This is the homework of the professional class hhhhh it's not easy to shrink it down to one page!
"Death Experiment" is a film based on the famous Stanford Prison Experiment. In addition to analyzing the psychological effects of social roles and cognitive anomie, power and obedience, and conformity psychology from the perspective of the "prisoner-prisoner" antagonistic relationship, the role of "prisoner leader" Bruce also attracted my attention. Notice:
A man who initially befriended Travis (later "Prisoner" 77) slowly became the one who hurt Travis the most. Why? Why did Brees, who seemed the most generous at first, end up being the biggest perpetrator in the whole experiment? Is such a "reversal" due to the "social role" that the experiment gave Bresse, or was it caused by Bresse's own character traits?
First of all, in the evaluation system in the "worldly" sense, Brees is a less "successful" person. From the details scattered throughout the film, we can piece together the social image of Bres: 42 years old, unmarried, living with his mother; mother and son are dependent on each other, but the mother will repeatedly call him when urging Brees to close the window. "chickenshit", it can be seen that the mother is not gentle and generous, and Bryce did not get gentle maternal love at the age of 42; outside the family, Bryce is often frustrated - he will be in suits and leather shoes when interviewing (it shows that he should He has many experiences of job hunting and job refusal), and he also actively greets and introduces himself to strangers outside the interview site (indicating that he should be familiar with "introducing himself" to make contacts in order to obtain more resources), These behaviors just show that he is not very successful in the workplace; his financial situation is not very good, because he has no more ways to raise his mother's medical expenses other than participating in experiments.
All of the above have jointly shaped Bruce's "low self-esteem personality". People with low self-esteem are at greater risk for depression, substance abuse, and various forms of behavioral negligence, and are prone to extreme ways of protecting themselves from setbacks and pressures (i.e., "self-esteem threats"). Even responding to threats to self-esteem by suppressing others or other violent ways, compensate for wounded self-esteem with acts of revenge.
Therefore, in the film, we see that the role of "prison guard" brings great joy and pleasure to Bryce. In reality, he has been frustrated for a long time in this identity and tastes the taste of power like never before. He was deeply involved, feeling superior to others, feeling that the "prisoners" had to submit to him. And the long-standing repression in reality will make Bryce cherish the power and power brought by this identity even more.
Cooley believes that "self-concept" is a kind of "mirror self", and people's cognition of themselves is based on the "reflexive evaluation" of others, that is, to confirm their social identity by observing the reactions of others to themselves; at the same time, " There is also an important "self-referential effect" in self-concept" - people tend to see themselves as the core of the world - and because of this, when individuals feel offended, they will have a strong stress response, sometimes also Will take various measures to maintain their image in the eyes of others.
So, when the prisoners, led by Travis, rebelled against the "authority" of the prison guards, Brees felt that his identity and dignity were offended in their reflexive evaluation. Therefore, Brees chooses to use violence to suppress the prisoners (especially Travis), hoping to restore his authority and self-esteem. Of course, this choice is also inseparable from his low self-esteem personality.
In this role-playing experiment, it was the first time that Bryce spoke loudly and confidently, the first time that he practiced violence unscrupulously, and the first time that he felt the pleasure of being in power and being superior to others. His perception of himself is also affected by the "recency effect" . In his previous life, Brees was a "loser", but in less than a week, the experiment reshaped his perception of himself: he felt that he was the controller of the prisoners, that he had power and authority On the one hand, he does not want to live the life of being bullied and neglected in the past, on the other hand, he is greedy for the pleasure of being a "prison guard". It is also in this strong contrast that at first he seemed to be introverted and kind, and finally he became the person who fell most deeply into the status of "prison guard".
The role of Bryce also reminds us that people who have been in trouble and frustration for a long time in reality are more likely to have anti-social personality, and the "victims" at the bottom of the society may also become new "violators".
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