Social psychology is essentially the study of how human beings interact, behave and think around others. It is rooted in explaining the various different experiences we face each day in our social lives. Nowadays, film-makers try to depict these psychological phenomena in their movies to make them realistic. One such movie stars Emma Stone, an Oscar winner playing the role of Olive in the film “Easy A”. The film in short describes the high school life of a chaste girl, Olive, who conforms to peer pressure and starts lying about her sexual behavior in order to maintain a certain reputation as well as to help out her troubled friends. This eventually leads her to challenge her self concepts to extreme levels, causing her to either liberate herself from the façade she created or sink into the role. Easy A describes many genuine psychological phenomena and I am going to focus on three of them; Cognitive dissonance theory, how societal and cultural norms dictate our attitudes and thoughts, and different ways of persuasion.
The cognitive dissonance theory is the feeling of unease that is felt when we act in opposition to our attitudes, which causes a shift of attitude in order to be consistent with our behavior. Easy A depicts strongly the theory of cognitive dissonance on numerous occasions. After Olive wrongfully admits to having sexual intercourse with a guy, the entire high school starts labeling her as a promiscuous woman. Since the uneasy feeling of lying about her acts
As the story begins she beings with a small plan to get nominated in the first place. She’s already confident she will be but she wants to have the most possible votes behind her. So, when she finds out when and how her boyfriend is going to ask her to homecoming, she gets it recorded. The video goes viral and she is confident in her nomination. Though when she discovers that new girl Erin Hewitt and outsider Ivy Proctor are on the nomination list she isn’t happy.
In using casual language, the writer makes the reader feel more comfortable, as if they were talking to a friend. Thus, this blatant use of persuasion assures readers of their stance and perhaps may prompt one who previously felt differently to change their viewpoint. This can be acutely alarming and will be discussed further in the immediate future. A highly controversial
Ethan’s agreement that death is better than parting is an example of cognitive dissonance that directly affects the plot of the novel. Cognitive dissonance is best described as an inconsistency in the beliefs that one holds, which is prominent in the thoughts as opposed the actions taken by Ethan. He is essentially given an ultimatum when Zeena threatens to fire Mattie; Ethan must make the decision to act upon his desires without the benefit of time as he had once thought he had. Before this is thrust upon him, he has the general cognition that he should not pursue Mattie. This is evident in his lack of action during their dinner without Zeena.
The author states that the one of the many flaws in a democracy is the fact that people have the right to vote without having knowledge on the subject. He understands that people make decisions based off their morals, not on the knowledge they have on a subject. Keohane adds that as a self-defense mechanism people, when they are faced with a mental conflict that occurs where their beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information; this is called cognitive dissonance. He goes on to explain the theory of motivated reasoning, which is where people have two facts presented to them where one fact contradicts their principals, and they end up choosing the fact that is closest to their ideals. According to Keohane people with higher self-esteem are more likely to acknowledge new information than people with insecurities.
The main assumptions of the theory are that individuals tend to evaluate the climate of opinions before choosing to express their opinions openly. This is driven by their fear of isolation that society threatens deviant individuals with. Thus, individuals are led by their perception of the dominating or opposing opinions in their environments although it may not be congruent with reality. When people conceal their opposing opinions, this lets the dominant views gain more ground and the minority opinions become lesser and lesser.
Stereotypes rampant in today’s society. They are implanted in one’s mind from a young age and learnt from school, media, friends or family. Moreover, the unique qualities of a person which can be beneficial for society can be hidden due to stereotypes. As a result, society can undermine a person by judging that judging that person based on the general idea it has about that person’s age, race, personality and/or financial status. Consequently, stereotypes have been a common topic that many authors have used in their books, with one such book being John Ball’s
Spread of negative stereotypes Negative stereotypes have been created by us, as a society, we have allowed ourselves to live with this misconceptions that impact all of us in a certain way. We have contributed to those beliefs that say that social status, income class and ethnicity define our identity. In fact, we have been and also have prejudged others at a certain point in our lives, we prejudge people we don’t know and also the ones we think we know like our own family members. In “The Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez he discusses his personal experience on how he stereotyped himself and also his family.
