PSYC 285 - Emotional Engagement with Film

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as FILM 285 and MEDS 285) While movies engage our emotions in psychologically significant ways, scholarship on the psychological allure and impact of film has existed primarily at the interdisciplinary margins. This course aims to bring such scholarship into the foreground. We begin with a careful examination of the appeal and power of narrative, as well as processes of identification and imagined intimacy with characters, before taking a closer analytical look at specific film genres (e.g., melodrama, horror, comedy, action, social commentary) both in their own right and in terms of their psychological significance (e.g., why do we enjoy sad movies? How do violent movies influence viewer aggression? How might socially conscious films inspire activism or altruism?) In addition to delving into theoretical and empirical papers, a secondary goal of the course is to engage students as collaborators; brainstorm and propose innovative experimental methods for testing research questions and hypotheses that emerge in step with course materials. Ms. Greenwood and Ms. Kozloff.

Prerequisites: for Psychology majors - PSYC 105 or PSYC 106; for Film majors - FILM 175 or FILM 210; for Media Studies majors - MEDS 160.

Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.