Article fromOrder of Psychologists of Lazio

Then, finally, the turning point came, I must say unexpected and extraordinary ...

The turning point starts from the introduction, through the "explanation" of Gioia, of the basic memories and, connected to the latter, of the islands of personality. This complexity that is gradually introduced into the plot surprised me and I loved it and so the vision acquired new vitality and curiosity. In fact, as we enter the mind of Riley (the 11-year-old girl protagonist of the story) we find the childhood fantasies, the imaginary friend Bing Bong, the valley of lost memories, the train of thoughts, the area of ​​abstract thought , the creative area, the disturbing dreamlike characters represented by the clown Jangles, up to the "dream factory" organized like the film studios.

I point out a curiosity about the relationship, represented in the cartoon, between cinema and dream: practically born a few years apart, in fact the Lumière brothers project "La Sortie de l'usine Lumière" ("The exit from officine Lumière ", considered the starting point of the history of cinema) in 1895, Freud wrote" The interpretation of dreams ", the work that opens the doors to the dream world, in 1899.

But let's go back to Inside Out! The central theme of the cartoon can be summarized with a question: what happens in the mind of an 11-year-old girl and what role do emotions play in her behavior? Around this theme revolve many theories that, in this post, I will not have the opportunity to tell them all. Instead, I would like to dwell on one aspect of which I found fewer traces in the comments on the net or in newspapers, namely: the islands of personality connected to basic memories.

These basic memories, important memories, "super important" as Gioia says, feed different aspects of Riley's personality, called precisely: islands of the personality or complex representations that have the function of "pillars", of strong structures that guide our present and future experiences. For example, if I am in a new situation, perhaps in a new school, with the effort of rebuilding new friends in a different environment from the one in which I have lived previously (what happens, practically, to the protagonist Riley) I can appeal to these islands of personality to orient myself in this new situation (clearly the reference to the island of personality is a simplification, however, in my opinion, it is very effective and truthful from a psychological point of view).

In the cardboard this "guiding" mechanism, these maps, formed by the islands of the personality, go slowly in "tilt" and the situation precipitates. This is because Riley's experience is so excessive and strong that emotions lose their function and get stuck. The blockage begins when Joy and Sadness "short circuit" and leave the control room to lose themselves in the labyrinths of long-term memory. And so the maps, the certainties, the pillars, begin to shatter until they are completely destroyed, producing the total block of emotions and other aspects that I will not reveal to respect those who have not yet seen the cardboard ...

Riley, initially, can not even find effective support in his parents, most likely they too committed to managing the emotions aroused by the difficulties of the move, by the loss of their safety and ties with the past, by the unexpected events related to the new job of the father and so on.

Our mind, especially through the islands of personality, is described as a theater, rich, very rich in characters, representations, places, and these islands are therefore not only fixed, schematic, almost static photos of past events, but precisely representations, interactions, moving memories, animated memories, similar to how the sequences of a film could be. This aspect is fundamental because it tells us that we build our identity thanks to the relationship with others, we are not electronic processors that are born and develop independently, but relational beings that immediately internalize (from conception), in the form of memories and not only, relationships, affections, emotions lived in the relationship with significant others, first of all with our parents. In this process the role of emotions, all of them, is fundamental, they give us the tone, the "color" of those experiences, they help us understand what is happening, how to treat a certain experience and what behavior to act.

Even the choice of personality islands does not come from a generic idea, each has a clear psychological function.

There is the island of hockey, the island of friendship, the island of nonsense, the island of honesty and the island of the family. The different islands also have a respective psychological meaning: the family island obviously has to do with the representation we have of our parenting couple and their relationship with us. The island of Hockey has to do with sport and therefore with the relationship, also competitive, with the other, the ability to handle situations, school, homework and comparison with others. The island of honesty has to do with the values ​​acquired from an early age, starting from the control of our impulses and then with increasingly complex controls: respect for the other, honesty, up to, perhaps when it is bigger, to moral and ethical issues. The island of friendship, obviously, is in relation to the relationship with significant others, outside the family, with the group of peers, but not only, later also with the first love ties. Finally, the island of nonsense, the "stupidera", is the area of ​​funny memories of our childhood, the out of tune songs, the pursuits, the grimaces, the slightly foolish games first with mom and dad and then, later, with friends. Island that should not be confined to childhood alone, at least hopefully.