Themes in 12 Angry Men
1. Groupthink
2. Obedience to Authority
3. Conformity
4. In-group/Out-group
5. Persuasion
6. Prejudice/Stereotyping
7. Self-Justification
Stereotype v. Prejudice
• StereotypeA widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of
a particular type of person or thing.
Example: African Americans have exaggerated features.
• PrejudiceUnreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of
a hostile nature regarding a racial, religious, or national
group.
Example: African Americans are criminals.
In-group/Out-group
• Group’s boundaries are made clear
• People define themselves as in-group
or out-group
• In-group: the group that a person
belongs to and identifies with
• Tend to separate themselves from other
groups through the use of symbols.
• Groups will often use badges, clothing,
names, or slogans as forms of
identification.
• Members view themselves positively and
they often view out-groups in negative
terms.
• Compete with out-groups, even to the
point of engaging in conflict.
• Out-group: Any group that a person
does not belong to or identify with
Groupthink
• Groupthink occurs when a group makes faulty decisions
because group pressures lead to a deterioration of
“mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment”
• Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and
tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other
groups.
• A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its
members are similar in background, when the group is
isolated from outside opinions, and when there are no
clear rules for decision making.
Symptoms of Groupthink
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Illusion of invulnerability –Creates excessive optimism that encourages taking
extreme risks.
Collective rationalization – Members discount warnings and do not reconsider their
assumptions.
Belief in inherent morality – Members believe in the rightness of their cause and
therefore ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions.
Stereotyped views of out-groups – Negative views of “enemy” make effective
responses to conflict seem unnecessary.
Direct pressure on dissenters – Members are under pressure not to express
arguments against any of the group’s views.
Self-censorship – Doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus are not
expressed.
Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed to be
unanimous.
Self-appointed ‘mindguards’ – Members protect the group and the leader from
information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view,
and/or decisions.
• When the above symptoms exist in a group that is trying to make a decision, there is a
reasonable chance that groupthink will happen, although it is not necessarily so. These
group pressures lead to carelessness and irrational thinking since groups experiencing
groupthink fail to consider all alternatives and seek to maintain unanimity. Decisions
shaped by groupthink have low probability of achieving successful outcomes.
HITLER AND THE HOLOCAUST
• Brainwashing or proper persuasion?
• Using stereotypes as justification 
• Promoting unity, purifying the Aryan
race, national pride and purpose, selfworth, etc.
• Self-justification: describes how, when a
person encounters a situation in which a
person's behavior is inconsistent with their
beliefs, that person tends to justify the
behavior and deny any negative feedback
associated with the behavior.
• Aryan vs. Jew: Sub-human (In-group, Outgroup)
Self-Justification
• A person encounters a situation in which their behavior is
inconsistent with their actual beliefs.
• People then tend to justify the behavior with rationale and
deny any negative feedback associated with the behavior.