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Psychology In The Movie Heathers

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The film Heathers follows a teen getting caught up in what she at first thinks as the downfalls of everyday high school, until she meets a boy who shows her a much darker perspective. The film takes you on a wild ride through characters who suffer from antisocial personality disorders to social traps of how one acts around others. Through the characters JD and Veronica, a wide range of psychology is displayed. From his lack of empathy and moral character, JD shows signs of an extreme case of antisocial personality disorder. He exhibits majority of the characteristics as the movie’s plot unfolds. Throughout the movie, he is continuously lying to Veronica, his love interest. He convinces her to kill many of their classmates and sees it as though …show more content…

In the beginning her “friends” convince her to fake a love letter supposedly coming from a jock to less popular girl. In fear of her being ostracized and being different from the popular girls she caves in and writers the letter. Her friends fall into the evils of groupthink as they do terrible things and see little repercussion in their actions. None of them feel personally responsible as they continue to dish out awful things. Veronica and her friends all go along with whatever one of them says due to their fear of nonconformity and what may happen if they break from the pack. Just like psychologist Seligman’s dogs who learned helplessness made them give up when repeatedly shocked, Veronica too gives up for most of the movie against her boyfriend who keeps killing. She feels almost powerless against him which leads her to get wrapped up into the murder of two of the popular football players. Psychology can be seen in every movie. Heathers gives us prime examples from showing us the everyday act of conformity in high school to the darker side of people suffering from very serious personality disorders. All of the actions and motivations of the high schoolers were driven by the many aspects of

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