12 angry men essay – Reason defeats Bias A bias is defined as a tendency or cognitive shortcut by Phycology Today, that mostly, “like preferring to eat food instead of paper clips” are helpful. But some biases can cause problems we are not aware of, when we apply then to life inappropriately, causing discriminatory protocols and rashly made decisions. In the play 12 angry men by Reginald Rose the twelve jurors, assigned to a young man from the ghetto accused of murder, each had a bias. Yet some biases were inappropriately applied to the case while others led to reason and justice. As the play continues, the actual crime recedes to the background as the play begins to center around how reason defeats the negative biases towards the young man. Sometimes people find it easier to accept what the majority thinks or feels rather than reason, so they won’t have to stand alone. This is precisely what is happening in the play 12 Angry Men. Eleven of the twelve jurors Bases their votes, at first, on negative biases towards the young man and essentially peer pressure. Only juror number eight thinks of ways to prove the boy is not guilty and think with a mind void of negative biases. Juror Eight has the guts to stand alone and say there is …show more content…
When he votes not guilty, juror eight knocks down the first domino in a set of twelve. The next to fall is juror nine. He is well along in years and with years sometimes comes wisdom. Juror nine gives eight a chance to speak saying, “It takes a great deal of courage to stand alone… He gambled for support and I gave it to him.” Juror eight continues to further his argument that the young man did not commit the crime, by presenting very