Social Psychology In 12 Angry Men

In the 12 angry men I recognized several different social- psychological principles. This movie is filled with different concepts, views, and ways of thinking. Each principle has some way of fitting into the movie. I have watched this movie before this assignment but watching it for the assignment made me look at the different principles involved. There are numerous different concepts that could be used however, I just chose a few. I am going to list some that I noticed while watching the film. The first one I noticed was self- fulfilling, the second is over confidence phenomenon, the third dealt with persuasion, the fourth would be group influence, the fifth would be the concept of conformity, and the last one was the concept of prejudice.

The first topic I am going to be discussing is the self- fulfilling concept. I spotted this in the movie 12 angry men in the beginning. The men started talking about how they all thought the boy is guilty. One man asks why he thinks that. The other gentlemen responds along these lines with the boy lives in the wrong part of town and is a no good person. In chapter 3 it talks about this same concept. The text states that the self-fulfilling prophecy is a belief that leads to its own fulfillment (pg. 113). I also found on Sociology.about.com It talks about how when lower –class students are undermined by their teachers the students start to do bad because they know the teachers expect them to do so. The text also gives this example. This is a great example of the self-fulfilling prophecy. The men in the movie thought since the kid lived in a bad part of the town that maybe the kid was acting the only way he knew and how others viewed him.

In chapter 3 the concept of overconfidence phenomenon...

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... for a valuation of his opinion. This timid man, who is a banker, establishes his intellect later in the film but initially, in the presence and under the analysis of the others is unable to come up with practical, convincing response to his fellow juror’s questions. The man than falls under the scrutiny of others and this demonstrates the apprehension theory, which is a component of social facilitation. Evaluation apprehension theory according to the text is simply the concern for how others evaluate us (pg. 272). This leads me to my next topic of conformity.

Psychologytoday.com defines conformity as “the tendency to align your attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors with those around you”. According to informational social influence individuals conform because they believe that other’s interpretation of a vague situation is more noticeable, or valid, than their own.