Themes in 12 Angry Men

1. Themes in 12 Angry Men • Groupthink • Obedience to Authority • Conformity • In-group/Out-group • Persuasion • Prejudice/Stereotyping • Self-Justification

2. Stereotype v. Prejudice • Stereotype- A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Example: African Americans have exaggerated features. • Prejudice- Unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature regarding a racial, religious, or national group. Example: African Americans are criminals.

3. In-group/Out-group • Group’s boundaries are made clear • People define themselves as in-group or out-group • In-group: the group that a person belongs to and identifies with • Tend to separate themselves from other groups through the use of symbols. • Groups will often use badges, clothing, names, or slogans as forms of identification. • Members view themselves positively and they often view out-groups in negative terms. • Compete with out-groups, even to the point of engaging in conflict. • Out-group: Any group that a person does not belong to or identify with

4. Groupthink • Groupthink occurs when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment” • Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups.  • A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its members are similar in background, when the group is isolated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making.

5. Symptoms of Groupthink • Illusion of invulnerability –Creates excessive optimism that encourages taking extreme risks. • Collective rationalization – Members discount warnings and do not reconsider their assumptions. • Belief in inherent morality – Members believe in the rightness of their cause and therefore ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions. • Stereotyped views of out-groups – Negative views of “enemy” make effective responses to conflict seem unnecessary. • Direct pressure on dissenters – Members are under pressure not to express arguments against any of the group’s views. • Self-censorship – Doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus are not expressed. • Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed to be unanimous. • Self-appointed ‘mindguards’ – Members protect the group and the leader from information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions. • When the above symptoms exist in a group that is trying to make a decision, there is a reasonable chance that groupthink will happen, although it is not necessarily so.  These group pressures lead to carelessness and irrational thinking since groups experiencing groupthink fail to consider all alternatives and seek to maintain unanimity.  Decisions shaped by groupthink have low probability of achieving successful outcomes.

6. HITLER AND THE HOLOCAUST • Brainwashing or proper persuasion? • Using stereotypes as justification  • Promoting unity, purifying the Aryan race, national pride and purpose, self-worth, etc. • Self-justification: describes how, when a person encounters a situation in which a person's behavior is inconsistent with their beliefs, that person tends to justify the behavior and deny any negative feedback associated with the behavior. • Aryan vs. Jew: Sub-human (In-group, Out-group)

7. Self-Justification • Aperson encounters a situation in which their behavior is inconsistent with their actual beliefs. • People then tend to justify the behavior with rationale and deny any negative feedback associated with the behavior.