The film Twelve Angry Men follows the jury deliberation of a first degree murder case. The jury, totaling twelve men, dispute their decision of innocence or guilt throughout the movie. Many concepts of social psychology including conformity, anger displacement, and stereotypes are used in the struggle between these men to reach a verdict.
Conformity is the tendency for people to go along with a group's opinion despite what they really feel, just to fit in or be liked. In many cases, conformity is increased when a member of a group feels inferior to fellow peers in the group. In the initial hand count, all men except for one vote guilty. During this voting process it becomes clear that the men who are unsure of what they really feel will go along with the majority without any apparent reason. In the movie the jury decides to take an initial vote to see where everyone stands on the verdict before they start discussing their decision. Some men are very out-spoken about their opinion on the case and make others feel like they will be stupid to think otherwise. As the controversy continues, the one man who voted innocent proceeds to disprove the evidence and make the defendant in the case appear innocent. Every piece o
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Their reason is that the boy was so accustomed to physical violence that it would be like second nature to him to use violence in defense against his father.
Psychological strategies prove to play a big role in the outcome of the verdict. These negative stereotypes are manipulated by both sides, using the child abuse both as a motive and as a scapegoat for the defendant's actions. " They never use concrete evidence to advocate their choice, but rather allow themselves to be swayed by the majority. At first sight of the boy ...