How Does The Lion King Relate To Psychology

The Lion King is a Disney animated movie portraying the life and times of Simba, who later becomes the greatest lion king known in the land. Simba's rise to the throne is a journey fraught with perils and hardships that make it an absolutely trilling story for the whole family! Although The Lion King is an exciting and entertaining movie, the movie is also a good illustration of several psychology concepts.

King Mufasa showed true altruism when he rescued Simba from the stampede. Altruism is an unselfish desire to help someone else without regard to personal welfare or safety. Some psychologists argue that in reality, altruistic acts are in fact motivated by self-interests such as to present one's self as powerful, caring,

or competent. This would be called egoism. However, in the movie, Mufasa's altruism did not seem to be motivated by self interests. Rather than egotism, Mufasa was genuinely concerned for his son's safety because parents have strong affectionate love for their children. Affectionate love is classified as a type of love that occurs with an individual's deep caring affection for another. This is exactly what a parent like Mufasa would feel for his or her children, and it was the motive of Mufasa's altruism.

This movie also illustrates the results of the Zimbardo Prison Study and how quickly roles are adopted. During the Zimbardo study, pyschology professor Dr. Zimbardo builds a mock prison at Stanford University and hires a group of pyschologically-healthy students to participate. Zimbardo then chooses some of the students to act as prisoners and others to act as guards. At first the prisoners don't show much respect for the guards, so the guards begin to harass and dehumanize the prisoners in order to establish their authority. A situation similiar to this in The Lion King is when Scar assumes the throne at Pride Rock. Scar is a tyrant who used his hyena minons to oppress the other animals by ruling them with "barred teeth and barred ambitions," just like the guards in Zimbardo's study ruled their prisoners by force.

The Lion King also has interesting example of classical conditioning.

After Simba meets Timon and Pumbaa, they introduce Simba to their diet of insects. Simba was apparently conditioned to think insects were not good to eat because he thought the idea was disgusting and he was surprised his friends ate insects. In this case Simba's unconditioned stimulus was disgusting things and his unconditioned response was not to eat what made him digusted. Somehow Simba was conditioned that insects were digusting and his conditioned response was not eating them. However after he tried an insect, he agreed they were "slimy and satisfying." This illustrates how response extinction works in classical conditioning. Simba now thought of insects as satisfying and not digusting, thus eliminating his conditioned response of not eating insects. Simba ate insects with the best of

them!

Another psychology concept exemplified in The Lion King is conformity. In 1951 Solomon Asch conducted a research study examining how an individual will conform to a group's opinions, even when the individual knows, or strongly feels, the group's opinions are wrong. This happened to Simba when he, Timon, and Pumbaa were wondering what stars were. Timon says stars are fireflies trapped in something far away. Pumbaa says stars are balls of gas burning billions of miles away. However, after Simba hesitantly tells the group he heard the stars are all the great lion kings of the past looking down on the world, Timon and Pumbaa burst out in laugther and tell Simba how silly the idea is. Simba conforms by saying "pretty dumb, right?" even though he does believe what he said. Simba then experiences cognitive dissonance which is an uneasy feeling caused by two inconsistent thoughts. He knows he has forsaken the ways of his father and what is father wanted for him, but he is trying to seek refuge with his "Hakuna Matata" philosopy.

Some operant conditioning is also seen in the Lion King.

Operant conditioning explains that behaviors followed by positive outcomes are more likely to be repeated than behaviors followed by negative outcomes. Punishment, which is a part of operant conditioning, is something received or taken away from an individual decreasing the likihood that a behavior would be repeated. The best example from The Lion King of a punishment is when Nala ran away from Simba after he informed her that he was not returning to Pride Rock. Simba deeply loved Nala and he hoped she would agree with the Hakuna Matata philosopy that he was using to hide from his past. But she did not and ran from Simba after an argument. The fact that his true love did not want to be with him was a punishing blow to Simba, helping him rethink his worldview and preparing him for the meeting with

Rafiki.

The findings in Milgram's obedience study can also be detected. In this study Stanley Milgram found that many individuals would administer life-threatening shocks to another person because an authority told them to administer the shocks. People often commit atrocities or do things they don't wish to do just because someone of authority commands them so. This can be seen in The Lion King during Scar's reign. The King's host obey his commands even though they know Scar is a weak leader who does not deserve to be king. This is especiallly apparent in the final confrontation when the hyenas unquestionably attack and try to kill Scar's new enemies without any regard for their own safety or welware.

The bystander effect is also seen in The Lion King. The bystander effect is a situation when an individual in a large group does not help in a troubling situation because the individual thinks that the others in the group will do all the work necessary. An example of this is in the final confrontation of The Lion King. After the hyenas attack Simba and the other lions, Scar disappears and does not offer any assistance to the hyenas fighting for him because he thinks that hyenas largely outnumber the lions so he thinks the hyenas would need no help fighting. Scar was a bystander through much of the battle.

The Lion King is a exciting and entertaining movie, but it also, whether the makers intended it or not, serves as a good example of some important psychology concepts. Movie makers try to create characters who are like real people with powerful pysches and emotions. Watching the handiwork of a good movie maker can be a good way to learn some psychology!