Emotion frequently trumps reason in decision-making
I’ve always been a pushover for Disneyesque happy endings. My daughter will tell you with a Cheshire-cat smile on her face that I was the only human crying at the end of the kiddie matinee for Heidi,
the Disney rendition of the tale of the lame girl who lived in the Alps. And my daughter, psychiatrist Dr. Juliette Galbraith, knows her Mom. Currently, we both teach in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and we are both interested in emotional intelligence So, last week at dinner, when she suggested that I go see the new Disney movie, “Inside Out, ” I paid close attention. She said that it is great fun for all ages, and that it accurately illustrates contemporary thinking on brainand behavior. An unbeatable combination, if you ask me.
As a result, I grabbed husband John and off we went. I relaxed into the seat and quickly lost myself in the five emotions of disgust, sadness, anger, joy and fear, as they inhabited the being of the young heroine, Riley. These five emotions are in the driver’s seat, in charge of operations: they control the way Riley feels, and therefore thinks and acts. Unlike most animated films, where behavior drives the action of the plot, Inside Out suggests that emotions are crucial in the life choices we make.
We begin to know Riley as an infant and follow her and her parents through happy times in Minnesota, where she stars in ice hockey and collects a memory bank filled with joyful events. Even tempered and balanced, Riley builds strong relationships and enjoys friendships, goofy times and family times. She relies on her bank of pleasant associations to feel secure and confident. But at age 11, just as pubertybegins to lurk in her background, Riley is forced to move across the country, where she finds herself insecure, unhappy and out of control. Balance now askew, Riley must navigate through her subconscious, dreams, and memories to restore balance and protect her emerging personality. She gets highjacked by anger and disgust and impulsively sets out to be self-destructive. As viewers, we cheer on the lost emotions of joy and sadness, hoping they can get back onto the driver’s seat of Riley’s life decisions. In their journey back to the center of her control system, we learn of the foundations of personality formation and memory construction.
A bit of research informed me that two astute psychological experts were involved in working closely with the film. Dacher Keltner, PhD, echoed the message of the film that emotions are central in determining how we look at the world and guide us in our handling of really important life circumstances. And further, emotions shape how we relate to other people. And emotions can exert influence on how we remember events according to research at University of California- Irvine. Memory is imperfect and emotions are part of the way we reconstruct the past in our lives.
The film is brilliant, and its message is powerful. The search for happiness is not our ultimate life goal. We are best served by living from the inside out, using our emotions to inform our wishes and our choices. Cognitive filters help us decide which emotions to favor. The combination creates balance between intellect and emotion.
The Mortimer Zuckerman Institute for Brain and Behavior at Columbia University also consulted with the Disney animation team. Complex ideas are presented with multimedia cleverness, making it effortless to consider concepts of core memory, imagination, long-term memory, forgotten events. Even the subconscious is presented to us in living Technicolor animation so real that I easily found myself lost in Riley’s mind and dreams. I found myself imagining how much fun Dr. Keltner and the neuroscientists at Zuckerman must have had as they attached complex ideas to the whimsy and endless budget of the Disney animators who made their scientific research and assumptions come alive in this “Major Emotion Picture.”
Since 1978 I have been teaching clients of all ages, graduate students and psychiatricresidents, and colleagues from all over the world that learning “from the inside out “is the most powerful path to optimal living. Finally we have an irresistible movie that accurately illustrates the basic concepts of the structure of personality, the centrality of emotion and the importance of honoring internal reality in designing life.
In the final analysis, how we think is central to the way we behave and the ideas we promote during our lifetime. But it is how we feel, how our emotions influence us to engage with what means the most to us, and how deeply we care about someone, that brings us the most joy in life. And how lucky we are to have the Disney team bring that home in a way that allows us all, from age 4 to age 94, to pay homage to the power of emotion.
To consider: Do you ever find that disgust or anger pushes you to handle situations or people in ways that are abrupt or inconsiderate? Might the anger or disgust be a cover for sadness or loss? If you were to allow yourself to know how you actually feel, how might that encourage you to be more authentic? And might that help you live a more optimal life?
To Check Out: The Mortimer Zuckerman Institute for Brain and Behavior.http://zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/
To Read: Born To Be Good. Dacher Keltner, PhD, Norton, New York, 2009
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