Movies can teach us a lot about psychology, not just life, love, or how the mind works. Films are powerful storytellers; they shape our views and can sometimes even provide valuable insights. However, not all lessons from Hollywood are accurate.
While some films do offer real insights into human psychology, others rely on misunderstandings. Below are two films you may know and love but which, to put it bluntly, are built on psychological myths.
1. Inside Out (2015)
Inside Out (2015) is a beloved family movie that follows a young girl named Riley as she deals with a major life change: moving to a new city. The film presents an interesting, literal depiction of her inner emotional struggle, with characters like Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust representing her emotions inside her mind. A key plot point is how memories, shown as glowing orbs, store Riley's experiences.
In the movie, these memories are stored neatly in an organized section of Riley’s brain, lined up in rows according to their emotional value: happy, sad, etc. They appear to stay the same over time, easily accessed when needed, but can also be lost.
Although this portrayal is heartwarming and exciting, the way memory actually works in the human brain is much more complex. According to psychology professor Jennifer Talarico, "That might be a useful visual metaphor for memory, but it's not how memory works."
Psychologists and neuroscientists have long known that memories aren't stored as neat, stable entities in one part of the brain. Instead, research shows that memories are spread across different brain networks. Talarico explains that this rebuilding process is shaped by our knowledge of the world, our present thoughts and beliefs, and our current goals. Our brain has separate systems for core mental functions: vision, hearing, language, emotion, and so on."
"When we recall a memory, we piece it back together from these parts," she adds. This means we don't just pull a memory off a mental shelf. Instead, we rebuild it from the fragments stored in our brain seeing it, hearing it, and feeling its emotions again. Talarico explains that this rebuilding process is shaped by our knowledge of the world, our present thoughts and beliefs, and our current goals. So, our memories can change over time, even years later."
In short, while 'Inside Out' tells a delightful story, it oversimplifies the reality of how human memory works. Memory is far more dynamic, changeable, and subject to revision than the film suggests.
2. Memento (2001)
Memento (2001), one of Christopher Nolan's masterpieces, tells the gripping story of Leonard Shelby, a man on a relentless quest to solve his wife's murder. However, his pursuit is complicated by a condition that prevents him from forming new memories. This so called short term memory loss forces him to rely on clues he encounters notes, photos, or even tattoos to keep track of important information. These tools are his only lifeline as he navigates a world where everything he learns quickly fades.
Throughout the film, Shelby makes it clear that his inability to form new memories is due to short term memory loss. When asked if he has amnesia, he corrects the assumption by saying, "It's different." He explains, "I have no short term memory. I know who I am and about myself, but since my injury, I can't make new memories. Everything fades. If we talk for too long, I'll forget where we began. I don’t know if we’ve ever met, and the next time I see you, I won’t remember this conversation."
Thanks to 'Memento' as well as other popular films like 'Finding Nemo' (2003) and '50 First Dates' (2004) many people believe that this is what short term memory loss involves. It’s an easy assumption: if someone can’t form new memories, it seems logical that short term memory is impaired. But this portrayal is highly misleading. In reality, the condition Shelby experiences where he can’t retain new information is called anterograde amnesia. According to the 'Clinical Handbook of Neurology', this condition is defined by the "severe inability to form new memories," which is exactly what Shelby faces in 'Memento'.
On the other hand, short term memory loss refers to the inability to hold onto information that was just introduced, as explained by research from the 'Psychonomic Bulletin & Review'.
Think of it this way: if you met someone with short term memory loss, they might struggle to remember how they started a sentence or what you just told them, but they'd still likely remember meeting you. By contrast, someone with anterograde amnesia, like Shelby, wouldn’t be able to retain that they had met you at all, let alone what was said. This distinction is crucial, yet it's often confused due to how memory loss is portrayed in films like 'Memento'.
In both 'Inside Out' and 'Memento', memory is depicted in ways that resonate emotionally with audiences but fall short of how memory really functions. While entertaining, these films show that Hollywood sometimes bends the truth about how our minds work, leaving viewers with misconceptions about memory.