The Science of Pixar's ‘Inside Out’

This was great. Thanks for sharing.

No its not, but how do you account for feeling about something that goes against your logic? Ie quitting a job without finding another. How is emotion guiding logic in every case?

I don't know if its generally accepted yet, but I wish it was, and hope it one day is. For the last few years, I've found that Emotions vs Logic is very analogous to Magic vs Science.

"Magic is just Science we don't understand yet"

"Emotions are just Logic you don't understand yet"

When people believed Magic existed, and it was uncontrollable by the majority there were negative outcomes. Those with magic, exploiting those without it. Those without magic, fearing and killing those with it.

However, when the general attitude changed to: Although we don't know the science behind it yet, everything happens for a reason. It gives people hope that they can uncover that reason. They are also less prone to being exploited by it and reduces the chances of fearing it. Succinctly, believing in Science democratizes access to "Magic".

Similarly, if a person believes emotions are outside reason and therefore outside their control, they are more likely to succumb to them. Meanwhile, believing emotions are controllable, not only provides hope for people that dislike their current emotional state, but it is also directly proportional to increasing the belief that you are also in control of your response to those emotions.

Sadly, no. Anyone who's studied human emotion know that the dichotomy doesn't make sense (especially if studying the neural basis of emotions [1]). I hope this movie will help to shift some of that mindset.

[1] My PhD was the interaction between human emotion and decision-making but even defining 'emotion' was tricky.

As another datapoint, people with brain damage causing them to experience very little emotion have great difficulty making decisions, to such a degree that their lives can quickly fall apart. Emotions appear to be an essential element of well functioning human cognition.

Unfortunately, that article perpetuates the same (false) dichotomy between emotion and reason. It also suggests that emotions and higher-order functions are 'competing' for control.

The reality is that if the brain regions known to be involved in processing emotion are damaged/destroyed, then there are very negative consequences for your ability to make rational and well-reasoned choices. In other words, emotion (and emotional processing) is critical for logical thought to prevail. In that sense, I really like that the movie had emotions at the 'control panel' (I've yet to see it).

Wow ... I hadn't thought of the Beano for god knows how long.

Sorry about the lack of links, but this os how i remember things. Microexpressions representing emotions, as representes in 'lie to me' are a lie.

The scientist behind the research that inspired the show admites he faked his research. I am mobile right now, but if you search microexpressions here in HN you will find it

Edit: i found it http://m.chronicle.com/article/The-Liars-Tell/149261/ and apparently my memory stretched the truth a little using the strong words 'admited' and 'fake'. But it is a debatable research

Every basic emotions researcher comes up with a different list. But most of the lists include some version of fear, anger, disgust, and joy (but not sadness). "Emotional Brain" by Joseph LeDoux, chapter 5 has more info on various lists. From the same book:

James Averill, a major proponent of social constructivism, describes a behavior pattern, called “being a wild pig”, that is quite unusual by Western standards, but is common and even “normal” among the Gururumba, a horticultural people living in the highlands of New Zealand. The behavior gets its name by analogy. There are no undomesticated pigs in this culture, but occasionally, and for unknown reasons, a domesticated one will go through a temporary condition in which it runs wild. But the pig can, with appropriate measures, be redomesticated and returned to the normal pig life among the villagers. And, in a similar vein, Gururumba people can act this way, becoming violent and aggressive and looting and stealing, but seldom causing harm or taking anything of importance, and eventually returning to routine life. In some instances, after several days of living in the forest, during which time the stolen objects are destroyed, the person returns to the village spontaneously with no memory of the experience and is never reminded of the event by the villagers. Others, though, have to be captured and treated like a wild pig - held over a smoking fire until the old self returns […]

Averill uses “being a wild pig” to support his claim that “most standard emotional reactions are socially constructed or institutionalized patterns of response” rather than biologically determined events.

The science behind the movie was very clever. What has disappointed me is that Disney/Pixar keep on pushing the sexism gambit in their movies. This movie wasn't as bad as some of their others, but they are Consistently failing to address gender in a balanced way. Does anyone male in this movie do/say anything good? What about Frozen? The stupid (Wessleton) and nasty (Hans) are only male. Brave? Same thread. The kings/Princes are all obnoxious and/or stupid. Wreck-it-Ralph : Kowalski strikes Ralph across the face as a show of might and it's meant to be funny (ie. The modern assertive woman who bashes men as "humour") Several of the tinkerbell movies where ratchet & clank are the typical stupid males (and in most of them, they are almost the only males). To be fair. They do portray the southern belle as a dimwitted hick too, which is the stupid southerner prejudice emanating from the U.S. civil war. However, they did a great job with Tangled and Princess and the frog - there's a much better gender balance in those movies. It's a shame. You take your kids to see a supposedly family friendly movie and you cringe at the sexism that is pushed by the writers and directors. Do you just shrug it off, wondering if this prejudice won't rub off on your kids - or do you highlight the sexism to your kids and ask how a large studio could be so consistent in their bias, despite their deep attention to the science. I can't help feel there is more sexism and more conscious sexism than there has ever been. It really makes me sad.