Inside Out Psychology

In 2015, film companies Disney & Pixar came together to create a very popular motion picture film, Inside Out. This film reflects the core emotions of a young child throughout early childhood. Inside out stole the attention of many families with its comical, yet, realistic and relatable story line. Young Minnesota girl, Riley, faces a life changing event and has to learn to adjust. However, this adjustment is not very easy for Riley. In this paper, I will summarize the film, compare the film with empirical studies, and lastly, I will give my feedback. The movie begins with infant Riley developing her many emotions. As she experiences different events, she develops corresponding emotions. Events such as trying new foods, getting hurt, and getting told no, helped her develop her 5 core emotions: fear, disgust, anger, joy and sadness. Growing

The behaviors and feelings that Riley was experiencing throughout the film, very well replicated empirical studies. Though, some emotions where left out, the ones that were represented were represented very accurately.

The film also reflected childhood coping mechanisms. After researching the coping mechanisms in adolescents, I found that Riley went through the many steps in the coping process. Empirical studies show that adolescents dealing with a life changing event often experience sleeping disorders, the feeling of helplessness, and even regression. Riley experienced all of these throughout the film.

During the film Riley often times found herself waking up frequently throughout the night. She was being woken up by all the activity going on inside her brain, self-consciously. However, this is proven to be a very common issue in adolescents who are coping with a major life changing event. The stress takes a toll on a child and can cause issues falling asleep or staying asleep. In the film, Riley had issues staying