In the movie “The Breakfast Club” there are several social psychological principles occurring during the course of the film. The film focuses on five students, Claire, Brian, Andrew, Allison, and John, or “Bender” as he more commonly referred to. The students arrive at their high school to serve a Saturday detention sentence. The central plot revolves around each of the characters personal lives, personal characteristics, and relationships, and how they each develop over the course of the film. While there are several social psychological principles that were present in the film the major principles that truly stood out included: the cognitive dissonance theory, stereotypes, and conformity. Each of these principles can be seen in several …show more content…
scenes and with different characters. The first scene that demonstrates a social psychological principle, demonstrates stereotypes. This scene is when there is an altercation between Bender and the principal of the high school. Bender offered to be the distraction in order for the rest of the group to get back to the library without getting caught by the principal. After Bender is caught by the principal and brought back to the library to gather his things the discussion that occurs between the principal, Bender, and Andrew showcases the principle of stereotypes. Stereotypes are wildly held thoughts or views of how a group or specific individuals are supposed to behave and have characteristics specific to their stereotype. These thoughts or views are often an inaccurate representation of those groups or individuals and tend to lead to more and more people believing these inaccurate representations. In this specific scene, the principal begins to discuss Bender’s future and how people “like him” always end up, after Andrew laughs at a joke Bender made. He makes remarks such as “look at him he's a bum” and “you wanna see something funny you go see John Bender in 5 years you'll see how funny he is.” These remarks imply that the principal believes that because Bender is a stereotypical “criminal” he will get nowhere in life. The stereotype of Bender as a “criminal” include the traits like his disrespect for authority, destruction of property, theft, drugs, and bullying others. Bender does do all of these things however, he is and can be, more than this stereotype placed upon him. However, because this stereotype is placed upon him everyone views and thinks of him like the stereotypical criminal including the principal and his fellow classmates. Another scene that demonstrates a social psychological principle demonstrates the cognitive dissonance theory. The scene is when Brian or “the brain” describes wanting to kill himself with the flare gun he brought to school, which accidentally went off in his locker and caused his stay in detention. Brian’s decision to end his life was brought on by his first ever failing grade in his shop class, this decision can be viewed by being caused by the cognitive dissonance theory. The cognitive dissonance theory is the theory that when an individual’s attitudes and actions do not match it causes psychological distress within that person. When an individual has attitudes about something but their actions or behaviors do not match with these attitudes, there is psychological discomfort because individuals need to be consistent. So, the individuals will either change their attitudes or actions in order to be consistent. In previous scenes, it is evident that Brian is a nerd or “the brain” as he states he is various academic clubs including the physics club. In this particular scene, he describes this failing grade to be his first academic failure, and that is the reason he wanted to end his life. As an individual, Brian’s attitudes about his academics clearly put his academics as the highest and most important aspect of his life, but when his actions provide him with a failing shop project and thus a failing grade, he feels severe psychological discomfort. So severe that he feels the need to end his life. This scene may not demonstrate the cognitive dissonance theory perfectly, because instead of changing either his attitudes or actions to relive the discomfort, he instead chooses to end both, by ending his life. However, luckily he does not get the chance to do so. Instead, it seems to be implied by the conversation following his confession to the group, that the group convinces him that grades aren't everything. So, perhaps Brian changes his attitudes in order to deal with the psychological discomfort caused by this failing grade. The last scene that depicts a social psychological principle demonstrates conformity, specifically conforming due to normative social influence.
The scene occurs after Claire takes Allison into the bathroom and gives her a makeover. The scene includes Claire wiping off the normal dark makeup Allison wears and replacing it with softer makeup that was more socially accepted at the time, she also fixes her hair into the ideal hair of that time. Later, Allison emerges post-makeover and both Andrew and Brian are struck by the “new” Allison and pay her several compliments. Towards the end of the film, Allison and Andrew have a romantic encounter which Andrew initiates as he is now more attracted to Allison after her makeover. Conformity is what happens when individuals behave and act in accordance with the socially accepted standards. In this particular case, Allison changes her appearance due to normative social influence. Normative social influence is when an individual is influenced to change their behavior in order to fit into the group and to be liked and accepted by that group. In this scene Allison allows Claire to change her appearance in order for her to fit in and be liked by the group, specifically Andrew. The main influencer on Allison was Andrew as she expressed interest in him, however, he only thought of her as “the freak” and was not attracted to her. Andrew and Claire appear to be somewhat friends as they hang out in the same social group. This social group is assumed to be the “popular” group and in order to fit into this group the individuals must behave and appear in specific ways. Because of this Allison would have never fit in with that group, and therefore would not have grabbed Andrew’s attention. So, to allow Claire, who is a part of that group, to make Allison look like her, allows Allison to conform into that group and be liked by them, more specifically to be liked by Andrew. After Allison’s makeover Andrew shows much more attention and
attraction to Allison which further reinforces Allison to conform to the “popular” groups standards. The normative social influence is being reinforced by Andrew’s affections, as the more he likes Allison, the more likely she will continue to conform to keep his affection. In conclusion, “The Breakfast Club” provides many examples of social psychological principles. Including the use of stereotypes when applied to Bender by both the principal and his fellow classmates, the application of the cognitive dissonance theory to Brian’s struggle between his attitude about academics and his behavior resulting in a failing grade, and conformity, specifically normative social influence, which is present during Allison’s makeover which allows her to be a part of the “popular” group and win the affections of Andrew. Each of these principles were applied to the different characters and contributed to the development of the characters throughout the film.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze a movie and list five sociological concepts outlined in our textbook, Sociology A Down-To-Earth Approach, 6th edition by James M. Henslin, which was published by Pearson Education, Inc in 2015, 2013, and 2011. I have chosen the movie, “The Breakfast Club.” This is a 1985 movie directed by John Hughes. It is about five high school students that have detention on a Saturday for nine hours. The five students are played by, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, and Anthony Michael Hall. These five students are deviant in their own particular ways and have different stereotypes. Eventually the students share personal information about their
The 1985 film, The Breakfast Club, directed by John Hughes shows how a person’s identity can be influenced by conflict he or she has experienced in life. First, John Bender is in the library telling everyone how he got a cigar burn on his arm from his dad. For example, his mother and father don’t treat with the most respect or any respect at all. They call him names and say he can’t do anything right. One day him and his dad got into a really bad argument and his dad burnt him with is cigar that he had. Because his parents treat him that way, he treats everyone he’s around very badly.
