The movie “American History X” centers around the life of Derek Vinyard, a young white supremacist, and his brother Danny. The siblings grow up in a suburban area of California, experiencing various ethnic backgrounds and cultural differences. After their firefighter father is fatally shot by a black man, Derek becomes dedicated to white supremacy within their community. Under the influence of Cameron, a prominent leader of white supremacy in southern California, Derek forms a group called the “Skin heads,” which includes Danny. The film follows Derek and Danny as they reflect on the events that have influenced their family’s life. “American History X” explores several social psychological principles such as racism, aggression, violence, conformity/social influence, stereotyping, prejudice, and conformation bias. Throughout many scenes, I observed the recurring themes of conformation bias and stereotyping.
Stereotyping is the adoption of thoughts about certain individuals or ways of doing things, which may or may not accurately reflect reality. Derek, fueled by stereotyping, holds skinhead beliefs against anyone who is not a white protestant. In a scene that illustrates the psychological principle of stereotyping, Derek and his followers invade an Asian-American-run convenient store. Before entering, we observe that Derek and his neo-Nazi “followers” share a similar appearance with their all-black attire, combat boots, and shaved heads. Prior to their entrance, Derek delivers a brief motivational speech in which he claims that immigrants are taking over and wreaking havoc on their community. According to Derek, non-white Protestants are considered lesser beings who occupy space and destroy their community.
The scene in “American History X” accurately reflects social psychological principles. Derek and his neo-Nazi comrades visually display their beliefs through their attire and presentation, clearly identifying themselves as adherents of the “skinhead” stereotype. The viewer can easily categorize them due to their matching clothing and intense animosity towards anyone they perceive as different.
Conformity bias, a major social psychological principle, is recurrently evident in this movie. Conformity bias is when individuals tend to favor information that supports their beliefs or hypotheses. This bias is typically exhibited through selective gathering or recollection of information and biased interpretation. A scene that exemplifies this social psychological principle is the argument between Derek, his girlfriend, and his family, including his mother’s new boyfriend, regarding Rodney King and other current events. Derek firmly believed that the world’s problems were solely caused by non-white Protestants being a part of American society. Instead of considering the facts presented by other family members, Derek only acknowledged information and opinions that aligned with his own views. He even resorted to making outlandish claims solely to reinforce his biased perspective.
The biased opinion one might expect from Derek could be attributed to his association with Cameron’s white supremacist group. However, it becomes evident that Derek’s biases may have originated from his father. In a flashback, Derek and his father engage in a conversation about affirmative action. Derek’s father vehemently opposes affirmative action, fearing that someone less qualified (specifically a black individual) may be tasked with protecting him as a firefighter solely based on their race. He tells Derek that this is unjust and urges him to question topics like affirmative action. This early exposure to his father’s biases towards minorities plants these ideas in Derek’s mind, making them readily available and influencing his perspective.
The final scene illustrating the concept of conformation bias in social psychology occurs when Derek’s father passes away and Derek is interviewed by a local news reporter. During the interview, Derek expresses radical and racist beliefs, suggesting that issues like AIDS and poverty are exclusive to minority communities and not problems within the “white” community. Although the reporter attempts to engage in a rational conversation with Derek and explain how these problems are interconnected with other societal issues, Derek dismisses the reporter’s ideas and reinforces his own biased opinions by using potentially inaccurate information.
Derek and Danny’s lives are significantly impacted in a negative way by conformation bias and stereotyping. These social psychological concepts swiftly infiltrated their minds, transforming them into perpetually angry individuals. The movie illustrates how manipulative individuals like Cameron can effortlessly exploit these concepts to corrupt the minds of children. I am convinced that for children like Danny and Derek, who were already lost after the death of their father, these social psychological concepts can be discretely instilled without their awareness. Nonetheless, the movie effectively conveys that no matter how deeply ingrained these concepts may be in one’s thoughts and beliefs, people always have the potential to alter their perspectives when presented with a better choice for their lives.
