Primal Fear

Primal Fear is a movie about the murder of Archbishop Rushman and trial of the suspect, Aaron Stampler, who was one of his altar boys. Although the hard evidence and basically every piece of information from the crime points towards Stampler's guilt, a defense attorney, Martin Vail, takes the case fighting against the prosecutor, Janet Venable, for the young man's innocence. Vail originally took the case out of curiosity, but much to his surprise, he actually comes to believe that Aaron was not the one responsible because he seems so timid, polite, and harmless. Believing that one is innocent until proven guilty, Vail goes to court with the mindset that all he needs is one person to believe Stampler is innocent, or at least question is guilt. Before going into court, Vail strategizes by instructing Stampler not to speak and to just sit there looking pitiful. This was their most basic psychological attempt to influence the jurors emotionally and cognitively by literally appearing innocent; little did Vail know that that game plan was what Stampler had up his sleeve all along. Another psychological aspect between the client and lawyer involved the revelation that Stampler had been sexually abused. Between discussions with Vail and the psychologist as well as discovery of sex tapes, they concluded that Stampler was insane, a sociopath with multiple personality disorder who became "Roy" in times of frustration or anger.

Vail had to consult his two assistants to discuss how to still fight the case despite this newfound information. Knowing that he couldn't change his plea during the trial, Vail weighs the cost verses benefit of introducing the tapes to make the Archbishop's pedophilia known while giving the jurors reason to extend sympathy towards his abused client who would unfortunately have a motive now, which is why Vail is unsure of how to use the information. The psychologist offers to testify in court and explain the biopsychology involved in his memory lapse between shifting personalities, but Vail refuses to change his innocence plea. Eventually, Vail uses reverse psychology on Janet Venable by giving her the tapes which leads her to question Stampler on the podium who then undergoes the transformation to the violent personality of "Roy," both revealing and proving his insanity and dismissing the charges for the crimes. The way Vail used social psychology to manipulate the prosecutor was only possible because they had a history of a previous business and romantic relationship prior to this case.

The twist at the end comes when Stampler slips up at the end of the conversation and Vail immediately puts two-and-two together that he was faking the multiple personality disorder. Stampler fooled everyone- his lawyer, the prosecutor, the judge and jury, and the psychologist. He might not have multiple personality disorder, but he definitely has some mental disorder & needs work with a clinical psychologist. Even though the way he manipulated & tricked everyone was sick and cruel, Stampler certainly understands social psychology & how to influence people to get his desired outcome. What's unfortunate is that Vail does the work he does because he believes that people are innately good and that even good people can do some really bad things. This belief and reason for working is clearly set back by this experience handling Aaron Stampler's case.

terms: multiple personality disorder, pedophilia, biopsychology, memory lapse, reverse psychology, cognition & emotion, insanity, social psychology, manipulation, clinical psychology & mental disorders

Primal Fear tells the story of a murder mystery while focusing on the relationship between client and councilor. The story follows the murder of an archbishop with the suspect of a young alter boy, Aaron Stampler. The movie starts out with the crime scene and immediately takes Aaron into custody. Aaron is then approached by Martin who then defends him. This movie opened my eyes to the development of a case and each aspect.

One of the main ideas from the movie that intrigues me is the psychological state of Aaron. As a lawyer Martin introduced the idea of pleading the fifth by stating that his client cannot respond until psychological analysis. He plead the fifth to avoid incrimination. As a viewer this opened my eyes to the idea of competency to stand trial. Aaron was never turned onto the idea of not being competent to stand trial until the court process had begun, and the movie made it clear that you cannot change your argument during a case. It is hard to see Aaron has incompetent because he clearly understands the following; current legal situation, charges, pleas available, roles, communication, act appropriately during trail and some other things that lead us to believe he is competent. However, he continues to state that he does not remember the incident and other main events. The judge in this movie also plays a large role. Because she saw the event during the court process she is lead to be more than 50% certain that he is incompetent. The movie also shows Aaron's evaluations with an expert. During this evaluation the expert sought out a disorder that would characterize Aaron as incompetent, multiple personalities disorder. During the court case the expert testified to her findings, however, that aspect of the case got thrown out. It did raise the bona fide doubt.The textbook also states that two or more experts have to testify in that area to prove incompetency. I also find it interesting that there is no standard for deciding competency to stand trial. At the end of the movie the viewers then find out that Aaron was malingering. Although, you do find out that the entire movie was based on a lie it still gave great insight on insanity and the competency to stand trial.

Overall this movie was a great example of a court process dealing with insanity and competency. I learned more from this movie then the others we have watched in class. Martin opened my eyes to defending and the fact that he has to continue to defend to the best of his abilities not knowing the guilty or not guilty aspect. Aaron in the end was faking it but when it breaks down it only depends on his state when the crime was committed. He prove specific intent. He was found not guilty with a thirty day review. This movie made me want to further learn about the review process and if the trial will be tried again. It also made me want to look into the idea of law school.

Key Terms: Case, suspect, psychological analysis, competency, expert, testify, bona fide doubt, malingering,psychological state, crime, specific intent,

This was the first time I had gotten the opportunity to watch Primal Fear, and I thought that it was a pretty good movie and that it did a decent job portraying both elements of psychology and of law.

