Inside Out Psychology
What Type of Person Will You Become?
McKenzey L. Till
Bellevue High School
What Type of Person Will You Become?
Inside Out is an adventure filled, animated movie with comedy throughout. Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen directed it. Pete Docter, Ronnie Del Carmen, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley wrote it. It has a great teaching point for its watchers. In fact, it hits on many psychological aspects of life. It is about a young girl by the name of Riley, who endures a huge change in her life. This is affecting her ecological systems. Her emotions are triggering a problem that is hard for her to overcome while Joy and Sadness are missing. The movie can be connected to psychology in multiple ways. For instance, it talks about core memories, the importance of feelings and emotions, and the difficult part of life, when things cannot be controlled. Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen show the viewers of “Inside Out” how memories, feelings, emotions, and struggles in our lives are all inevitable to shape who we have (or will) become, by reenacting the mind of a girl experiencing the middle childhood stage of her life. (Doctor, 2015) …show more content…
Memory is a huge component to our everyday lives. Without this, we would not be able to reminisce on great adventures, our childhood, or even our families achieved milestones. There are three processes that our memories go through the minute a stimulus is activated. The three basic steps of the memory process are sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory. Sensory memory stores information for about a second. When one of your five senses recognizes a stimulus, a sensation occurs. Some sensations are only kept for a moment, while others become perceptions. The important perceptions are transported to working memory. (Berger, 2004) In the movie, perceptions that were sent to the working memory were transformed into a glass ball that was sent to Headquarters. This allowed Riley’s emotions (Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness) to understand that there was an important part of Riley’s life taking place. Important memories are transferred to long-term memory. In the movie, the memories transported here are known as core memories. These were the memories that powered Riley’s personality islands. These can be stored for a long period of time. Goofball, Friendship, Hockey, Honesty, and Family Island are Riley’s personality islands. Her memories power these islands, while her experiences create memories to be added to them. Riley’s emotions and feelings had a big toll on her islands. (Doctor, 2015) This is just like us. If we think of only bad things, instead of thinking on the bright side, we are not going to have happy memories. While Joy and Sadness were gone, Disgust, Anger, and Fear took over. This lead Riley to not think on the bright side, causing her to have sad memories. This also added bad memories to her islands causing them to be destroyed. This caused Riley to feel negative towards her core memories. (Doctor, 2015) The same thing happens to us. If we mainly think about the negative aspects of life, the negatives are going to over power our positives causing our life to come across as bad. “As children become more self- aware, they benefit from praise for their process, not for their person: for how they learn, how they relate to others, and so on, not for static qualities such as intelligence and popularity.” (Dweck, 2013.) If the child is process oriented, and the basketball team loses a game, the child may realize their free throws were not going well, and they will practice them to get better rather than saying they suck at them. They will take a tough time, and turn it into a learning opportunity. This is what children need. Children need to be guided in the right direction. Some children think losing is the worst thing in the world. It is not the worst thing in the world. Parents should encourage their children to take it as a learning experience instead of harping on them and making them feel like they sucked. Riley’s personality islands were destroyed, however she was able to recover them when Joy and Sadness balanced out her emotions. (Doctor, 2015)
As you can see, emotions and feelings contribute to your life tremendously. Many things in life are uncontrollable, but they can be dealt with in other ways. For instance, a young child may experience poor impulse control. Impulse control is when you are able to set aside the immediate response to an idea or behavior. If this is seen in and adult, it may be considered a disorder. However, it is normal for young children. Perseverance is the ability to stick to one thought or task at a time. A child may cry uncontrollably if they are told to stop a task immediately with no warning, because they are stuck in the emotion that triggered the tantrum they are experiencing. (Berger, 2004) This is displayed throughout most of the movie. When Joy and Sadness are not at the Headquarters, Riley’s emotions show disgust, anger, and fear. This is because when Joy and Sadness are not present, these were Riley’s only emotions left. Therefore, she was stuck with these and could not avoid them until Joy and Sadness got back. (Doctor, 2015) Not being able to control the outcome of things may be considered a privilege to some. If something not so good happens, instead of the child thinking it is their entire fault, they can be reassured to understand that some things cannot be controlled. In the movie, Riley had a good and bad memory of a hockey game. Her sad memory was that she made her team lose the game. However, her parents and teammates were there to comfort her and remind her that they were proud of her, allowing her to believe her effort was there and she contributed greatly. (Doctor, 2015) This ties along with controlling the negatives in your life. It is very important to do this!! Being able to remind a child that all outcomes may not be controlled will help them gain awareness, positivity, and effort. If a child is told that some things cannot be controlled, whatever it is, may impact the child. They may become happier and more positive about the situation. This also impacts their personality. They may be happier, bubblier, and put more effort into things they take part in because they know that no matter what happens in the end, they tried their hardest and some things do not always work out as planned. “Inside Out” touches on many psychological aspects of life.
Riley has to deal with a huge change in her life when she moves to San Francisco, and she is not sure how she feels about it. She reminisces on her life back in the Midwest and becomes upset. Her parents do the best they can to let her know that everything will be okay. After going through some tough situations she pulls through and is happy with her life. (Doctor, 2015) Like the movie, memories, feelings, emotions, and uncontrollable outcomes can shape the way you live life. It is important for a person to understand these things because they can better control them. So what can we do to help children understand these things while they are young, so they can experience events happily and not have to regret a moment in their life when they should have acted
differently?
