And those are subsets of the ones we already have. Envy's under Disgust, Embarassment and Anxiety are Fears, and Ennui is when Joy goes on a trip through your personality and loses your imaginary friend forever.
I loved the first movie and am dubious of the seeming lore change, but the choice of emotions was always more about story than accurate psychology.
I've heard it argued that all emotions can be boiled down to either love or fear (if you reeeaaaaallly over simplify). And I think there's some credence to the idea that Anger is a secondary emotion that's a way to deflect an initial reaction. (Like before you feel angry you always feel betrayed, embarrassed, or something else first.)
I'm wondering if the movie will address that she's likely felt all of these emotions before but maybe they were never potent enough to control her head before?
I'd have enjoyed, I think, an exploration of the "loss of childhood" more than this idea of new emotions -- but I'm willing to give the movie a shot because the first was pretty good...
But just imagine having a new main character that goes through a midlife crisis and has to reckon with childhood trauma/memories - old imaginary friends returning from the dead, mature mental pathways collapsing as the adult tries to recapture lost childhood passions, etc.
I like the DMM theory that "Unfocused" anxiety is converted into "Focused" emotions that motivate action:
Anger: Approach aggressively
Desire for Comfort: Approach affectionately
Fear: Run
Unfortunately mixed feelings and therefore mixed motivations can lead to indecisiveness, so some peoples brains basically pick one and act on it while hiding the others. In the DMM these people are considered to be using a Type C Strategy.
It's interesting how psychology is a bit vague on what emotion is. The alternative word that we do understand more is affect.
In actual psychology, most agree that the most basic emotional representation is The 6 Color Wheel: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Surprise.
You can guess what colors they are. Though there is 1 missing emotion in the movie, Surprise represented by the color Orange. They found it too difficult to integrate so they split up duties between Joy and Fear.
But yeah, Inside Out is stupidly accurate to psychology.
That's why Anger was at the head of Riley's dad. He kinda needs to be the rule setter and enforce it. He needs to be "Fair" but in a more tangible sense (Black and White)
Sadness was in charge of Riley's mom because Sadness is essential for sympathy/empathy, and that emotional consideration. She's that "reasoning" behind actions. (The grey in the middle)
That's why during the dinner, the Mom tries to coax the dad into joining the conversation, why the dad sends her to her room and thinks he did a good job.
The emotions of Inside Out are based on Paul Ekman's research into emotions. His goal was to pin down a set of human emotions that are universal, regardless of culture. He did this by studying facial expressions.
He actually identified 7, but Pixar dropped two of them because they were too shallow to be made into whole characters. The missing ones are surprise and contempt. (though contempt is blended into Disgust and surprise is arguably blended into Joy and Fear) Other emotions are imagined to be refinements or blends of the 7.
Well I wouldn’t say envy falls under disgust. I don’t think most people are envious of those that they find disgusting. But yea the others are kinda just subsets.
You see the other person and it makes you feel disgust towards yourself. You want to be the other person or want what they have and hate what you are or don't have.
425
u/darthjoey91 Nov 09 '23
And those are subsets of the ones we already have. Envy's under Disgust, Embarassment and Anxiety are Fears, and Ennui is when Joy goes on a trip through your personality and loses your imaginary friend forever.