Throughout the movie, there are many psychological principles that are operating and at work both inside the courtroom and out. One of the main psychological concepts brought forth was the defendant, Aaron Stampler’s, state of mind. Martin Vail, the defense attorney, told the court at the beginning of the trial that he wanted more time to have a psychiatric evaluation for Aaron to ensure that he was competent to stand trial and that he was mentally stable. He wanted this evaluation to happen because Aaron told him that he has blackouts every so often where he doesn’t remember anything that happened during that portion of time. He could be suffering from amnesia, but Vail wanted a professional to take a closer look.

While a neuropsychologist held a cognitive interview with Aaron, she found that he had multiple personality disorder, which is called dissociative identity disorder today. Aaron himself seemed to be a timid boy with a severe stutter. He seemed innocent and it appeared as though he did not commit the crime and that he could not possibly be a suspect for this case. Aaron’s alter ego, Roy, on the other hand, confessed to killing the archbishop, which makes him the perpetrator. Roy was tough and strong and even sometimes violent. Therefore, despite all of the hard evidence that the prosecution had, such as the matching DNA and the footprints, Aaron was able to get off on an insanity plea because he made the transition between his two different selves in the courtroom during trial. He showed everyone that Aaron could not have possibly killed the archbishop, but that Roy definitely could have.

Something interesting that has to do with psychology is that Aaron’s dissociative identity disorder could have stemmed from his past. Aaron told Vail that his mother was dead, his father was not a nice man, he didn’t have any money, and then we also knew that the archbishop sexually abused him. The sexual abuse, on top of everything else, could have been a traumatic enough event to spur the creation of another self, or an alter ego. Whereas Aaron was quiet, shy, and sweet, Roy was able to stand up to anything and anyone. It would make sense for his alter ego to be everything that he is not in real life.

At the end of the movie, though, we found out that Aaron was guilty of malingering. Malingering means to fake or exaggerate psychological problems so that the trier of fact might find a defendant insane. It was only after the trial was over and Aaron was found insane that Vail discovered his malingering behavior. During this portion of the movie, Aaron admitted that he killed his girlfriend Linda as well as the archbishop. Since the trial was over, though, there was nothing that Vail could do. Aaron tricked him, as well as the entire courtroom, into believing that he was insane.

There were also many psychological principles operating in the relationships between lawyers and their clients throughout the movie. At the beginning, we saw Vail meeting with a client that he previously had in a bar. You see him having a drink with him, sharing music, and talking to him like they are good friends. Vail states in the movie that he is a friend to some of his clients, which kind of struck me as odd because I didn’t really think that lawyers would form relationships and bonds with the people that they are working for. When he began defending Aaron Stampler, Vail let Aaron know that he could not talk to anyone else without his permission and that from this point on he would be like his mother, his father, his best friend, and his priest. This made it clear that there would be a ton of communication and disclosure between Aaron and Vail.

Also, I paid special attention to the rationales and justifications that the attorneys gave to themselves and to others about why they do the jobs that they do. For example, there was a reporter that was doing a story on Vail, and he was asking him about why he does what he does. Vail first replied by saying that he doesn’t go to Vegas because he’d much rather gamble with people’s lives than with money. He says that he is only joking, but that the money and the publicity that he gets is definitely a bonus to the job. But, his real reason for doing what he does is that he believes in the notion that people are innocent until proven guilty. He said that bad people do not commit every crime and that humans have an innate goodness. Vail works for the defense, obviously, so a lot of people think that he works for clients who are “scumbags” and should not be given a fair trial. Hearing his reasoning for why he defends these people, though, makes a whole lot of sense to me.

All in all, Primal Fear was able to tie in many psychological concepts with ideas about the law, and it made for a very interesting and informational movie to watch. I am excited to move forward and learn more!

Terms: defendant, defense attorney, court, trial, psychiatric evaluation, competent to stand trial, amnesia, neuropsychologist, cognitive interview, multiple personality disorder, dissociative identity disorder, suspect, alter ego, perpetrator, hard evidence, matching DNA, insanity, plea, malingering, courtroom, lawyer, client, innocent, guilty, crime, prosecution

This was the first time that I had seen Primal Fear, and I must say that it was an excellent movie. I really enjoyed the twist at the end but I also enjoyed the fact that this movie did a really good job of tying psychology and law together in an interesting way.

Primal Fear portrayed several psychological concepts; however, the most prominent was how clinical psychology plays a role in law. Aaron Stampler, the defendant, is on trial for allegedly killing the arch bishop but Stamens claims that he blacked out during the murder and does not remember anything. Martin Vail, Aaron’s lawyer, decides to have Aaron evaluated to determine if amnesia was a viable case and whether Aaron was telling the truth. Vail uses a neurological psychologist to evaluate Aaron’s state of mind and whether he had reoccurring black outs. The psychologist determined that he has multiple personalities and suffers from multiple personality disorder or as it is known now, dissociative identity disorder. This mental illness played a major role in how Vail conducted his case and how he perceived his client. After Vail determined that Aaron had dissociative identity disorder, he felt as though Aaron did not deserve to go to jail but rather needed to be sent to a hospital where he could receive help. Clinical psychology plays a large role in law as is shown in this movie. It is not uncommon in trial cases that involve murder that suspects or defendants are psychologically evaluated to determine not only if they are competent to stand trial, but if they were in a sane state of mind at the time of the crime. Although Aaron is lucky enough to have the charges changed and is able to receive an insanity plea, we eventually find that he had been lying about his illness. Falsifying his mental illness in order to escape prison makes Aaron a malingerer. Aaron used his knowledge of dissociative identity disorder to trick Martin, Molly and eventually Janet. His lying allowed him to avoid receiving the death penalty and instead he received a month for psychiatric evaluation.

