‘Your Jedi mind tricks will not work on me!’

The film ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’, which is currently on general release, tells the story of a fictional division of ‘psychic-warriors’ within the United States (US) military.

Whilst clearly a tongue-in-cheek portrayal, it is evident from the original book that much of the film is based on actual happenings, such as the MK-ULTRA project, or the controversial recent involvement of US military psychologists in interrogation and torture.

Such military involvement in psychology is apparent even within classic social psychological studies such as Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment, which was funded by the US Office of Naval Research.

Whilst the ‘feel-good’ moral of the film is that belief is perhaps more important than any true abilities, such a suggestion can be seen as somewhat more questionable when human lives are at stake.

This is highlighted by the widespread use at military checkpoints within Iraq of a dubious explosives detection device that is accused of working solely “on the same principle as a Ouija board — the power of suggestion”. Although this ‘hi-tech dowsing-rod’ apparently functions effectively for its usual operators, third-parties find themselves unable to replicate this.

Although explainable as a “lack of training”, this can also be viewed as a consequence of ‘expectation bias’, a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. Within experimental psychology the dangers of such a phenomenon were clearly illustrated by Rosenthal, who found that researchers obtained different results for ‘maze-bright’ and ‘maze-dull’ rats, despite these labels having been randomly assigned.

Film review from the Guardian

Book review from the Guardian

Strohmetz, D. B. (2008). Research Artifacts and the Social Psychology of Psychological Experiments

Lord, C. G. & Taylor, C. A. (2009). Biased Assimilation: Effects of Assumptions and Expectations on the Interpretation of New Evidence

‘You are not welcome here’

The science-fiction film ‘District 9′ is currently on cinematic release within the United Kingdom. Based on the short film ‘Alive in Joburg’, this feature film uses documentary style camera work to describe the plight of a large number of extraterrestrials that have become marooned on Earth. Referred to by humans using the derogatory term ‘prawns’, these aliens are confined to a militarised ghetto, where they face prejudice, discrimination, and exploitation.

With the film being set in South Africa, this has obvious parallels with the treatment of the black population during the apartheid era. This has been emphasised by the viral-marketing campaign for the film, which featured ‘humans only’ signs affixed to numerous public facilities, clearly mirroring the ‘whites only’ signs of apartheid. Consequently, the film joins a series of others that have utilised the medium of science-fiction to make social commentary on ‘real-world’ issues.

Rather ironically for an allegory about racism, however, ‘District 9′ has itself been accused of being racist, owing to its unflattering portrayal of Nigerians as gangsters, prostitutes and witch-doctors. This can be seen to follow the common practice of attributing negative characteristics to foreign nationality out-groups.

Whilst a return to the extremes of apartheid may seem unlikely , it is apparent that xenophobia is still prevalent within contemporary society. For example, the ‘Red White and Blue Festival’ of the far-right British National Party (BNP) took place recently only a few miles from my home. Clearly, the BNPs goal of keeping Britain British through the ‘repatriation’ of ethnic minorities has much in common with the ‘District 9′ tag-line of ‘You are not welcome here’.

Official ‘District 9′ website

Film review from the Guardian

Pearson, A. R., Dovidio, J. F. & Gaertner, S. L. (2009). The Nature of Contemporary Prejudice: Insights from Aversive Racism

‘Thinking outside the Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung’

Brüno, the latest work by British comedian Sacha Baron-Cohen, has just achieved the highest-grossing opening weekend for an 18-certificate (i.e. adult-rated) film in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

This ‘mockumentary’ revolves around the reactions of various celebrities and members of the public to Baron-Cohen’s portrayal of the eponymous flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista. Since those involved believed they were dealing with a genuine rather than fictional character, their responses to his outrageously exaggerated portrayal of stereotypical homosexuality provide a satirical comment on the prejudice and hypocrisy present within a supposedly enlightened modern society.

Extreme reactions provoked by the filming led to Baron-Cohen being both threatened with assault and arrested multiple times, as well as facing subsequent legal action. This mirrors the response to his previous controversial film of the same format, in which he played ‘Kazhakhstani’ Borat. Not only did this similarly result in legal action, but the ensuing furore culminated in an international diplomatic incident.

Whilst such films may claim to provide a revealing insight into homophobia, anti-semitism, and the like, they also raise uncomfortable questions for the audience themselves. For example, it is debatable as to whether they are truly viewed by all cinema-goers as a sophisticated piece of social commentary, or whether they simply allow the ‘politically correct’ an opportunity to laugh at otherwise unacceptable stereotypes.

In terms of their technical approach, many of the humorous scenarios featured within these films echo the ‘breach studies’ of ethnomethodologist Garfinkel, which examined the responses of unsuspecting participants to deliberate violations of social norms.

In a further psychological link, Sacha Baron-Cohen is the cousin of Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge.

(And in case you were wondering, ‘Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung’ is German for ‘speed-limit’!)

Brüno’s official MySpace page

Film review from the Guardian

Smith, J. R. & Louis, W. R. (2009). Group Norms and the Attitude–Behaviour Relationship