McKenzey L. Till
Bellevue High School
What Type of Person Will You Become?
Inside Out is an adventure filled, animated movie with comedy throughout. Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen directed it. Pete Docter, Ronnie Del Carmen, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley wrote it. It has a great teaching point for its watchers. In fact, it hits on many psychological aspects of life. It is about a young girl by the name of Riley, who endures a huge change in her life. This is affecting her ecological systems. Her emotions are triggering a problem that is hard for her to overcome while Joy and Sadness are missing. The movie can be connected to psychology in multiple ways. For instance, it talks about core memories, the importance of feelings and emotions, and the difficult part of life, when things cannot be controlled. Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen show the viewers of “Inside Out” how memories, feelings, emotions, and struggles in our lives are all inevitable to shape who we have (or will) become, by reenacting the mind of a girl experiencing the middle childhood stage of her life. (Doctor, 2015) …show more content…
Memory is a huge component to our everyday lives. Without this, we would not be able to reminisce on great adventures, our childhood, or even our families achieved milestones. There are three processes that our memories go through the minute a stimulus is activated. The three basic steps of the memory process are sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory. Sensory memory stores information for about a second. When one of your five senses recognizes a stimulus, a sensation occurs. Some sensations are only kept for a moment, while others become perceptions. The important perceptions are transported to working memory. (Berger, 2004) In the movie, perceptions that were sent to the working memory were transformed into a glass ball that was sent to Headquarters. This allowed Riley’s emotions (Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness) to understand that there was an important part of Riley’s life taking place. Important memories are transferred to long-term memory. In the movie, the memories transported here are known as core memories. These were the memories that powered Riley’s personality islands. These can be stored for a long period of time. Goofball, Friendship, Hockey, Honesty, and Family Island are Riley’s personality islands. Her memories power these islands, while her experiences create memories to be added to them. Riley’s emotions and feelings had a big toll on her islands. (Doctor, 2015) This is just like us. If we think of only bad things, instead of thinking on the bright side, we are not going to have happy memories. While Joy and Sadness were gone, Disgust, Anger, and Fear took over. This lead Riley to not think on the bright side, causing her to have sad memories. This also added bad memories to her islands causing them to be destroyed. This caused Riley to feel negative towards her core memories. (Doctor, 2015) The same thing happens to us. If we mainly think about the negative aspects of life, the negatives are going to over power our positives causing our life to come across as bad. “As children become more self- aware, they benefit from praise for their process, not for their person: for how they learn, how they relate to others, and so on, not for static qualities such as intelligence and popularity.” (Dweck, 2013.) If the child is process oriented, and the basketball team loses a game, the child may realize their free throws were not going well, and they will practice them to get better rather than saying they suck at them. They will take a tough time, and turn it into a learning opportunity. This is what children need. Children need to be guided in the right direction. Some children think losing is the worst thing in the world. It is not the worst thing in the world. Parents should encourage their children to take it as a learning experience instead of harping on them and making them feel like they sucked. Riley’s personality islands were destroyed, however she was able to recover them when Joy and Sadness balanced out her emotions. (Doctor, 2015)
As you can see, emotions and feelings contribute to your life tremendously. Many things in life are uncontrollable, but they can be dealt with in other ways. For instance, a young child may experience poor impulse control. Impulse control is when you are able to set aside the immediate response to an idea or behavior. If this is seen in and adult, it may be considered a disorder. However, it is normal for young children. Perseverance is the ability to stick to one thought or task at a time. A child may cry uncontrollably if they are told to stop a task immediately with no warning, because they are stuck in the emotion that triggered the tantrum they are experiencing. (Berger, 2004) This is displayed throughout most of the movie. When Joy and Sadness are not at the Headquarters, Riley’s emotions show disgust, anger, and fear. This is because when Joy and Sadness are not present, these were Riley’s only emotions left. Therefore, she was stuck with these and could not avoid them until Joy and Sadness got back. (Doctor, 2015) Not being able to control the outcome of things may be considered a privilege to some. If something not so good happens, instead of the child thinking it is their entire fault, they can be reassured to understand that some things cannot be controlled. In the movie, Riley had a good and bad memory of a hockey game. Her sad memory was that she made her team lose the game. However, her parents and teammates were there to comfort her and remind her that they were proud of her, allowing her to believe her effort was there and she contributed greatly. (Doctor, 2015) This ties along with controlling the negatives in your life. It is very important to do this!! Being able to remind a child that all outcomes may not be controlled will help them gain awareness, positivity, and effort. If a child is told that some things cannot be controlled, whatever it is, may impact the child. They may become happier and more positive about the situation. This also impacts their personality. They may be happier, bubblier, and put more effort into things they take part in because they know that no matter what happens in the end, they tried their hardest and some things do not always work out as planned. “Inside Out” touches on many psychological aspects of life.
Riley has to deal with a huge change in her life when she moves to San Francisco, and she is not sure how she feels about it. She reminisces on her life back in the Midwest and becomes upset. Her parents do the best they can to let her know that everything will be okay. After going through some tough situations she pulls through and is happy with her life. (Doctor, 2015) Like the movie, memories, feelings, emotions, and uncontrollable outcomes can shape the way you live life. It is important for a person to understand these things because they can better control them. So what can we do to help children understand these things while they are young, so they can experience events happily and not have to regret a moment in their life when they should have acted
differently?