The relationships in Primal Fear between the two lawyers and also the lawyers and their clients are complicated and many of the relationships are built on self-interest. Martin Vail decides to represent Aaron Stampler in his trial because he believes that it will be positive publicity for his career. Vail also reveals to a journalist that he chooses to defend defendants because the job pays well and comes with fame. Vail’s relationship with his clients is used for personal gain; he remains friends with his high profile clients due to their status in society. However, after working with Aaron for a period of time and starting to feel attachment to the boy he feels is innocent, he then reveals that he defends the clients that he does because he truly believes that people are innocent until proven guilty and that every person has some good in them.

Martin Vail and Janet Venable’s relationship is very strained due to their past romantic history. There is also the fact that Janet is fighting to keep her job and Vail is alright with her losing it in order for him to win his case. Martin Vail uses reverse psychology, or manipulation, on Janet Venable in order for Aaron to be able to demonstrate his alleged dissociative identity disorder. Vail uses reverse psychology to win the trial and show that Aaron was insane at the expense of Janet’s career and consequently almost her life. Although Vail does care for Janet, his success and fame is more important to him.

Janet Venable justifies her actions during this case because her job and quality of life were at stake. Janet having a job relied on her being able to close and win the Stampler case. The pressure put on Janet during this case causes her to become intense in her pursuit of “justice”. Janet gives into the request of her boss during the trial, although she feels some of the decisions he made were wrong, in order to prove to him that she cared about her job and she was willing to do anything to win the case.

Overall, I feel that Primal Fear did a good job representing how psychology and the legal system are intertwined and how these two concepts can be dependent on one another. I really enjoyed watching this movie, and I feel that this is the best movie that we have seen so far in terms of both entertainment and content.

Terms: clinical psychology, defendant, amnesia, neurological psychologist, multiple personality disorder, dissociative identity disorder, mental illness, suspect, competency, psychiatric evaluation, insanity, malingerer, reverse psychology

Primal Fear is a fascinating movie. Martin Vail is a lawyer that exploits the smallest details of the justice system to aid in his cases. He takes on the case of Aaron Stampler believing that he can do the same with this case and receive even more notoriety at the case’s conclusion. Vail also takes it because he believes that all he has to do is give the jury enough doubt that they won’t be able to consider him guilty beyond reasonable doubt as is necessary for first degree murder cases. At first, it seems like a normal case. However, the psychiatrist Vail hires begins to notice another side of Aaron Stampler.

Aaron is a quiet, “boy scout-looking” young man. At the beginning of the trial, Vail has Aaron not even respond to the question of whether or not he understands the charges being brought against him. Vail does this since he does not know Aaron very well yet and he does not want to inadvertently exclude any possibilities, such as Aaron’s mental stability. The judge, however, declines Vail’s request to have Aaron evaluated by a psychiatrist before pleading. Vail does have Aaron plead not guilty. The main reason Vail has Aaron meet with the psychiatrist is to determine if he is competent to stand trial. When the psychiatrist first meets with Aaron, she does not see reason for Aaron to not be considered competent, thus the trial continues.

Aaron meets with a psychiatrist. After she pushes Aaron too far, we meet Roy. This leads the psychiatrist to believe that Aaron has multiple personality disorder. Her belief is solidified when she witnesses an encounter between Vail and Roy and his transition back to Aaron. Initially, the psychiatrist believed that the black-outs Aaron experiences were due to some other cause. However, once she met Roy, she discovered that the black-outs were whenever Roy was the dominant personality.

The discovery of Aaron’s multiple personality disorder created legal issues for Vail. Vail already had Aaron plead not guilty. He did not plead ‘not guilty by reason of insanity.’ This meant that Vail needed to prove Aaron’s multiple personality disorder was severe enough for him to not be able to recollect the murder. Vail tries to get the psychiatrist to explain Aaron’s insanity so that Aaron will not be eligible for the death penalty. However, there is technically no relevance to the case when discussing his insanity. Thus, Vail has Roy come out in the courtroom and this proves his insanity.

The judge declares a bench trial and determines that he will go to a mental hospital for a brief period of time and declares him not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI). The prosecution probably would have been more satisfied had Aaron been declared guilty but mentally ill (GBMI). However, at the time of our textbook’s publication, GBMI is only permitted in thirteen states. In this case, individuals go to prison for a period but receive treatment during this time.

