Module 5 Case Assignment: Social Psychology: Group Identity and

Group Dynamics
Dr. Seuss described The Grinch in his poem as a creature who
despised Christmas. As opposed to everyone down in Whoville who liked
Christmas a lot, the Grinch hated Christmas, and the reason for it was not
thoroughly revealed in said poem. However, it cited superficial things that
might have affected his views on Christmas, such as speculations about how
his head wasnt screwed on quite right, or that maybe his shoes were too
tight, or it may have been that his heart was two sizes too small. Just as
much as how his hatred for Christmas was not explained in the poem, his
change of heart about it at the end of the poem was not explained in detail
too. The 2000 film, however, of How The Grinch Stole Christmas provided
me of a different perspective and point of view with regard to his life, which
also allowed me, in the process, to have an in depth analysis of his behavior
applying Social Psychology in the process.
Looking at how his behavior and attitude formed, it was quite clear
that how he was treated by the people around him highly influenced said
attitude and behavior. It was very evident at the start of the movie that he
was not that devious, cunning and cruel when he was still a child. He longed
for the attention and love of people around him. He wanted to belong, make
friends and undergo school life as normal as possible. This behavior,
however, changed as he grew up because as depicted in the movie as well
as in the poem, The Grinch was described as a creature which insinuates
the massive difference of appearance between him and the other people
around him. This led to him being bullied at school and being ridiculed and
teased by his classmates.
As stated multiple times earlier, the events that transpired in The
Grinchs early childhood led him to loathe Christmas. However, taking into
consideration everything and scrutinizing every aspect of his early years,
such anger toward Christmas was unwarranted. Yes, he may have had the
right to be angry at the people of Whoville and his classmates because of
their propensity to bully him and pick on him merely because of his
appearance. But Christmas per se had nothing to do with that anger. There
was no reason for him to hate Christmas. The only thing warranting such
hatred is that his traumatic experience in the face of his classmates
particularly the time when they all laughed at him for having too many
shaving tapes in his face happened during Christmas. And that was not
good enough a reason to host such amount of hatred in him.
His experiences early in life were what drove him to the point of
despising everything about Christmas. In applying Social Psychology, it is
clear that his attitudes and behavior were results of the Mere Exposure
Effect. Under this principle, the more someone is exposed to an attitude,
the more that person will like it. In the same manner, I believe that it is
true in the opposite sense. Since the Grinch was exposed to antagonistic
behavior early on in life, especially by the people around him, that was the
main factor that influenced his attitude of hating Christmas and everyone
around him, too.
At the end of the film, as well as the poem, when The Grinch
witnessed that stealing all the things that represented Christmas from the
people of Whoville did not break their Christmas Spirit, he soon realized that
he was clearly wrong about his opinion that people only celebrated
Christmas because they liked material things. Seeing them singing hand in
hand even with the complete lack of material gifts and Christmas trees
showed him the deeper meaning of Christmas. Borrowing the lines of Dr.
Seuss great poem, Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesnt come from a
store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. It was also
depicted in that poem that his small heart grew three sizes that day. Such
change in behavior can easily be explained by the Attribution theory.
In social psychology, attribution is the process of inferring the causes of
events or behaviors. (Cherry, 2013) In applying the Attribution theory to the
situation, I believe that The Grinchs change of heart can both be attributed
to factors within himself, as well as factors produced by the situation.
In attribution, we often justify our behavior and attitude to the
external factors as well characteristics that we, ourselves possess. For
example, if a person gets a failing grade in a class, he would probably
attribute it to his lack of determination to study, and blame himself, or he
can also blame the professor for not being able to convey, teach and
communicate well with the students with respect to the subject that hes
teaching. This is true in the case of The Grinch. When the Grinch saw that
the Christmas spirit had not wavered even though as he stole all the gifts
and everything else that represented Christmas from the people of Whoville,
he realized that clearly, his own attitude toward the whole situation was
wrong. He realized that he should have never hated Christmas because it
was much more than just material things. Furthermore, accompanied by
that realization within himself, external factors also affected such change in
attitude. The film showed that he was befriended by a certain girl, and that
girl went to lengths and even climbed up the mountain just so she could
spend Christmas with the Grinch. That little act of acceptance from the girl
made a huge shift in The Grinchs attitude. Furthermore, as stated earlier, it
can also be attributed to the Mere Exposure Effect. When he realized that
he was finally accepted by the community of Whoville, he was then exposed
to how they really celebrate Christmas. Aside from that, he really saw what
Christmas was really about because even though the people of Whoville
didnt have any gifts or any representation of Christmas, they still celebrated
Christmas joyfully, clearly showing that material things is not a factor and
Christmas in itself, even the absence of said material things is something to
celebrate about.
References:
Cherry, K. (2013). Attribution: how we explain behavior. About.com.
Retrieved on January 21, 2014, from
http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/a/attribution.htm

Howard, R. (Producer/Director), & Price, J., & Seaman, P. (Screenplay).
(2000). The grinch. [Motion Picture]. United States: Universal Pictures

Sisman, C. (2010). Social psychology (chapter). Retrieved on January 21,
2014 from
http://www.cybersisman.com/psychap/finalexam/socialpsych.pdf