Breakfast Club Psychology

Movie Project #1: The Breakfast Club, An Example of Social Psychology

The movie The Breakfast Club provides excellent examples of social psychology throughout the movie. Even though this movie is over 30 years old, it still speaks to the life of high school and the struggles teenagers face. The movie illustrates the power of social standing and how often people will conform in order to make sure their behaviors fit in with their respective groups. I have watched this movie many times, and yet while I was watching it again for this particular project I noticed things I hadn’t noticed or thought about during previous viewings. I chose to focus on using Chapter 13 of our book, Social Psychology. The movie shows many of the topics discussed in

this chapter. Some of the examples I noticed right away were conforming to the group in order to be accepted, social influence, stereotypes and biases. The story of five teenagers from different cliques, different social economic backgrounds and with different life experiences spend the day together in detention.
The movie opens with the character Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall’s character) doing a voiceover of the essay he wrote during detention. The essay assignment was to explain who the students were, how they saw themselves and what they did to deserve detention. As he speaks you see all of the students are being dropped off at the school by their respective parents, except for John Bender (Judd Nelson’s character) who walks onto the campus. As they are being dropped off first impressions of who the students are and what their home lives are eluded to by the vehicles the parents drive, and the conversations that are had between the parents and their kids. Brian continues to read his essay that is addressed to the principal, Mr. Vernon; in this essay Brian addresses the stereotypes they have been assigned. “You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal”. Hughes, J. (Director), & Hughes, J. (Writer). (1985). Breakfast Club [Motion picture on DVD]. USA: Universal Studios.
The statement carries on as a theme throughout the movie, not only in how they are viewed by the principal; but also, how they view each other (maybe even how they perceive themselves) in the beginning. Brian Johnson – the brain, Andrew Clark – the athlete, Allison Reynolds – the basket case, Claire Standish – the princess, and John Bender – the criminal. During the course of the movie, you can see that they self-identify with these labels, and while they might not like being labeled they struggle with breaking free from those labels. I chose to focus this paper on the power of social influence, conformity and group think; there are references to the stereotypes that the characters are given. I also picked two of the characters from the movie to focus on; Brian and Andrew.
Brian Johnson – the brain, from the beginning he gives off the impression that he is a very good student and at face value seems to be confident in his place in the hierarchy of high school.

You can tell when his mom drops him off at school for detention that academics are important to her, she tells Brian to find a way to study during detention even though they aren’t supposed to. And the license plate on her vehicle is also “EMC2”, which is probably a nod to Albert Einstein’s famous formula ‘E=mc^2’. Brian appears to be eager to please the principal, immediately voicing that he doesn’t want to return to detention and tries to intervene when Andrew and John start to argue, telling them they should just write their papers. When Brian talks about the clubs that he is involved with, he doesn’t think the clubs that he is a part of are different from the clubs that Andrew and Claire are a part of. Claire somewhat condescendingly, says that his clubs are academic clubs, not social clubs. As the movie continues, you see there is more to Brian than meets the eye. In the scene where the five students sneak out of detention to go to John Bender’s locker, Brian is initially apprehensive to go, but follows the group in order to fit in. Brian further conforms when they are back in the library and John and Claire go into an adjacent room to smoke marijuana and he follows. Brian allows social influence to influence what he would normally do; he conforms to what John and Claire are doing

