12 Angry Men Essay

2143 Words9 Pages
“12 ANGRY MEN”: AN ANALYSIS ON ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR CONCEPTS INTRODUCTION The movie “12 Angry Men (1957)”, a powerful courtroom drama which presents a diverse group of twelve jurors who intensely deliberate the guilt or acquittal of an eighteen year old boy accused of murdering his father on the basis of reasonable doubt. Under the United States’ constitution, whether or not, the accused is found guilty or acquitted, the jury must be unanimous in their decision. The movie exhibits the need for consensus building and possible difficulties encountered as decision-making is built on assumptions. The final decision of the jurors is vital as a person’s life is dependent on it. It is phenomenal how a movie with a running time of just 96 minutes…show more content…
1957). Juror no. 2 illustrated the cognitive dissonance theory as he tried to reduce his inner conflict whenever possible. He was a juror who exclaimed at 1:28:27 “you can’t send someone off to die on evidence like that!”. This concept also could relate to the behaviour of Juror no. 3 as he was estranged from his son and the negative and irrational acceptance that a reasonable doubt existed originated from his last fight with his son. It wasn’t until the end when he breaks down and changes the final vote as not guilty. The decision is made by reflecting the term ‘beyond the reasonable doubt’ which means “if the decision maker perceives that the probability the defendant committed the crime as charged (based on the evidence) is equal or greater than their interpretation of beyond the reasonable doubt, then he/she will decide to convict. Otherwise, the decision maker will acquit the defendant” as mentioned in the research by the University of Cambridge, Institute of

More about 12 Angry Men Essay

Open Document