At the end of the movie, we discover that Aaron was malingering. Malingering is faking a psychological disorder so that you may receive the not guilty by reason of insanity decision. The “Hillside Strangler” pretended having multiple personality disorder so that he would be declared insane. However, a hypnosis expert discovered that he was faking it. Unfortunately, in the case of Aaron and Roy, it was not discovered until after the court proceedings had ended.

One final point is the use of the psychiatrist in the film. Towards the end of the film, Molly, the psychiatrist, is placed on the stand. She gives her expert opinion on Aaron’s mental stability. However, when she was cross-examined by Janet, it is determined that Molly’s primary area of focus is neuropsychology. Janet uses this fact to give the jury the impression that Molly is not qualified to be making a judgment on whether or not Aaron has multiple personality disorder.

Terms Used: Psychiatrist, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, First Degree Murder, Charges, Not Guilty, Competent, Trial, Multiple Personality Disorder, Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, Insanity, Guilty but Mentally Ill, Malingering, Expert Witness, Cross-Examination, Neuropsychology

Primal Fear was a great movie to represent both aspects of psychology and law portrayed throughout the entirety of the movie.

Psychological Principles Operating in the Court Room:

- Defense and Prosecution both use the use of SOCIAL influence to try to persuade the judge and/or jury to see and understand their views on the actions of the crime that was committed.

- PERCEPTION is played on by showing the murder weapon (the knife), as well as, all other evidence in providing a visual that helps elicit some type of emotional connection within the people of the court.

- The witnesses called to the stand, whether they are law enforcement or expert witnesses; draw on the psychological principle of SENSATION when speaking of their detection of the stimuli within the crime scene environment and/or event.

- The CLINICAL principle of psychology is evident when discussing Aaron’s mental illness, his multiple personality Roy.

- The psychological principle of PERSONALITY is evident in both lawyers, prosecution and defense. In order to be good at what they do, both Martin and Janet have to show a strong personality in order to bear the beating that they put on each other in the court room, as well as, a personality that portrays confidence in their statements in order to make them believable to the court.
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Psychological Principles Operating in the Relationship between Lawyers:

- The psychological principle of SOCIAL is seen in the court room between the lawyers in that they influence each other by trying to weaken each other’s cases by trying to poke holes in the opponents’ case.

- The psychological principle of PERSONALITY is seen in the court room between the lawyers in that both are confident and strong in their missions which leads to the competitiveness and drive to win the case.
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Psychological Principles Operating in the Relationship between Martin and Aaron:

- The psychological principle of PERCEPTION is evident in the way that Martin tries to get Aaron to talk about certain events, as well as, people and how exactly Aaron perceives them.

- The psychological principle of COGNITIVE is taken into play when Martin learns about Aaron’s mental condition and how he plays off of this in order to better understand Aaron and Roy in order to fully represent Aaron in court.

- The psychological principle of SOCIAL is evident in Martin and Aaron’s relationship in that Martin influences Aaron to open up and talk about certain elements of the crime in order to fully understand Aaron’s frame of mind and get information from him in order to better represent him in court.
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Why Martin Vail Says He Does What He Does:

- Martin states that he does the job that he does, because he believes in the notion that people are innocent until proven guilty. He believes that not all crime is done by bad people, and that some very bad people do very bad things. Martin talked of how he believed in the basic goodness of people.
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Why Janet Says She Does What She Does:

- She stated that she is doing the job that she is doing merely because it was assigned to her.

One thing I would like to say this is the best movie for psychology and law class I have seen. I have seen just a few parts of this movie and now that I had the chance to fully watch it I really liked it a lot, and I had kind of figured that Aaron really was not who he was. I am not sure if I have seen another movie like it or just somehow figured out the ending so it was not too surprising to me but still great ending.

In terms of psychology there were many parts that played a role throughout the movie. From the very beginning the defense attorney Martin had a psychological analysis done on his client Aaron. Aaron’s first brief transformation of Roy, his alter ego who was swearing at the neuropsychologist examining him, was the first visual sign that something was not entirely right. Martin had to find out if Aaron was able to stand trial due his blackouts that is why he had a professional neuropsychologist examine him. All the evidence the prosecution was presenting in court was very compelling pieces that made Martin even question Aaron since he believed in him so much that he was innocent. When Martin found the sex tape that the archbishop had filmed he questioned Aaron and yelled at him so much that we find out that Aaron has dissociative identity disorder or more commonly known as multiple personality disorder. Roy was the tough guy who only appeared when Aaron could not handle anymore since he appeared to be so gentle and to nervous all the time. At the end Aaron or Roy as we can call him now since the real one was actually Roy who was malingering to make himself be called insane in legal terms.

A lot of cognitive ability was needed throughout this movie since lawyers have to understand what the other is saying and be able to rebuttal. Aaron also had to have very high cognitive abilities to be able to switch on and off from his alter ego being able to retain his fake mental state as just that personality and not to mix them up which he does at the end when he wins his case but that might be just because he doesn’t really care since he won.

