Analyzing Schindler’s List Through Social Psychology
Brandi Douglas
Mid America Christian University
Analyzing Schindler’s List Through Social Psychology
In Stephen Spielberg’s 1993 movie Schindler’s List, businessman and factory owner Oskar Schindler is concerned with both the welfare of his business as well as the workforce he employs of primarily Jewish people after witnessing their persecution by the German’s during the German’s occupation of Poland amid World War II. This real-life story of Oskar Schindler, who is credited with saving over twelve hundred Jewish people from concentration camps (Staff, 2016), contains themes pertaining to Social Psychology. Among these themes are prejudice and discrimination, conformity …show more content…
Prejudice is defined as “a hostile or negative attitude toward people in a distinguishable group based solely on their membership in that group; it contains cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components” (Aronson, Wilson, Akert, Sommers, 2016). The cognitive component of prejudice is evidenced in the basic classification of Jewish people as a lower class of citizens by the Nazi regime. The emotional component can be witnessed throughout the film where we see members of the Nazi regime aloof to the plight of the Jews and at times scoffing at their misery. This line of thinking eventually progressed to the point of dehumanizing the Jews as a people all together. In the case of the Holocaust, prejudices eventually led to discrimination which can be considered the behavioral component. The dehumanization of the Jews is portrayed in various scenes such as the overcrowding conditions of the ghettos and in the train cars where the Jews are shown to be in dire and perilous conditions. Discrimination is defined as “unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group solely because of his or her membership in that group” (Aronson, Wilson, Akert, Sommers, 2016). It is important to note the progressive movement from prejudice to discrimination that developed during the years leading up to mass …show more content…
Here we see the turning point for Schindler where he seems to feel sorrowful and now views the Jews with humanity and compassion. He resolves to help the Jews by using his factory as a means to rescue them rather than a means to exploit them for his personal gain. It is important to note two elements that would define Schindler’s type of helping as purely altruistic. For one, the Jews were a not in Schindler’s ingroup, meaning he did not identify with them. Secondly, according to the empathy-altruism hypothesis which states, “the idea that when we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help that person for purely altruistic reasons, regardless of what we have to gain” (Aronson, Wilson, Akert, Sommers, 2016). Schindler was so moved that he sacrificed his own resources in order to save the Jews which could do nothing to repay him. Furthermore, Schindler knew that while he sought to help the Jews escape persecution, he was walking a tight rope of deception and manipulation which would result in his own destruction if suspected by any of the Nazi members with whom he surrounded himself
Brandi Douglas
Mid America Christian University
Analyzing Schindler’s List Through Social Psychology
In Stephen Spielberg’s 1993 movie Schindler’s List, businessman and factory owner Oskar Schindler is concerned with both the welfare of his business as well as the workforce he employs of primarily Jewish people after witnessing their persecution by the German’s during the German’s occupation of Poland amid World War II. This real-life story of Oskar Schindler, who is credited with saving over twelve hundred Jewish people from concentration camps (Staff, 2016), contains themes pertaining to Social Psychology. Among these themes are prejudice and discrimination, conformity …show more content…
Prejudice is defined as “a hostile or negative attitude toward people in a distinguishable group based solely on their membership in that group; it contains cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components” (Aronson, Wilson, Akert, Sommers, 2016). The cognitive component of prejudice is evidenced in the basic classification of Jewish people as a lower class of citizens by the Nazi regime. The emotional component can be witnessed throughout the film where we see members of the Nazi regime aloof to the plight of the Jews and at times scoffing at their misery. This line of thinking eventually progressed to the point of dehumanizing the Jews as a people all together. In the case of the Holocaust, prejudices eventually led to discrimination which can be considered the behavioral component. The dehumanization of the Jews is portrayed in various scenes such as the overcrowding conditions of the ghettos and in the train cars where the Jews are shown to be in dire and perilous conditions. Discrimination is defined as “unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group solely because of his or her membership in that group” (Aronson, Wilson, Akert, Sommers, 2016). It is important to note the progressive movement from prejudice to discrimination that developed during the years leading up to mass …show more content…
Here we see the turning point for Schindler where he seems to feel sorrowful and now views the Jews with humanity and compassion. He resolves to help the Jews by using his factory as a means to rescue them rather than a means to exploit them for his personal gain. It is important to note two elements that would define Schindler’s type of helping as purely altruistic. For one, the Jews were a not in Schindler’s ingroup, meaning he did not identify with them. Secondly, according to the empathy-altruism hypothesis which states, “the idea that when we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help that person for purely altruistic reasons, regardless of what we have to gain” (Aronson, Wilson, Akert, Sommers, 2016). Schindler was so moved that he sacrificed his own resources in order to save the Jews which could do nothing to repay him. Furthermore, Schindler knew that while he sought to help the Jews escape persecution, he was walking a tight rope of deception and manipulation which would result in his own destruction if suspected by any of the Nazi members with whom he surrounded himself