Social psychology rosewood the movie term paper

Cultural Norm, Sociable Influences About Behavior, Silent Film, Social Cognitive Theory

Excerpt by Term Conventional paper:

Rosewood is a film particularly ideal and interesting for the usage of social psychology. It concerns the story of the black community in early 20th-century Florida. The community was rather a-typical of that time period, since dark-colored people were prosperous landowners. The neighboring company town of Sumner alternatively, was filled by poor white persons, who were jealous of the riches they observed in Rosewood. This setting gives a backdrop for social emotional analysis relating to ingroups and outgroups, and just how racism leads to escalating tension.

Prejudice and Racism

Prejudice, according to Brehm, Kassin Fein (147), can be unintentional. It also means the stereotyping of a certain group on the reasonless grounds of any perceived danger, exacerbated by the fact that little personal information can be bought about the point of bias. In the film, prejudice against black persons is a paradigm of the historical time. The possibilities of prejudice against the inhabitants of Rosewood is particularly strong, as a gap is available between the monetary status with the whites in Sumner and the blacks in Rosewood. The blacks are thus regarded as a threat, “stealing” the financial resources accessible in the country.

Brehm, Kassin Fein (151) even more maintain that prejudice is usually not merely a great emotional response, but the cognitive a single. The fact which the Rosewood landowners are richer than the Sumner inhabitants is usually obvious, and perceived accurately. This affects the feelings of the latter group, in that all their self-esteem gets a hit. The cognitive process thus occurs before the emotional response. This emotional response is definitely depicted by using the mindset of “ingroups” and “outgroups. “

Brehm, Kassin Fein (147) distinguish between the trends of “ingroups” and “outgroups. ” Ingroups are organizations that a person belongs to, grouped by competition, religion etc ., while outgroups are organizations to which a person will not belong. When ever applied to the film, two groups are distinguished, depending on race: they are white, and living in Sumner, and dark-colored, living in Rosewood. The collection of persons in Sumner perceives an outgroup in Rosewood. Furthermore many different factors help the fact that this kind of group seems the necessity to maintain their superiority over the outgroup. This requirement of a boost to their particular self-esteem changes all other things to consider.

The opportunity to increase the self-esteem with the white ingroup presents itself by means of a woman, noted among her ingroup to become tramp, falsely accuses a black gentleman of defeating her. The fact is much more likely: your woman was disloyal, and her lover was your one to conquer her. Your woman cannot however face her crime or perhaps its effects, and requires the easy accessibility to lying rather. The ingroup jumps in the opportunity for physical violence, instead of more logically looking for the truth. It ought to be taken into account the 1920’s was obviously a time of extremist racism inside the United States, and especially in the To the south. This interpersonal situation includes a profound influence on the way in which the white ingroup perceives themselves and others. This is certainly then why the occupants of Sumner set aside person differences in their ingroup to jump to conclusions regarding the identified threat of the outgroup.

Racism then manifests itself in a variety of ways in the film. Guilt is definitely assumed depending on skin color. There is no personal interest in the outgroup over and above attempting to get rid of the identified threat. Any kind of embarrassment or perhaps guilt experienced as a result of the assumption of guilt is covered by the stronger power of interpersonal acceptance (Brehm, Kassin Filigran: 163). This kind of force is utilized to rationalize actions dependant on little more than lies.

Brehm, Kassin Filigran (165) make the distinction between blatant and subtle racism. Because of the cultural setting inside the film, the majority of the racism displayed is blatant. Subtle racism is to a larger degree portion of the modern culture, and it is much more likely that people today would be unacquainted with it. Therefore, while there can be described as strong likelihood that intergroup interaction can be successful today, the likelihood of this occurring at that time depicted in the film is definitely practically no, although selected characters do attempt to connection the space. There are 4 requirements intended for successful intergroup interaction that can be applied to the Rosewood situation: equal position; personal interaction; cooperative activities; and distributed social best practice rules (Brehm, Kassin Fein: 167).

Firstly both groups pictured in the film are not in any way of equal status. The gap between rich dark-colored landowners and poor light workers varieties the basis from the conflict. There is also internal conflict, as the white group feels the requirement to prove themselves superior, yet financially they are really inferior. The sole interaction that this provides for is usually conflict and violence, giving no probability of cooperative actions. The cultural norms of that time period are grounded in racism, precluding the possibility of sharing.

The white shopkeeper portrayed by John Voight reflects the superior frame of mind of his ingroup. But he displays a more individual attitude towards black outgroup, in that his shop is a dark-colored town, and he is mixed up in community. He can thus pretty successful in interacting with the outgroup, though social instances dictate specific barriers.

Sexism

The main prejudicial focus of the film is racism; however , sexism likewise plays a somewhat interesting role. The two most prominent females of the film are the atar and her maid. The lying girl is identified by her ingroup as being a woman and therefore most likely a victim. Again, this is doubtlessly a convenient excuse for the subsequent events. Yet likewise the woman is usually using her gender to give credence to her story. Being a woman, she actually is afraid of her husband’s difficulty should this individual find out about the affair, and so she turns her sexuality to her advantage in order to avoid the foreseen conflict.

Brehm, Kassin Sachte (155) suggest that gender stereotypes tend to end up being prescriptive rather than descriptive. Therefore there are certain pre-determined ways in which men and women are expected to respond. The laying woman behaves as the victim of male physical violence, although the girl tells only a half-truth about it. Her maid also adheres to prescriptive gender stereotypes by remaining noiseless about the lie. She also is a victim not only of racial stereotyping, but likewise of her own belief of the part of a dark-colored woman and exactly how this function should be used to the benefit of her family. Even though the crisis appears to negate all of these thoughts, she remains to be silent, thinking to the nasty end this is best.

The social roles of males and females thus enjoy a prominent role inside the conflict depicted in the film. Two women stand in the middle of the turmoil, but the males take a more active function in the escalation and perpetuation of the assault. The women, having been passive patients at the beginning of the actions of the doj, remain thus until the tragic end. Cultural influence performs a large function both in male or female and ethnic stereotyping.

Interpersonal Influence

To sum up it can be noticed that cultural influence performs a significant role in the events of Rosewood. Brehm, Kassin Fein (220) define this phenomenon since people aiming with people of prevalent mind regarding certain issues. In the film then, the white group feels a long need to conform to the sociable paradigm of racism with little logical thought. Their particular feelings absolutely overtake their very own reason and violence occures. There are various influences that may specify the degree of the desire to conform.

One of these is real and even imagined demands from other folks (Brehm, Kassin Fein, 220). The effect of the social situation during the time depicted in the film is incredibly strong, nevertheless also delicate. The reflex is to believe guilt based on racism. Blatant racism can be described as paradigm of times, and it is hard to break this kind of social norm. Brehm, Kassin Fein (221) show this kind of by means of the to chuckle or yawn when people in one’s location are engaged in these actions. Social rules work in not much different from the way, and research have shown that breaching these norms are incredibly difficult. The psychology with the white ingroup also appears to dictate the likelihood for conforming to the social norm in existence during the time.

According to Brehm, Kassin Fein (224), there are two styles of factors behind the difficulty of breaching the social tradition. These are educational and ordre reasons. Both of these play an important role inside the white ingroup psychology depicted in the film. An informational reason is good for example the assumption that almost all is correct, although the ordre relates to the fear of the effects should the interpersonal norm be breached. The type of consequence is that a person could be evaluated as deviant, and the likelihood of being approved is small.

A large amount of the psychology mounted on conforming then also has related to the human want

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