Martin was very good at what he does because he is even able to convince prosecutors what to do. Martin used reverse psychology on Janet so she would pressure Aaron into changing to his alter ego who would protect Aaron. Even though Martin seemed to be a hard ass, pardon my language, when doing his job he seemed to care a lot for his clients as he showed with Aaron. Martin almost appeared to be like Aaron’s friend by guiding him and the way he gestured Aaron’s success at the end of the movie by hugging him really showed his compassionate side towards his clients. Even though he was going against Janet he even showed compassion towards her as well only when outside of the courtroom but that was mainly due to them having a relationship prior to the case. Martin’s personality was very confident but also compassionate unlike his rival Janet who was just too confident in her skills as a lawyer and she also believe she always knew exactly what Martin was doing throughout the case.

Terms: psychological analysis, alter ego, neuropsychologist, blackouts, dissociative identity/multiple personality disorder, malingering, and cognitive abilities

“Primal Fear” provides several examples of psychological concepts in a courtroom setting. The most obvious example is the mental state of Aaron Stampler. According to the neuropsychologist that examines Aaron, he is suffering from a dissociative identity disorder which was brought on by an abusive father. The neuropsychologist concludes that Aaron suffers from this disorder after Aaron tells her that he “loses time” and that his father was “not a nice man.” She believes Aaron has created this additional personality in an attempt to suppress horrific memories. Aaron also appears to snap and transform into his alter ego named Roy in this scene. In reality, Aaron is manipulating the psychologist and Vail. Molly (the neuropsychologist) utilizes social, behavioral, and cognitive psychology to deduce her conclusion. Respectively, she notes Aaron’s drastic mood change, shaking hands, and the abuse he suffered from his father and Archbishop Rushmore in her psychological analysis.
Because the trial is already underway, Vail cannot change the plea of not guilty to a plea of insanity without ruining his career. Instead, Vail tries to set Aaron off so that the jury will see that Aaron is insane. Vail appears to prep Aaron to “lose it” and Aaron transforms into Roy when cross-examined by Venable. Because Aaron is on trial for first degree murder, only one juror needs to dissent for the defense to win the case. This convinces Vail and the psychologist that Aaron is not competent to stand trial. However, Vail has already gone ahead with a CST case.
The relationships between the attorneys are very sticky in this movie because Vail and Venable used to be together. Additionally, Vail used to work for Venable’s employer, Shaughnessy. These interpersonal relationships create conflicts of interest when the attorneys are in the courtroom. Vail is even fined $10,000 for being in contempt of the courtroom. The demeanors of the attorneys are very different in the courtroom from their demeanors in everyday life. Because of these extenuating circumstances, Venable finds it very difficult to trust Vail. Because they are competing, their emotions run high. The relationships between the judge, Venable, and Vail all hinge from power struggles.
Another important relationship exists between Vail and Aaron. Aaron convinces Vail that Aaron is innocent throughout the trial and then takes advantage of attorney-client privileges at the end of the movie by telling Vail that Aaron doesn’t actually exist and that he (Stampler) is guilty. Aaron beautifully uses social psychology to manipulate Vail.
This film addresses motive quite well. In order for the prosecution to solidly win the case, Venable must convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Aaron has motive. However, she is unable to do this until Vail sends her a tape. The tape consists of Archbishop Rushman forcing the altar boys to perform lewd acts with a girl. This gives the prosecution probable cause while also tarnishing Rushman’s character.
This film also goes into detail about the attorneys’ reasoning for prosecuting or defending individuals. In a bar scene, Venable tells Vail that she is only doing this case because she was assigned to it by Shaughnessy. Vail explains his reasons to a reporter in a bar. Vail states that he truly believes that persons are “innocent until proven guilty.” Additionally, Vail says that “Not all crimes are committed by bad people.” Aaron manipulates of Vail by convincing Vail that he (Aaron) is innocent. Vail and Venable both accuse each other of taking the case for publicity.

Motive
Social, behavioral, cognitive psychology
1st degree murder
Probable cause
Beyond a reasonable doubt
Attorney-client privileges
Contempt
Conflicts of interest
Insane
Split personality disorder
Suppression
Competency to stand trial
Burden of proof

I have never heard of Primal Fear until this class. I really enjoyed this movie. Primal fear is a murder story that focuses on the relationships between the client and the counselor. The archbishop was murdered in this movie and it leads to a suspect of an altar boy named Aaron. All the evidence was pointing to Aaron the altar boy but when Martin Vail the defense attorney took over his case he believed that Aaron was innocent. Martin Vail was fighting this case against Janet Venable. I believed they both took this case for their own sake and not for the right reasons until Martin Vail is told by the judge to seek the best interest in his client not himself. Vail took this case because it would be good publicity for his career. Janet took this case because she was told to, not knowing that if she lost this case she would have to find a new job. The relationship between the two lawyers was definitely an interesting relationship. Their relationship was a love hate relationship. You could tell they wanted to be together but it would be too difficult with them always going against each other in court. I thought they were going to get together at the end of the movie but they stuck to their love hate relationship and never gave in. Vail always believed that you are innocent until proven guilty but he also knew that not a lot of people thought like that so Vail knew he only had to convince one juror that Aaron was innocent.

