The influence of don vito corleone towards the attitudes of his men as reflected in mario puzo’s the godfather (a social psychological approach)

Oleh :
Rasmawati Hamidah - K2201049 - Fak. KIP

ABSTRAK This research was carried out using social psychological approach. It analysed the influence of Don Vito Corleone towards the attitudes of his men. The objectives of this study are to find out Don Vito Corleone’s motivation, form and process in influencing the attitude of his men. Some social psychological theories that are applied to analyze the influence of Don Vtito Corleone are social interaction and social influence theory, motivation theory, and attitude and attitude change theory. The methodology used in this study is descriptive-qualitative method. The primary data were taken from Mario Puzo’s novel entitled “The Godfather”. In collecting the data, the researcher directly read the novel, gathered the data, and gave them certain code and category. The steps done in analyzing the data are: (1) the collected data were arranged in a list of data, (2) the data were categorized into some themes, (3) the data in each theme were arranged systematically from the most important to the less ones, (4) the data in each theme were interpreted based on psychological theories, (5) the researcher holistically viewed the relationship between one theme with the others, (6) the conclusion was drawn after the analysis had been checked to examine wether the theories employed were enough or not. Based on the analysis, the findings show the following. First, Don Vito Corleone’s motivation in the process of influencing the attitude of his men includes (1) he needed to be accepted and approved by others while the society neglected him; (2) he had to keep his family survive in such a hard life; (3) he had to reach a high status in order to gain his men’s respect and loyalty; (4) he needed an authority so he could control his men; (5) he had a desire to help others. Second, the forms of influence that were conducted by Don Vito Corleone were: (1) a change in behavior or attitude brought about by a desire to follow the standards of Don Vito Corleone; (2) efforts to persuade his men in order to produce a certain behavior or agreement; (3) efforts to force the people under his power to follow his request and his offer. Third, the processes were conducted by Don Vito Corleone in influencing the attitudes of his men were: (1) used his credibility, attractiveness and intent to deliver persuasive messages; (2) used a certain word framing, message that rose fear, and two-side arguments; (3) taken advantage from the condition or the characteristic of his men to create persuasive communications. This thesis has been approved by the consultants to be examined by the board of thesis examiner of the Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Sebelas Maret University