The famous the note that was left by the teens in detention at the end of the movie shows the social connection between each of their roles in society and how those are tie to society. The teens use the stereotypical names to tell Mr. Vernon who they think they are; the brain, the athlete, the basket case, the princess, and the criminal, they use the names that society has given them because of their reputations, hobbies and looks. They each realize throughout the movie that there is something that connects them to one another which makes them all realize that no matter the stereotypical separation between them, they all have some things in common and can work together for a common goal.
Allison obviously lacked the respect of others, for she had no friends whatsoever prior to her time spent in this detention. She also has nervous ticks, such chewing her nails, and played with her hair. Brian was another case of insecurity. The influence of self-concept was strong with Brian Johnson for he had no sense of self. He could not meet the standards of his desired self and was therefore unhappy with himself as a person.
The film, The Breakfast Club, introduces five students, each perceived with a different stereotype which is commonly found in American high schools.
The Breakfast Club demonstrates the interpersonal concepts “I-It” and “I-Thou” as it follows students whose immediate reaction is to treat each other as nothing more than the stereotypical person their titles assume them to be; however, as the film progresses and the characters begin to develop friendships, the characters abandon the stereotypes and begin to look at each other as individuals who have unique personalities and stories.
The first movie ever created was made by Louis Le Prince on October 14 in 1888, back then all movies were silent and the movie theatre was consider a simpler, cheaper way to entertain the masses. Since 1888 millions of movies have been made in every language and in every part of the world. Many of those movies have a connection with psychology and its theories, my favorite movie is The Breakfast Club which has a connection with the contact hypothesis of Gordon Allport. The Breakfast Club was made in 1985 and since then it has been used by various psychologist to explain psychology theories in a simple way.
The movie The Breakfast Club is a perfect example of peer relationships in the adolescent society. It shows the viewer some of the main stereotypes of students in high school you have a jock, a nerd, the weirdo, a rebel, and a prep. Over the course of a Saturday detention the different types of peers learn a lot about one another by hearing what each one has done to get into Saturday detention as well as why they chose to do it.
The 1985 film, The Breakfast Club, takes place during a Saturday detention in a Chicago high school. Five students, all from very different backgrounds, must serve this detention together for a nine-hour period. Everyone is at the detention for diverse reasons but throughout the course of the day, they soon discover they are not as different as they thought they were. The Breakfast Club analyzes how social interactions between students and their social contexts lead to the prevalence of discrimination and prejudice within the high school environment. Demonstrating how it is contrary to other films of the era, The Breakfast Club particularly examines these social issues through the establishment of cliques which were founded based on the hierarchy
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
The Breakfast Club is about 5 high school students enduring detention on a Saturday. You first see the in groups and outgroups. An in group are people who belong to the same group as you, while the out group are people who belong to a different group as you. This was shown right off the bat in
Toy Story brings to life the question of every six-year-old, “Do my toys love me as much as I love my toys?” Produced by Pixar and published by Disney in 1995, Toy Story is about Andy and his toys as they grow up together. Woody has been Andy’s favorite toy for his whole life, the toys get along and live happily together. But Andy’s birthday is coming up, and it is a stressful time for all the toys because of fear of replacement. The last gift Andy receives is a Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger. Buzz becomes Andy’s new favorite, replacing Woody. Woody and the rest of the toys have to adapt, but Woody struggles the most with being replaced. Throughout the movie, many psychological perspectives are explored. Conformity, disorders, and prejudice are
...a nymphomaniac and that she’s had sex with her married psychiatrist on various occasions. She doesn’t assess this as a high-risk self-disclosure because, as she says later, she is a compulsive liar. The only reason she is saying all of these things is for attention. Claire notes her disgust in Allison’s comments, saying, “Do you have any idea how completely gross that is?” and telling her she is crazy. Allison isn’t very surprised by the group’s reaction to her disclosure, since she only said it for the reaction she knew she would get.
	At the start of the movie, Allison was a person off in a corner by herself. She didn’t talk to anyone, she knew that she had a "place" in the society of school. This society of school, also know as clique groups, takes place at many schools, the one in the movie and most of all Richland High School. Like our school, this one has very many clique groups. In fact in the group of students in Saturday school, each clique group had a representative if you will. Allison knew that in the minds of others she was a loser because she was not popular and not pretty. So, we have here a girl who doesn’t think that she is pretty, and rates herself lower because of that. They don’t look at her personality or her inner being, but her outward appearance. She thinks that she is ugly because of what everyone else thinks. She has a low self-image and self-esteem simply because of what others think. In order to overcome this, she has to not let the opinions of others interfere with her thinking. This is very much easier said than done. In the middle of the movie, Andrew began to notice th...
Five teenagers who don't' know each other spend a Saturday in detention at the suburban school library. At first they squirm, fret and pick on each other. Then after sampling some marijuana, a real encounter session gets underway. The stresses and strains of adolescence have turned their inner lives into a minefield of disappointment, anger and despair.