Another relationship in the movie was Vail and Aaron. Vail never got close to a client of his because he always said he didn’t care if they committed the crime or not he just needed information so he could prove they weren’t guilty. As the trial went on Vail had a connection with Aaron and started to believe that Aaron really didn’t commit the crime. This whole time during the trial Aaron is manipulating Vail into thinking that he really had multiple personality disorder. I think this brings Vail back to why he doesn’t care if his client commits the crime or not and he doesn’t want to get to know them personally because then in the end you get manipulated.

The psychological state of Aaron was very interesting. Vail told Aaron to please the fifth so that he client couldn’t respond until he was psychologically analyzed. What I came to learn was that since he plead the fifth they were not longer able to plead not guilty due to reason of insanity. Aaron showed Vail that he had another side to him, Roy. This shows Vail that Aaron is incompetent to stand trial and he needed to figure out a way to show the judge that also. During the trial in the court room Vail knew exactly how to bring Roy out in Aaron so he had Janet start drilling him with questions and finally the court say the other side of Aaron. This shows the judge that Aaron is incompetent to stand trial and it’s sentenced to a mental hospital to seek help. In the end Vail finds out that Aaron never really had multiple personality disorder and he was just faking it the whole time. Aaron did a great job faking his multiple personality disorder. He did a great job convincing everyone and was very good about when he needed to switch his personalities. I’ve never seen a movie that shows a person faking insanity and this movie did a great job on proving insanity in a court room, but even watching this movie made me mad that in real life there are people that could pretend they are insane just so they don’t have to go to jail for the rest of their life and they can go to a mental hospital for about a month.

Terms: Multiple Personality Disorder, psychological state, psychologically analyzed, plead the fifth, competent, incompetent, manipulated, innocent, guilty, defense attorney, suspect

Primal Fear featured a plethora of psychological principles both in and out of the courtroom. In the courtroom, the primary examples revolved around the use of the competency to stand trial and legal insanity. First, during the first hearing, Marty Vail prohibits his client, Aaron Stampler, from answering the question of whether he understood what was going on, to make it seem as if Aaron would not understand the goings on at the trial which made get him declared incompetent to stand trial. Additionally, Dr. Arrington diagnosed Aaron Stampler with multiple personality disorder, which ordinarily would enable him to get a verdict of Not Guilty By Reason of Insane (NGRI). However, Vail was unaware of this until the trial had already started, so he was unable to ask for that verdict. Interestingly, Vail set it up so that Aaron’s second personality, “Roy”, would come out during trial. Upon seeing “Roy” attempt to strangle the prosecuting attorney, the judge decides to give a verdict from the bench which would allow Aaron to get the verdict he needed. I was unaware this was allowed.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this film is the relationships between the various characters. For example, the relationship between the prosecuting attorney, Janet Venable, and Martin Vail is extremely complicated. Vail, though seemingly authentically attracted to her, looked upon Venable as a challenge. Additionally, the primary aspect of their relationship is competitive throughout the movie. Martin believes he can win the case, while Venable think it will be a slam dunk. To complicate matters, it is quite obvious that Vail and Venable used to have some sort of relationship while working together. As I said before, Vail looks at getting Venable back as somewhat of a challenge because she is entirely resistant to his charms. But it seems legitimate. Towards the end of the movie, Venable seems to becoming more affected by Vail and his advances, which illustrates the attraction principle that similar people attract. Venable and Vail, both very successful and talented lawyers, are attracted to one another.
Furthermore, Vail’s relationship with Stampler is exceedingly interesting. Vail seems to look upon Stampler as, yes a challenge as Venable, but more of something that can prove to himself that there is still worth or value in humanity. Vail wants Stampler to be innocent. He wants Stampler to redeem humanity in Vail’s eyes. This overriding desire may influence Vail’s actual belief of Stampler’s interest. He wants it so bad that it starts becoming true; he legitimately believes that Stampler is innocent. Once he believes that, Vail stops at nothing to ensure Stampler’s acquittal. He also assumes a sort of father like position to Stampler, though not quite as extensive as Archbishop Rushman’s, and without the complication of forced sex. This also leads me to believe that Vail is motivated by the need for achievement, which is the social need in that someone wants to do well. Vail wants to do well at his job, he wants to help people, and he wants there to be people worth helping. He also may have a need for intimacy, which is the desire and social need for close, interpersonal contact between people. I think this because he seems to deeply desire Venable and, towards the latter half of the movie, not entirely in a sexual way. His relationship with and loyalty to Pinero reinforces this belief.

John Shaugnessy’s relationship with everyone in the movie focuses on his high social need for power, or the need to influence others’ and things. Whomever he talks to, he tries to use his position to get the person in question to do what he wants. He threatens Venable with losing her job if she shows the video of Rushman forcing Alex, Aaron and Linda to do sexual things. He threatens Vail to not ‘fuck with people in power’ (his wording, not mine).

Also of interest, sometimes amusingly so, is the judge’s relationship with Vail. The judge views Vail as an upstart, a troublemaker, someone who is only motivated by his or her self and is simply trying to forestall he prosecution’s pursuit of justice. I would think she is biased towards in her actions and comments for the prosecution and towards the defense. Her opinion of Vail is heavily influenced by her no-nonsense personality, of which Vail has none.