in an effort to fit in. Social Influence has been shown that being in ambiguous situations, people are more likely to behave in ways that are consistent with those around them. Altman, M. (n.d.). Chapter 13: Social Psychology. In Introduction to Psychology: A Top Hat Interactive Text (p. 13.3). Later Brian admits to being under extreme pressure to excel academically, pressure he puts on himself and that his family puts on him. He is unhappy with himself and is very stressed about failing shop class. In fact, close to the end of the movie he reveals that he is in detention because he brought a gun to school with the intent of killing himself.
Andrew Clark – the athlete, as his father is dropping him off you can tell right away that Andrew is an athlete. He is wearing his letterman jacket with a State Champion patch on the jacket, and almost immediately his father starts lecturing him about messing up and endangering his athletic scholarship. “You want to miss a match? You want to blow your ride? No school is going to give a scholarship to a discipline case.” Hughes, J. (Director), & Hughes, J. (Writer). (1985). Breakfast Club [Motion picture on DVD]. USA: Universal Studios. As Andrew walks into the library, he quickly scans the library and chooses to sit at the same table as Claire; they are the only two of the students who sit at the same table, eluding to they are part of the same clique. During the first few minutes of detention, Andrew’s status as an athlete is brought up several times. He wants Claire, Brian and John to stop talking because he doesn’t want to risk getting in trouble and having to miss an upcoming wrestling match. The principal, Mr. Vernon, comes in to check on the students after the door to the library slams shut, Mr. Vernon enlists Andrew’s assistance in using a magazine rack to prop the door open. When attention is drawn to this possibly being a safety/fire hazard, Mr. Vernon has Andrew return the rack to its original position and makes a comment about expecting more from a varsity athlete. As the movie progresses you see Andrew battle with who he thinks he is, or what stereotype he has been labeled and who he truly is. Andrew starts sharing a little bit of how he feels pressured into being an athlete when he is tasked to go with Allison to get drinks for everyone. He talks about the beliefs his coach and father have in him; and what little he has to do with all of it. “I’m not a winner because I want to be one, I’m a winner because I got strength and speed. Kind of like a racehorse, that’s about how involved I am in all of this”. Hughes, J. (Director), & Hughes, J. (Writer). (1985). Breakfast Club [Motion picture on DVD]. USA: Universal Studios.
Andrew’s willingness to just go along with the ride in his wrestling could have to do with conformity or his obedience to authority or maybe a little of both. Obedience occurs when you are told to do something (authority), whereas conformity happens through social pressure (the norms of the majority). McLeod, S. (2007, January 01). Saul McLeod. Retrieved April 24, 2018, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/obedience.html. Andrew further exposes himself during the time he smokes marijuana with the group, he seems to let down his guard. He emerges from the room smoking a marijuana cigarette, and immediately breaks into a dance. He then has a heart to heart conversation with Allison, where they make a connection over how bad they think their home lives are; and he comes to the realization that he can’t think for himself. He does what other people expect of him. Andrew then reveals the real reason he was in detention. He talks about wanting to impress his father and that he decides to do this by bullying a kid who was smaller than him, he thought this would impress his father because he thought his dad was disappointed in him for never cutting loose. And how his father feels about anyone being weak and won’t tolerate any losers in the family. Andrew feels compelled to win, because he thinks this is the only way his father will love him and pay attention to him.
As a group, there are many examples of conformity and social influence.

One of the not so obvious examples is a scene where John starts whistling a tune, and Brian joins in. Before long they are all whistling the song; whether or not they realize it they are following the group norm. More obvious examples are when Mr. Vernon leaves his office, John decides to make a trip to his locker. Again, the rest of the group follow him, despite the risk of getting caught. As well as, during the scene where they are smoking marijuana initially Andrew, Brian and Allison attempt to hold out and not smoke; but one by one they join Claire and John. Just as in our book says, in some groups, the need for conformity and consensus is so high that diverging ideas and differing opinions are strongly discouraged and excluded in the group’s decision-making process; this was dubbed Groupthink by social psychologist Irving Janis (1972). Chapter 13: Social Psychology. (n.d.). In Introduction to Psychology: A Top Hat Interactive Text (p. 13.3.1.1). I think that high school is the hardest time to not succumb to groupthink, to not conform to what others in your peer group are

doing.

References
Altman, M. (n.d.). Introduction to Psychology: A Top Hat Interactive Text, Pages 13.1-13.4
McLeod, S. (2007, January 01). Saul McLeod. Retrieved April 24, 2018, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/obedience.html

Hughes, J. (Director). (1985). Breakfast Club [Motion picture on DVD]. USA: Universal Studios.