1
12 Angry Men and Groupthink
Department of Psychology, Grand Canyon University
PSY 362
, 2
12 Angry Men and Groupthink
12 Angry Men is a movie that follows the story of 12 jurors who have to determine the
fate of a young man who was involved in a murder case. The movie highlights several situations
that involve many social psychological influences. Throughout the movie, the jurors are
influenced by elements such as patterns of persuasion, conformity, minority influence,
stereotypes, prejudice, cognitive heuristics, catalysts for change, groupthink, and group
polarization.
Persuasion and Influence
Patterns of persuasion include central, peripheral, and fact-based routes to superficial
cues (Gilovich, et al., 2018).An example of this in the film is how juror 3 is more inclined to take
the central route of influence because he is centered around the realities introduced in court.
Patterns of persuasion are also recognized when juror 4 is persuaded to demonstrate to himself
that it is hard to recall the titles of movies, which was key proof utilized in the prosecution.
Conformity is when people match behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs to the norms of the group (Ušto,
et al., 2019). Conformity is visible in the film when the jurors casted their vote by a show of
hands and the few who possessed signs of being undecided gave into the pressure implemented
by the group. Minority influence is a social influence that happens when a member of a minority
group influences the majority to accept the minority’s beliefs or behavior (McLeod, 2018).
Minority influence is seen in the film when juror 8, being a minority, was able to sway the entire
jury in the favor of the defendant. One example of other social influences is the fundamental
attribution error. This is the tendency to attribute behaviors to imaginary or real dispositions of
the individual and ignore influential parts of the situation that the person is facing (Gilovich,
12 Angry Men and Groupthink
Department of Psychology, Grand Canyon University
PSY 362
, 2
12 Angry Men and Groupthink
12 Angry Men is a movie that follows the story of 12 jurors who have to determine the
fate of a young man who was involved in a murder case. The movie highlights several situations
that involve many social psychological influences. Throughout the movie, the jurors are
influenced by elements such as patterns of persuasion, conformity, minority influence,
stereotypes, prejudice, cognitive heuristics, catalysts for change, groupthink, and group
polarization.
Persuasion and Influence
Patterns of persuasion include central, peripheral, and fact-based routes to superficial
cues (Gilovich, et al., 2018).An example of this in the film is how juror 3 is more inclined to take
the central route of influence because he is centered around the realities introduced in court.
Patterns of persuasion are also recognized when juror 4 is persuaded to demonstrate to himself
that it is hard to recall the titles of movies, which was key proof utilized in the prosecution.
Conformity is when people match behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs to the norms of the group (Ušto,
et al., 2019). Conformity is visible in the film when the jurors casted their vote by a show of
hands and the few who possessed signs of being undecided gave into the pressure implemented
by the group. Minority influence is a social influence that happens when a member of a minority
group influences the majority to accept the minority’s beliefs or behavior (McLeod, 2018).
Minority influence is seen in the film when juror 8, being a minority, was able to sway the entire
jury in the favor of the defendant. One example of other social influences is the fundamental
attribution error. This is the tendency to attribute behaviors to imaginary or real dispositions of
the individual and ignore influential parts of the situation that the person is facing (Gilovich,