As I stated earlier, Vail is a defense attorney because of his desire to prove the value or significance or worth or what have you of humanity. Something happened prior to the movie that shook his belief in humanity and he is seeking to bring that back.

Terms: social need, achievement, attraction, power, intimacy, insanity, competency

Primal Fear depicts the case of Aaron Stampler as the prime suspect in the murder of the Archbishop Rushman. The movie provides the audience with an outlook on lawyer and client relationships, relationships between the defense and prosecution lawyers, and court proceedings. It also provides the audience with a brief outlook on pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

Martin Vail is a big shot defense attorney known for defending unpopular high paying clients. When interviewed, Martin explains how he deals with cognitive dissonance of defending possible guilty people. Martin explains “I believe in the notion that people are innocent until proven guilty. I believe in that notion because I choose to believe in the basic goodness of people. I choose to believe that not all crimes are committed by bad people. And I try to understand that some very, very good people do some very bad things.”

Aaron Stampler was found fleeing the scene of the murder of Archbishop Rushman. The trace evidence found, such as Aaron’s fingerprints on the murder weapon, led to a substantial accusation that Aaron was the perpetrator. Once caught, Martin Vail visits Aaron stating he will defend Aaron’s case for free. With Martin as the defense, the state administers Martian’s former lover Janet Venable as the prosecution attorney. Martian and Janet throughout the movie are very competitive and are always analyzing each other’s moves. In public they are cordial to each other but in court they are aggressive. This relationship of the two lawyers is realistic however, the fact that they were past lovers most likely does not happen in real cases.

The relationship between Aaron and Martin was very divert and exclusive. It was divert in which the relationship kept altering. When Aaron and Martin first met, it appeared as though Martin believed Aaron was guilty. Martin states “I don't have to believe you. I don't care if you are innocent.” As the movie continues Martin begins to believe that Aaron hadn’t actually committed the murder. When Martin discovers Roy (Aaron’s second personality) he feels empathy for Aaron and wants him to receive help. Finally when Martin uncovers the truth that Aaron had faked his multiple personality disorder, the relationship becomes distrustful and hurtful. In reality, client-lawyer relationship may be divert and exclusive just as Martian and Aaron’s was. Most real relationships however, are less extreme. The relationship between the lawyer and the client is exclusive both in the movie and in real life. When “Roy” told Martian he had killed Archbishop Rushman, Martian did not share the information in court. This is an example of the attorney–client privilege. The attorney–client privilege is a legal concept that protects certain communications between a client and his or her attorney and keeps those communications confidential.

Martian had Aaron analyzed by a psychiatrist in which he is put through cognitive testing. In the testing, the psychiatrist forms a conclusion that Aaron is suffering from multiple personality disorder. Multiple personality disorder is defined in which the personality becomes dissociated into two or more distinct parts (Aaron and Roy). Each part may become dominant and controls behavior from time to time to the exclusion of the other parts. The prosecution’s goal was to convict Aaron and have him serve a retribution punishment. The retribution perspective on punishment is the suggestion that the punishment for a crime should be proportionate to the harm committed. With such a punishment, the prosecution sought out the death penalty. When Aaron’s “multiple personality disorder” occurred in court having “Roy” strangle Janet Venable, the mens rea was questioned. The mens rea refers to the “guilty mind” or awareness of the wrongfulness in the murder of the Archbishop. The court was then dismissed to have Aaron undergo more psychological testing. The purpose of the testing is to see if the M’Naghten rule would apply to Aaron in a new case of pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

The ending of Primal Fear was mind-blowing and definitely unexpected. What amazed me was how well Aaron was able to act out two different personalities. Of course Aaron must have been very intelligent to understand the criteria of having the disorder and then to have the ability to fool many people. The film overall did an exceptional job of underlying a criminal case and provided many psychological principles. The movie was entertaining, had an unexpected ending, and was helpful in understanding the process of court cases and relationships between lawyers and lawyers with their clients.

Terms: retribution, not guilty by reason of insanity, cognitive testing, M’Naghten rule, mens rea, defense attorney, prosecution, suspect, trace evidence, attorney–client privilege, multiple personality disorder psychiatrist

Throughout the movie I found myself noticing a variety of psychological principles in the courtroom. As well as the relationship between a lawyer and client, in this case Martin Vaiil and Aaron Stampler.

The first one is very obvious was the multiple personality disorder now known as Dissosative Personality Disorder. We clearly saw through out the movie that Aaron was getting headaches, claimed that he blacked out at the time of the crime, and he really didn't recall anything. We saw a glimpse of it when the psychologist was interviewing him, when he got upset and scared his other personality, Roy.

Another principle, was social psychology. The Vail, the defense attorney and Janet Venable, the prosecutor both used their ways to influence the judge and the jury. As the trial proceeded their was witnesses that came up to the stand and were questioned. All this played a good part in the sentencing. For the fact, that Vail influenced Roy to come out. He knew that if Janet would drill him with questions Roy would come out and he did.

The other principle would be personality, both Vail and Ms. Venable had very strong personalities that showed throughout the courtroom. In the courtroom I think that is very important because you can't just let the other lawyer trample over you. You must be strong and prove your point. That is what both of them did very well.

