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Cuckoo's Nest Conformity

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In the movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, we see various types of psychological events at work in the Oregon psychiatric hospital. We see phenomenons like attitudes, conformity, obedience and more in the actions of the patients and even nurses of this hospital. One of the biggest themes in this movie is that of conformity or even nonconformity, which is exemplified in the hot-headed lady's man, R.P. McMurphy. Through his interactions with the other patients, guards, and nurses, we see a change in everyone around him as well as some personal changes in Mac himself. I will plan to address these phenomenons and use examples from the movie. An attitude is an organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols. One example of an attitude in the movie is how smoking is widely accepted in the setting of this movie, being the 1960's. People smoke indoors and out and even use cigarettes as a betting system when playing cards. Another example of an attitude is the racism that is also seen in the 1960's. Many minorities were discriminated at this time in history and this can be seen in the early attitudes toward the Chief in the beginning of the film with the guards questioning why Mac would even interact with him. …show more content…

From the start of Mac's stay in the hospital, he was able to change the patients around them to not obey Nurse Ratched as much as they did and live a bit more recklessly, not being slaves to their daily schedule. You can see the change in all the patients over time as they become more confident and happier, with the marquee example being Billy Babbit. All in all, it is easy to see why this movie is such a great example of both social psychology and conformity, and just a great movie in

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