I am not sure how many of you have seen the movie, My Cousin Vinny. Well, its about these two kids from New York who were accused of murder in a small town down South. One of the kid’s cousin, Vinny, comes down to defend them, but what they don’t know is that he has never been to trial before.
This movie with demonstrates a lack of attunement on Vinny’s part. He is a loudmouth, leather-wearing, stereotypical New Yorker. Vinny does not understand the Southern culture at all, plus he does not even understand the importance of dress code at court. Vinny is completely out of tune with the judge in charge of the case, he comes into court wearing a leather jacket, swearing, and having no idea how to follow court procedure.
There are several parts to attunement that we discussed in class as well as through the reading with Pink’s book. Mimicking, body language, communication styles, the way you dress, etc. The judge and Vinny were not attuned on any of these levels, and it really effected the way Vinny defended his cousin and his friend.
if you are interested in watching this movie, I would not read any farther because
*SPOILER ALERT*
Vinny and the Gambini family are excellent arguers. They know how to win and how to prove their points well. This is displayed in the way Vinny questions his witnesses. He uses the Sandler Rule about Mind Reading. He doesn’t let the jury or the judge just assume about facts, he asks clarifying questions about how long it takes to make breakfast and the process to really prove his point that grits don’t take 5 minutes to make. He is able to connect with the Southern jury by discussing how grits are made, to make them understand that the defendants left the scene before the actual murderers arrived. Vinny knows how sell his defense argument and is able to win the case by asking clarifying questions and making sure that they have every fact on the table and no assumptions.
Here’s a couple clips if you wanna check it out!
(warning: There is swearing in some of the clips)
Ethan David 
Aliyah Shelatz
Hahah, love this! haven’t seen the movie, but this sounds very entertaining and is a very good example of good and bad selling (the selling of ideas). As professor Sweet states, it’s important that we kind of mimic the other people in the selling situation and understand them in communicate in a way that they resonate with. Not doing this automatically pushes people against you and puts you on the defense instantly because they can find no common ground with you. The other great point you make is asking clarifying questions and not assuming anything. It is very easy to do this, but it only makes selling your ideas harder because everyone doesn’t know all of the facts. Great work here!
I have seen this movie! And i thought it was both funny and clever how Vinny is able to argue his case and provide convincing evidence, much like salespeople. Nice post!
This is a great movie! Vinny is very good at digging deeper to the truth of what that person is talking about. You gave the perfect example in the movie to that point. He just didn’t accept that grits were made in 5 minutes but dug at the issue until he found the truth. This quality is something that salespeople need to have as well, usually the prospect will lie to the seller but its the job of the salesperson to dig until the truth comes out. If the truth is never revealed than you wont be on the same page.