Ranisha A.

Yahya Reflection Paper: Inside Out

BSCE_3E PSYCH20

1. What is the movie all about?

Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) is a happy, hockey-loving 11-year-old Midwestern girl,

but her world turns upside-down when she and her parents move to San

Francisco. Riley's emotions -- led by Joy (Amy Poehler) -- try to guide her

through this difficult, life-changing event. However, the stress of the move

brings Sadness (Phyllis Smith) to the forefront. When Joy and Sadness are

inadvertently swept into the far reaches of Riley's mind, the only emotions

left in Headquarters are Anger, Fear and Disgust

2. Who are the characters of the movie and describe their roles.

 Riley - an eleven year old girl who has the emotions named Joy, Anger,

Fear, Disgust, and Sadness.

 Mom - mother of Riley who loves her so much.

 Dad - father of Riley who takes care of her.

 Joy - Joy’s goal has always been to make sure Riley stays happy. She is

lighthearted, optimistic, and determined to find the fun in every situation.

Joy sees challenges in Riley’s life as opportunities and the less happy

moments as hiccups on the way back to something great. As long as Riley is

happy, so is joy.

 Fear - Fear’s main job is to protect Riley and to keep her safe. He is

constantly on the lookout for potential disasters, and spends time

evaluating the possible dangers, pitfalls and risk involved in Riley’s

not find to be dangerous and possibly fatal

 Anger - Anger feels very passionately about making sure things are fair

for Riley. He has a fiery spirit and tends to explode (literally) when things

don’t go as planned. He is quick to overreact and has little patience for

life’s imperfection.

 Disgust - Disgust is highly opinionated, extremely honest and prevents

Riley from getting poisoned － both physically and socially. She keeps a

careful eyes on the people, places and things that Riley comes into contact

with － whether that’s broccoli or last year’s fashion trend disgust

always has the best of intentions and refuses to lower her standards.

 Sadness - None of the other Emotions really understand what Sadness’s

role is. Sadness would love to be more optimistic and helpful in keeping

Riley happy, but she finds it so hard to be positive. Sometimes it seems

like the best thing to do is just lie on the floor and have a good cry.

3. What are the challenges that the main characters experienced? How did

they cope with it?

A major stressor occurs in Riley’s life: She has to move across the country.

Her parents inform her that the family is relocating to San Francisco,

California, and suddenly a lot of changes are in play. Riley realizes she must

live in a small, older house in the city, go to a new school, make all new friends,
and try out for a new hockey team. The stressor of moving is not traumatic,

but it is undoubtedly disruptive to her functioning, particularly because she is

11 going on 12 years old. This is the time where major emotional, behavioral,

and social transitions occur and last through teenage years. For example, we

see some of those new social pressures portrayed at Riley’s school in the form

of cliques and even peer bullying. It’s important to know that the interplay of

transitional stress and biology can play a role in emotional adjustment.

Further in the film, we begin to learn that interactions between emotions

are telling. For instance, Joy grows annoyed with Sadness’s constant

negativity and hopelessness. She draws a circle in the back of the control

room and orders Sadness to stay inside of it, far away from the control

center’s buttons, the other emotions, and any other aspect of the brain that

could be “contaminated.” Joy can’t seem to see any value in Sadness, assigning

her no real purpose or responsibility in Riley’s brain. In that moment, Joy’s

doing what we regularly do: Try to avoid sadness. In fact, it’s only human to

push away the discomfort of sadness, grief, and anxiety. Joy’s attempt to

contain and even minimize Sadness is an incredibly relatable thing. Again, we

ask ourselves, are we better off—safer, happier, better human beings—when

we avoid sadness?

A note about how Sadness is treated here: Individuals who have what

psychologists call “depressogenic schema” are often rejected by others.

When we have depressogenic schema, we are constantly thinking negatively

about ourselves, the world around us, and our future. Sadness exhibits some

of those exaggerations in thinking; rather than trying to make things better

or look on the bright side like Joy, she focuses on the worst aspects. Instead
of rose-colored glasses, it’s like having blue-colored glasses. Many of us have

fallen into these blue moments, some may dip into depressive episodes or even

chronic depression. Thoughts like, “I’ll never be good enough”, “Things will only

get worse,” and “I’m just going to let everyone down” are examples of blue

thoughts we might have. Just like with Sadness, those dire predictions are

sometimes seen by others as burdensome, displeasing, and even annoying. This

negative attribution style is why youths who are depressed tend to have

difficulty making or maintaining friendships. It isn’t surprising to see that

Sadness is the most unpopular member of the brain bunch.

