence is also apparent in “Twelve Angry Men”. Juror number twelve, a well-dressed, advertising businessman for “Rice Pops” exhibits a character that is easily-swayed by convincing arguments from both sides. He first changes his vote from guilty to not guilty after juror number five’s demonstration with the switchblade only to change his vote again after he is overwhelmed with “evidence that he is unable to arrange in order.” His inability to explain his reasons for his decisions to change his votes demonstrates the complication of the situation as well as his own feelings of incompetency (Myers, Spencer, & Jordan, 2009). Instead, juror number twelve relies on the arguments of other jurors and changes his votes according to the credibility of other’s judgments.
The 1957 film version of 12 Angry Men depicts the nature of a small group setting. Within this film, we can see the group as a system, the development of group climate, and the different roles portrayed in a group. Eleven out of the twelve jurors voted the boy on trial guilty when they were initially asked their vote. Later throughout the movie, the group went into detail on the trail, thanks to Juror 8, and eventually changed their vote. If it weren't for the call for communication on the topic, the boy who was being tried would have been sentenced to death.
In the 1957 classic 12 Angry Men, group dynamics are portrayed through a jury deliberation. Group dynamics is concerned with the structure and functioning of groups as well as the different types of roles each character plays. In the film, twelve men are brought together in a room to decide whether a boy is guilty of killing his father. The personality conflicts, the joint effort and the functioning of several minds together to search for the truth are just a few characteristics of group dynamics at work. The whole spectrum of humanity is represented in this movie, from the bigotry of Juror No.10 to the coldly analytical No.4. Whether they brought good or bad qualities to the jury room, they all affected the outcome.
When looking at the film, “12 Angry men”, conformity plays a big role in the jury room. The film demonstrates the tremendous amount of power social influence can have on individuals to conform because they believe that by adjusting their own behaviour to align to the norms of the group, will lead to an increased level of acceptance. Conformity due to social influence can be identified within the jury room, some Juror members conformed due to
The film Twelve Angry Men shows many social psychology theories. This film presents some jurors who must decide if an accused murderer is guilty or innocent. In the beginning, all but one juror voted for guilty. Eventually, however, they come to a non-guilty verdict. It shows how a various group of individuals react to a situation that no one wants to be involved in. Twelve Angry Men exhibits so many examples of the true power of informational social influence and normative social influence. According to informational social influence, individuals tend to comply with others because they believe that another individuals version of a situation is more valid than their own. Normative social influence is a type of social influence that leads to conformity. This theory seems to fit in along with this movie because of the way the juror’s decisional processes went. Informational social influence is aggravated by obscurity and doubt of situation, importance of being correct, time constriction, and presence of those recognized as professionals. Just within the first few minutes of the movie, social influence is shown. In the jury room, a heated debate is prevented by an initial vote. This vote, which was taken publicly, was vulnerable to normative social influence or conformity from the fear of seeming in submissive. An obvious feeling of doubt is presented as the jurors vote. This hesitance can be perceived as weak conviction swayed by the guilty majority’s influence. Time constraints intensify informational social influence and possibly helped play a role in causing some of the jurors to cast guilty, conformist votes. Majority influence and social impact theory generate conformity. These theories are relevant in the jury context and are relevant to an explanation of Twelve Angry Men. Social impact theory specifies the situational and personal factors that bring on conformity. Conformity is enhanced by the immediacy element of social impact theory which brings to belief that without anonymity conflict is increasingly difficult. Perception of norms is apparently a factor that also brings out conformity. Stereotyping and prejudice were rampant at the time Twelve Angry Men was filmed. The director and writers cleverly
The 1957 movie version of 12 Angry Men, brings twelve people together with different personalities and experiences to discuss the fate of a young boy that allegedly killed his father. At the very beginning, many agree that the boy is guilty except for one man. Juror #8 votes not guilty and pushes to have the evidence talked through. After reviewing all the evidence carefully, the tables turned from guilty to not guilty. Each juror brought different experiences and personalities to the jury room. The two that were forceful with their opinions and their reasonings to decide either way we're jurors #8 and #3.
