Social Psychology in the Courtroom

Social Psychology in the Courtroom

Social psychology can manifest in the courtroom in the way people’s emotions are influenced by a case. It is important to note that social psychology involves studying people’s thoughts, behaviors, and feelings. The movie that depicts social psychology in the courtroom is called Just Mercy, directed by Destin Daniel (Daniel, 2019). The film is based on a true story about a lawyer, Stevenson, who is concerned about people on death row. While visiting these individuals, he encounters an inmate called McMillan, who is sentenced to death. However, after going through his case files, he finds out that there were inconsistencies that show that he was unjustly sentenced to death.

The section of the movie that will be analyzed is the event in the courtroom when McMillan is cleared of all charges and set free. The characters of interest in this case are Chapman, Stevenson, McMillan, and the people in the courtroom. Social psychology manifests in how people react when the case is taking place and especially when McMillan is given his freedom (Augoustinos, Walker & Donaghue, 2014). The joy on the people’s faces shows how important that case was to McMillan and others. The same pleasure is seen in the face of the attorney, Stevenson.

Conclusively, social identity theory is a social psychology theory that can be used to analyze this movie’s events. This theory explains that people judge themselves based on their social groups (Wilson, 2022). This is evident in the case because McMillan believes he will likely lose the case and is ready to die. The same applies to Stevenson, who is working hard to help the African American who is unjustly sentenced to death. All these people act in this way because they know that the justice system in society is unfair to African Americans.

References

Augoustinos, M., Walker, I., & Donaghue, N. (2014). Social Cognition: An Integrated      Introduction. United Kingdom: SAGE Publications.

Daniel, D. (2019) Just Mercy. Endeavor Content One Community. Retrieved from             https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4916630/

Wilson T. D. (2022). What is social psychology? The construal principle. Psychological Review, 129(4), 873–889. https://doi.org/10.1037/

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Instructions
Observation Techniques: Film Analysis
This week, you will analyze a three- to five-minute segment of a movie or a television episode depicting social psychology in the courtroom.

Social Psychology in the Courtroom

After watching the movie segment, create a three- to four-page report on your analysis. In your report:

Mention the name of the movie.
Describe the setting and overall storyline of the movie.
Describe the main characters in the observed movie section.
Describe the situation in which you analyzed and interpreted the actions of the characters depicting social psychology in the courtroom.
Draw conclusions based on social psychological concepts and theories.