The influence of actors and actresses in the film industry has lead to positive and negative views on certain groups and culture. In present day, media like films use generalized stereotypes that have lead to individuals of those certain groups to be stereotyped in real life. When films use the same stereotypes over and over again, many people start to believe these generalized characteristics apply to every individual in that group. Due to the big success of films, many individuals have to face hurdles everyday to prove and detach themselves from certain stereotypes that films gives
Considering high school is generally a cesspool for immodesty and promiscuity there was no reason for everyone to treat Olive so badly because it was unlikely she was the only one to have had sex. Despite this simple fact, Olive is suddenly the target of hypocritical Marianne’s wrath for being a “trollop” and a “slut” despite Marianne dressing very immodestly for someone that is supposedly deeply religious. Her own friend, Rhiannon, ends up turning on her and trying to get her kicked out of school despite the fact that Rhiannon isn’t necessarily Saint Agnes of Rome herself. This is where the whole double standards aspect comes into play with the hypocrisy. All of the males who paid Olive to agree that they had relations only got more popular as a result while it had an opposite effect for Olive.
In this group we have people who present different types like the kid Brian who has to be really good in school because he has a lot of grade pressure from his dad. The rich girl Claire, who can’t escape from the group pressure of her friends. The athlete Andrew, who has problems with the expectation pressure of his dad. The rebel John who has a violent father and the black dressed girl Allison who is said because her personality isn’t accepted from her parents. So all this kids coming from a different background and all of them have their own problems and secrets.
The film Mean Girls, produced by Lorne Michaels and directed by Mark Waters in 2004 focuses on a teenage girl, Cady Heron, who experiences the drastic change of living and being home schooled in Africa to moving to America and attending a regular high school. While attempting to sabotage the plastics, the girls who hold the most popularity in the school, Cady unknowingly turns into one of them, leaving aspects of her old personality behind. By analyzing the film through sociological perspectives, the deeper meaning of the film can be revealed. Socialization Socialization is the process of connecting individuals to their community allowing individuals to experience new attitudes and perspectives.
The theory has split persuasion in two ways: the central route and the peripheral route. The central route implies a high content elaboration and persuasion that will most likely lead to a permanent change in attitude; thus, leading to decision-making.
These days with social media, and other rising technological advances, one might find it impossible to resist the urge to want to protest and debate with all the issues going on in the world today. It sounds easy enough to post your side of an argument on anything someone shares but going about it affectively to really get the opposing side to agree with you is something else entirely. By using the Social Judgment Theory, and understanding one’s ego involvement with an issue, people might just be able to figure out the “Art of Persuasion”. Social Judgement Theory is a “Self-persuasion theory proposed by Carolyn Sherif, Muzafer Sherif, and Carl Hovland” (Daniel O’ Keefe, 2016). It is defined as “The perception and evaluation of an idea by comparing
Cognitive dissonance is the sense of mental disorganization or imbalance that may prompt a person to change when new information conflicts with previously organized thought patterns. The text states, “The incompatibly between your behavior and your new knowledge will make you feel uncomfortable” (381). I have experienced cognitive dissonance when preparing for an exam. For instance, I will not study or not study as well as I should for a test. Then when I receive my test back or my score is posted, I realize that I really should have studied a lot harder.
Corinne Kamrar fMRI 204566178 Whether or not neuroimaging, more specifically functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), informs cognitive theories is investigated through two opposing views. Max Coltheart argues, cognitive neuroimaging lacks the ability to inform cognitive theory and therefore does not contribute to the study of cognition. In other words, cognitive theory informs neuroimaging and not the other way around, such that, neuroimaging informs cognitive theory. Contradicting Coltheart’s view on cognitive neuroimaging, Mara Mather, John Cacicppo, and Nancy Kanwisher agree that an abundance of knowledge can be obtained from fMRI’s and therefore influence cognitive theories.