4. What is the significance of each emotion in real life situations?

Joy is the primary driver of the “control center,” representing the

excited, explorative nature seen in normal developing youths. Fear and

Disgust, we are told, keep us safe. For instance, Fear keeps Toddler Riley

from tripping on an electrical cord. Fear would also cause her to cry for her

caregivers if she is left alone (its evolutionary function is to protect us from

predators). Disgust protects us from being poisoned “physically and socially.”

We don’t put gross-tasting things in our mouths thanks to Disgust, but we also

stay away from “toxic” social situations –people who gossip about us, people

who are mean, people who lie or betray us–due to the social repulsion those

interactions cause us. Anger in the form of frustration is a constant figure in

Riley’s infancy and early years; simply dropping a spoon can cause an outburst.
5. Cite 10 lessons learned from the movie. Explain.

• Emotions aren’t bad: Even “negative” emotions like anger, fear, disgust and

sadness play an important role in making you a whole person. When it came to

anger, they wanted to show it was a state that caused people to take

action—and sometimes that action isn’t well thought out. However, sometimes

that emotion can make people work for change. As for sadness, it can connect

you to who you are.

• Emotions are more complex than we think, but this is part of growing up.Just

because some of Riley’s emotions mix doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing; in

fact, it allowed Riley to experience life more fully, as well as became a part of

her growing up. Happy memories can be tinged with loss and nostalgia. It’s just

an example of how people’s emotions get more complex as they grow older.

• Importance of active listening: At a pivotal point in the film, Joy watches as

Sadness comforts another character by listening and echoing his

disappointment. Joy’s inclination is to distract from pain, but she sees that

suppressing it may not solve the problem. Allowing sadness to take over for a

while can help the person move on.

• How Joy and Sadness often work in tandem:At first Joy doesn’t know why

Sadness lingers around at the headquarters, but soon realizes that

expressing sadness doesn’t take away from overall happiness—it can

sometimes even enrich it.

engine to her personality and, while the film provides a basic concept of

memory banks and how memories are formed, there’s a truth to it. Our

memories—and how we perceive them—help form our sense of identity

• How fear protects us: There was a point during the process of making Inside

Out when Fear and Joy were the main characters, but Pixar changed it to

feature Sadness and Joy. Fear still plays a role in keeping Riley safe as a

young child, and fear is an important part of our lives—except when we let it

take over.

• The role of anger, and what happens when anger is in charge: When Anger

takes over the dashboard for a long period of time, it literally stops working.

This is true of our brains, too. When anger takes over, the parts of our brain

that can prioritize and be logical stop functioning, we cannot make rational

decisions. The way the other Emotions solve this problem is the key message

of the film

• It’s necessary to let go of some things because you need to grow

One of the most lovable characters in Inside Out is Bing Bong, Riley’s

imaginary friend when she was very young. Bing Bong is part elephant, part

cotton candy, part kitten, and part dolphin. True to being concocted by a

child’s imagination, he even cries tears made of candy. There’s a part in the

film when Bing Bong would have to be let go. As sad as it is, it’s necessary for
greater things for Riley, which include growing up.

• Be gentle with yourself when you have your off days.In the film, Riley has

these “islands of personality,” that represented core parts of her personality.

These were her love of hockey (Hockey Island), relationship with her parents

(Family Island), friendships (Friendship Island), sense of fun (Goofball

Island), and integrity (Honesty Isand). When these islands started to

crumble due to her dysfunctional emotions and the loss of core memories, she

started acting out of character. We might also feel like out of sync from time

to time. When this happens, be gentle with yourself, take a break, reflect,

and see what the problem could be. Don’t let your problems control you.

• Be resourceful and learn to improvise.When Joy and Sadness were displaced

from the headquarters, they had to go through so many obstacles just to be

able to go back. Without them, Riley could no longer feel these two important

emotions at all. Despite the many obstacles Joy faced toward the end of her

journey, she never gave up

• Always treasure your family and friends.When Riley’s personality islands get

destroyed, these included Family and Friendship Islands. She then started

acting negatively toward her family and friends, and she eventually cut

herself off from them, which was rare for a generally happy and

well-balanced girl like her. As cliché as it may be, the film reminds us that

family and friends are some of the most important parts of life, and good

relationships are essential to our happiness.