The concept of persuasion is vast in the movie. This concept is portrayed the whole movie and can be easily spotted. Everyone who comes into the room already has their mind made up of their vote except one man. The one man tells everyone he is unsure if the boy is guilty or not. He spends the whole time in the jury room trying to get the others to see his point of view and why he does not want to rush to convict the young man. In chapter 7 the text states that there are certain things that contribute to persuading others. One of the first things that others look at when deciding to be persuaded is credibility. If the person you are talking to and trying to
The 1957 movie twelve angry men tells a complete story of what it is like to be on a jury for a murder case in which they chose whether or not a kid should live. For the start of the movie you soon realize that the twelve men all have different core values. What is noticed soon turns out to be true in the coming minutes with the group sitting down and beginning to vote. With one lone person stating not guilty. That juror was named Mr. Davis. Mr. Davis leads everyone into grunts and groans as he tries to persuade the other eleven jurors to switch the vote. The most noticeable thing that has happened through the movie analysis is how well the college student body reflects the core values as three of the jurors. The movie shows three specific types of core values connecting to the college student logical thinking, wise, and lastly emotional attachment.
“The normative social influence involves conforming to be accepted or liked by a group, not necessarily because one actually believes the things one is doing or saying (Fournier, 2016). Jack is an example of normative social influence he reflects and compare himself with the boy when he was a child. Jack also lived in a poor area in which felt sympathy and believed the boy was not guilty. However, due to pressured and social normalization he went along with the group and voted “Guilty”. The juror failed in many areas on ensuring whether the boy was guilty or not and instead judge the boy being prejudice minority influences was involved.
In the movie 12 Angry Men, the jurors are set in a hot jury room while they are trying to determine the verdict of a young man who is accused of committing a murder. The jurors all explain why they think the accused is guilty or not guilty. Throughout the movie they are debating back and forth and the reader begins to realize that even though the jurors should try to not let bias cloud their judgement, the majority of the jurors are blinded by bias. The viewer can also see that the jurors have their own distinguishable personalities. Their personalities intertwine with each other to demonstrate how the jury system is flawed, but that is what makes it work.
Prejudice can often be formed without one even realize they are prejudiced, many of the characters in 12 Angry Men, have done as such, allowing their prejudice to not allow them fully evaluate the case unbiasedly. Jurors three, ten and seven are swayed by their prejudiced beliefs against the accused, as the deliberate the accused fate, juror ten states “his type are no good”(12 Angry Men). This prejudice which all of them share, justifiers their neglecting to inspect the evidence and testimony given rather than simply accepting it at face value. The film 12 Angry Men conveys how difficult it can be to set aside prejudiced views through jurors three, seven, and ten. The film also enables the reader to see how prejudice such as past experiences, ingnorance or misinformation, and stereotyping can cloud ones judgement.
The movie “12 Angry Men” examines the dynamics at play in a United States jury room in the 1950’s. It revolves around the opinions and mindsets of twelve diverse characters that are tasked with pronouncing the guilt or innocence of a young man accused of patricide. The extraordinary element is that their finding will determine his life or death. This play was made into a movie in 1957, produced by Henry Fonda who played the lead role, Juror #8, and Reginald Rose who wrote the original screenplay. This essay will explore some of the critical thinking elements found within the context of this movie, and will show that rational reason and logic when used effectively can overcome the mostly ineffective rush to judgment that can be prevalent in
12 Angry Men is a film that plays on the psychological mind, and highlights many features of Organizational Behavior. As the jury of 12 men convene in a locked room to decide the future, or lack thereof, of a young boy accused of murdering his father, they illustrate movement through the four stages of Bruce Tuckman’s Group Development Model of Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Along with this model, the movie portrays the difficulties and cohesiveness that 12 different men experience as they must come together to make one single unanimous decision. In an attempt to make this decision, several examples of influential behavior are highlighted throughout the film, as the members of the Jury experience using reason, assertiveness,