Social judgment revolves around the idea of viewpoints in a social environment. Many times, people think of themselves as taking an objective view on an issue. However, Muzafer Sherif argues that there is a line of latitude that affects a person's bias. This bias is illustrated in the old version of the movie, 12 Angry Men. In this movie, twelve members of a jury are deciding a murder case. A boy is on trial for killing his father. Many different characters are represented as well as many different viewpoints.
In this paper, each of these character's viewpoints will be examined through the levels of latitude. Three levels could be taken that would effect the position they held, which include: latitude of rejection, non commitment, and acceptance (Griffin, 180). Also, the level of ego-involvement will be examined because it describes why each character reacts a certain way to each of the findings about the case.
In the beginning, the group voted to see where everyone stands on the trial. The first vote totaled eleven guilty and one not guilty. Every one had their own reason for wanting to convict the boy but most took those reasons from the surface information they received in the courtroom. This displays a high level of acceptance for most information that the jurors received in the courtroom, which means that they were all willing to accept the surface information.
Since one man voted not guilty on the first vote, the foreman went around the table to get explanations from each of the jurors as to why they voted guilty. No one really had substantial reasons, so the tables turned on the one man that voted not guilty. This man was the architect wearing the white suit. He stood alone in the vote but felt that he was justified in looking closer into the evidence. His decision to vote not guilty weighed heavily in the latitude of rejection. The architect did not agree that it was as simple as the rest of the jurors made it out to be.
