The Psychology of the Breakfast Club essays

The Psychology of the Breakfast Club essays The Social Psychology of The Breakfast Club: Social psychology is a scientific concept that seeks to explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the presence of others (alleydog.com, 2004). The study of this concept can be traced back to philosophers in Greece; however, social psychology was not recognized as a science until the late 19th century. Triplett began his study of the influence of society on others in 1898, and the first Social Psychology textbooks appeared in 1908 (www.uni.edu/harton, 2004). This concept of psychology became widely accepted and was incorporated in literature and film. In fact, examples of social psychology are pervasive in American film. The movie The Breakfast Club provides many examples of social psychology and how it shapes relationships between people forced to interact. Several examples of social psychology are contained in the movie The Breakfast Club, including in-group bias, scapegoat theory, and social loafing. In-group bias is actually the main theme of the film. Five high school students, each with a stereotypical connotation, are forced to spend a Saturday together in detention. There is Andrew the athlete, Brian the brain, Bender the criminal, Allison the basket case, and Claire the princess. According to David Myers in Psychology, in-group bias is the tendency to favor ones own group. In high schools, students often form cliques-jocks, preppies, stoners, skaters, gangsters, freaks, geeks-and disparage those outside their group (Myers, p. 717). The film is a study of the social psychology that occurs as representatives from five of these groups interact and become a group of their own. Bender, the criminal, is representative of the scapegoat theory. Prejudice may express anger: When things go wrong, finding someone to blame can provide a target, a scapegoat, for ones an ...