Cognitive Behavioral Psychology In Inside Out

Cognitive Behavioral Psychology is based on the theory that a person’s thoughts are the main cause of his/her external actions as well as his/her emotions. This branch of psychology focuses on the present and not stressing over the past and future. It relates to the id, ego, and superego science of the brain, therefore supporting the statement that thoughts are the most influential cause of a person’s behavior. In Inside Out, Riley, the main character, is the only child of a family that just moved away from the home in Minnesota to their new home in San Francisco, thus causing the rise of sadness. Consequently, the movie portrays how Riley’s dynamic thoughts change her behavior throughout the movie. Riley’s emotional journey, due to the shock of family movement, can be represented by the ABC theory because her thoughts clearly affect her behavior and emotions. Riley’s thoughts are what cause her behavior to become so dynamic once they move to San Francisco.The activating event in this situation is the fact that her family has to move to San Francisco because of her dad’s work, consequently it causes Riley to become sad.

As sadness takes over during the end of the movie, she predicts that her parents will be mad that she isn’t pleased with the move because they seem to be, but as parents usually do, they understand where she is coming from, thus forgiving her actions. In this case, the consequence resulted differently than what she thought. It shows the ABC clearly through three separate thoughts of actions. Inside Out clearly represents Cognitive Behavioral Psychology because the main gist of the film is how thoughts and emotions control a person’s personality and behavior, by giving life to Riley’s emotions such as Joy, Sadness, and