Analysis Boyz N The Hood

Movie Application Social psychology is a branch of the spectrum of psychology that primarily focuses on social interactions, environmental influences and the social experiences that weigh heavily on individuals cognitive schemas. The film “Boyz ‘N The Hood” is comprised of many contemporary influential African American actors, heavily influenced by the environment they are in and the violence surrounding them in their community. There are various aspects of the movie that portray social psychological concepts, such as social perception, attitude change, aggression and violence, and group dynamics. Social psychological issues such as proactive aggression, reactive aggression, desensitization, differential association theory, and deviance

Reactive aggression is defined as violent behavior whereby injury is viscously imposed and where the resolution and end is the culminating resolution (Kassin, Fein, & Markus, 2014). Reactive aggression suggests that some individuals react with violence and or aggression in response to the experiences endured (Kassin, Fein, & Markus, 2014). In the film “Boyz N the Hood,” multiple clips simulate reactive aggression and proactive aggression, as these characters are continuously attempting to challenge each other An example of this can be seen when Tre, Ricky, and Doughboy are at a street hang out with friends and other gang affiliated individuals when one person from a rival gang vindictively walks into Ricky. As a result to what has transpired Doughboy, Ricky’s brother, responds with proactive aggression; threatening the opposing gang member by flashing a gun at him and indicating harmful violent behavior resultant to the action he displayed (Singleton, 1991). Essentially due to the previous encounter between the groups, later in the film, the rival gang member shoots Ricky as he is running for his life in an ally. At that moment, Ricky 's dream of successfully exiting from the hood was prematurely ended, as he dies from the gunshot injuries sustained. The

Boyz N the Hood was a film created to convey an anti-gang message as well as to provide societal members an in-depth look at life in “the hood” so he or she can expand their culturally awareness of identifying societal issues (Stevenson, 1991). Upon the debut of “Boyz N the Hood” violence erupted at theaters across the nation, resulting in multiple shows pulling the film from scheduled showings to alleviate future violent behaviors (Stevenson, 1991). The film profoundly illustrates the realty of the events revealed within the storyline that frequently occur on a daily basis within every impoverish community; however, is overlooked by the individuals who are not directly involved and or affected (Leon-Guerrero, 2016) Children of lower socioeconomic status often are raised in ghetto neighborhoods where they often witness, crime, violence, gang activity, abuse, and drugs (Leon-Guerrero, 2016). Ghetto communities envelop tumultuous cycles of violence and substance abuse creating a pervasive occurrence within the residents of the community. This is prevalent in lower developed communities that unfortunately many children and the youth populace indirectly inherit and sadly conform to, as there are no other means to an end for them (Leon-Guerrero,