The lawyer and client relationship was interesting to see. Vail first seemed like he was just doing it to get another win and get praised for it. As well as Ms. Venable taking the case because it was Vail. Later on throughout the movie, he really did not suspect is client did it. It seemed that they got eachother someway. Even when he met Roy although Roy kind of beat him up, they got off to a go start. Then Vail knew that it was up to him to prove that he was sick somehow. He did a variety of thing to get Aaron's insanity plea. Even if it was too late in the trail.

The relationships between lawyers is very intense. They all want the best for themselves. They get very stress as we saw Vail and his crew. He snapped at them because they were losing the case. As we saw with Ms. Venable her job was on the line. She had so many things at risk her name, her job, and her pride.

I saw throughout the movie how the prosecutor did her job and how the defense lawyer did his. They both showed very good work and were wanting to prove their point. Ms. Venable did good in her part by seeking that their was some kind of motive. As for Vail he did a lot to prove his point as well. Even bringing out Roy in the courtroom. I think overall this movie showed good examples of what lawyers should do and what happens in a courtroom.

After watching Primal Fear, I thought it was a very interesting movie and it also did a very good job of showing certain aspects of psychology and how they relate to the courtroom. This movie was fun to watch because it keeps you surprised right up until the end of the movie by showing the many sides to psychology and law.
Everybody knows that there is a lot of trickery and convincing done in the courtroom to try and get the jury to believe what the prosecution or defense is saying. In a perfect world, the courtroom would be a place to find absolute truth for a case. But in real life, especially in the US, the courtroom seems to be a place to win, by all costs. It seems to me that this is demonstrated very well in this movie, even if the actors say they are doing it for other reasons.
The movie focuses on the life of Martin Vail who has taken on the case of Aaron Stampler, a young man accused of murdering an archbishop. Vail and Aaron have a very unique relationship, one not many people have, because of the situation they are in. Right away, Vail tells Aaron that he is the only person he should be talking to. Vail does not want Aaron to talk to anyone else because he wants to establish trust between the two of them. I feel like that is very important to have between a lawyer and a client because you are ultimately trusting each other with your lives. You only have each other to help you win a case, besides that no one else matters. This movie reminded me a lot of the fairly new movie, the Lincoln Lawyer, because it focuses on similar aspects. In that movie, the lawyer must also go out of his way to help his client, no matter what the circumstances because they do not want to lose.
There is also a lot of interaction between both lawyers on a case. Whether you like each other or not, or agree with each other or not, you are working together for a similar cause. In Primal Fear, it just so happens that the prosecuting lawyer and the defense lawyer had worked together before and had a relationship too. So they knew each other very well. Knowing the characteristics of who you are going up against can help you win the case. If you can predict the personality of someone and what they will do in a certain situation, one can influence that situation to go their way. Vail does a lot of this in the movie because he knows how his opposition will act. In this sense, Vail is very good at using social psychology by influencing the other lawyer and the courtroom overall.
A lot of psychology takes place in the courtroom and especially in this movie. One way is the way Vail instructs Aaron to act in the courtroom. He makes sure that he looks appropriate and not like a criminal by dressing in a suit and looking innocent. Vail makes sure that he is controlling what the jury sees and perceives to the best of his ability. He wants to make sure that he can get the jury to believe what he wants. As he stated in the very beginning of the movie, there is no truth in the courtroom. Rather he wants to get the jury to believe his truth by giving them the allusion he, and his client, are being truthful.
The best manipulator in this movie though is not the lawyers. In fact, it is Aaron Stampler himself. As an audience, we see Aaron as this very innocent looking child in the beginning and come to find out that he actually has Multiple Personality Disorder, a concept of clinical psychology. But because Vail cannot change his plea from not guilty to not guilty by reason of insanity, this information is almost irrelevant. Vail does a good job again of manipulating the courtroom to see the multiple personalities, ultimately winning him the case and getting a sentence of not guilty by reason of insanity. But as we come to find out, Aaron does not have multiple personality disorder. Aaron, or Roy as his alter-ego was named, is in fact very smart. He lied his way through the whole movie by pretending to have this personality disorder. Pretending to have a personality disorder is actually known as malingering, which Aaron did an excellent job of portraying. Because this information came out after the trial was over, Vail had no way to stop it and Aaron will not be sentenced because he out-smarted everybody.
I think being in Vail’s case would be very difficult. He basically got screwed over by somebody that he trusted, just to win a case. Vail had stated throughout the movie that nobody knows whether or not a person is truly guilty or not. He was a big advocator for the saying “innocent until proven guilty” and had said during the film that he thinks most people are good people. Having a job as a lawyer is very difficult, especially at that level, because you are gambling with other people’s lives. I feel like Vail will really evaluate what he is doing because he really ended up caring for Aaron as a person and wanted the best for him, when all Aaron wanted from Vail was a win. In this case, Vail did not want the money or fame from winning this trial because he knows he let a guilty man go free, instead of saving an innocent one. I really enjoyed this movie and all the aspects of psychology and law found within it.

Terms: psychology, jury, prosecution, defense, lawyer, client, personality, social psychology, multiple personality disorder, clinical psychology, not guilty by reason of insanity, malingering