Preview

Perception Errors as Seen in “Twelve Angry Men”

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
495 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Perception Errors as Seen in “Twelve Angry Men”
Perception Errors as seen in “Twelve Angry Men”

“The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but Time” - William Butler Yeats

The movie “Twelve Angry Men” opens up with a sequence which justifies the above stated quote. The storyline follows the story of two random people chosen as jurors who have been asked to give a verdict on a murder case. The case involves the murder of a father by his teenage son. The verdict can be held legal and valid only if it is unanimous. At the start of the movie, everyone except a gentleman votes as ‘guilty’ for the boy. The gentleman expresses his desire to go over all the facts after which he would make his decision whether the teenager is guilty or not. After several deliberations, re-questioning of the stated facts and witness testimonials, slowly the jurors start changing their verdict from ‘guilty’ to ‘not-guilty’. The story ends with the unanimous verdict in the favor of the teenager.

Common Perceptual Distortions:

1. Stereotype or Prototype: One of the jurors has the belief that teenagers growing up in slums tend to be criminals. A generalization on the behalf of the juror is incorrect.

2. Projection: One of the jurors shares a failing relationship with his own son. This creates an effect wherein he sees the image of his son in the teenager held in the trial. He tries to force his own conscious image onto the teenager and sees him as guilty.

3. Self Fulfilling Prophecy: One of the jurors is timid in nature and hence his opinions are not heard and ignored.

4. Mine is better thinking: One of the jurors thinks that since he is an influential person in his domain, he knows better because of his higher status in society.

5. Selective Perception: One of the jurors is only interested in finishing the verdict. He has no arguments in favour or against the teenager.

6. Pretending to Know: One of the jurors tries to justify everything by giving

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    At the beginning of Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose, the jury has just finished listening to six days of trial proceedings. A nineteen-year old man is on trial for the murder of his father. The defendant has a criminal record (and a lot of circumstantial evidence piled against him). The defendant, if found guilty, would receive a mandatory death penalty.…

    • 1927 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1. Juror #1 is easily frustrated and gets uptight when someone disobeys his authority. He was concerned with maintaining his control and keeping the proceedings formal.…

    • 336 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a crowded jury room, opinions collide as discussions about the innocence of a young boy are decided. The dark and foreboding storm clouds that hang over the heads of the jurors are beginning to lift as time progresses and new facts are presented. The two men that cannot put their personal emotions aside are juror 3 and juror 10. These men are motivated by their emotions rather than the evidence.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 8th Juror is a key character throughout the play. He is the only dissenter who votes ‘not guilty’ in the very beginning and says ‘it’s not easy to raise hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first.’ As a logical, gentle and thoughtful character, the 8th Juror slowly works out the way to make the jury rethink the case and the possibility of the boy not killing his…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Twelve Angry Men Analysis

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the movie twelve angry man, after the twelve jurors listened to the facts in the trail, the judge gives her instructions to them. The judge told them that the man could face the death penalty if he found guilty. The 12 man gather in a stifling hot room to have a concluding about the case. They start arguing and adding their own experience, culture, and understanding of people's motives as a way of reconsidering the facts. Although all the jurors had listened to the same stated facts and they were in the same situation, each one of them interprets the facts differently. This reflects the differences in people and the different ways that we view the same things.…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose, Juror 4 undergoes a series of questions regarding his confidence that a young man is guilty of murder. From the beginning to the end of the play, Juror 4 gradually changes his mind about his initial vote, through the constructive discussions lead by Juror 8. Juror 4 moves from a belief that all legal witnesses are faultless to truly experiencing some sort of “reasonable doubt.” He is left with a clearer picture of the case, looking beyond his personal prejudices and biases.…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the drama Twelve Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, there are twelve jurors to discuss and deliberate if the murder in the first degree is guilt or not. Because the verdict must be unanimous, twelve jurors have a critical thinking in their discussion and finally made the vote from eleven jurors vote for guilty to unanimous vote for not guilty. During the development of the voting, Juror Three is hardly to persuade because he has a serious prejudice to the murder. If Juror Three does not admit the murder is not guilty, they cannot settle a lawsuit. Therefore, Juror Three’s prejudice should be the key to get the final verdict.…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    12 Angry Men Flaws

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Throughout the years of America, we had many juries during criminal trials to decide if the defendant guilty or not guilty. In the 1957 movie, 12 Angry Men shows the best representation of American jury system and how people change their minds. 12 Angry Men shows that personal feeling get in the way in their votes. The movie is about how 12 jurors decide the fate of young boy that persumed he killed his father, while during the initial vote only Juror 8 raised his hand not guilty. Then throughout the movie and script each of the 11 jurors for various reason change their votes to not guilty. The 12 jurors change their votes from guilty to not guilty through character flaws, positive personality traits, expertise on the evidence, and pattern of behavior.…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Reginald Rose’s play, Twelve Angry Men, is about a jury’s decision making process in a murder trial. The facts in this play become blinded by the prejudices that some Juror’s possess. A prejudice jury became formed due to a biased testimony and the facts became clouded as generalisations were formed by the Juror’s. Some Juror’s bigotry can be based on their past experiences and discrimination didn’t only happen to the defendant, but it was also experienced by Juror’s themselves…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    b. The Man with the Slum Childhood demonstrates for the jurors how a knife is wielded in a street fight.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As juror 8's campaign continues, and the seed of doubt planted into the "guilty" minded jury members is fertilised thorough the analysing of facts the reasonable doubt slowly grows in the jurors minds, the audience begin to create an understanding that doubt is an easier state of mind…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    3. List three pieces of evidence against the boy on trial, and then tell how the jurors prove those pieces of evidence wrong.…

    • 125 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 1957 film Twelve Angry Men is a dramatic portrayal of what happens in a jury room after a murder trial in which the defendant is a young minority man who has allegedly killed his father with a switchblade knife. Eleven of the jurors are ready to declare a guilty verdict in the first five minutes, but one juror performs the Central Negative role in the group in order to save them from groupthink and also save the defendant from execution.…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The film “12 Angry Men” is a 1957 drama consisting of a dozen men on jury, who attempt to reach a verdict involving a teenager in a murder case. A guilty verdict was initially predicted, but the jury members start questioning and reasoning the testimonies given in court. Was the boy being accused of stabbing his father really guilty? All the information regarding the timing of the train, the timing of the murder, and the testimonies did not add up. Through much debate, a complex voting process, and many concepts learned through SCOM, the jury managed to attain a not-guilty ruling due to the inadequate testimonies and facts gathered.…

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fiction vs Reality

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Then, select examples from fictional portrayals of the courtroom found in books, movies, and television, for example, The Runaway Jury, A Few Good Men, or Law and Order to make a comparison between reality and fiction. Choose two of the five courtroom participants you described and compare their fictional portrayal to their real-life role in the courtroom. Be sure to cite specific examples of how media portrayals of courtroom participants are accurate or inaccurate. Use the Court TV Web site at HYPERLINK "http://www.courttv.com/home_primetime/index.html" http://www.courttv.com/home_primetime/index.html to help your research. Your response must be 100 to 150 words in length…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays