Week 7: Neuroscience + Art

 


This week's topic of the unconscious mind and dreams was extremely captivating. The brain is the most complex part of the human body, as it is the seat of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, initiator of body movement, and controller of behavior (NIH). Anything is possible in our dreams, and many people, including myself, have always wondered why certain dreams occur and if there are many meanings to them. The unconscious mind plays a pivotal role in neuroscience, as it is all the processes of the mind that are not available to consciousness, including repressed feelings, automatic skills, unacknowledged perceptions, thoughts, desires, and automatic reactions (Vesna). Sigmund Freud greatly influenced this concept of mind, as he connects the unconscious mind with dreams, first arguing that the motivation of all dream content is wish-fulfillment and that the instigation of a dream is often to be found in the events of the day preceding the dream, which he calls this the "day residue" (Sack). In his The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud introduces the key concepts of psychoanalysis, such as the Oedipus complex, which may appear disturbing to audiences and stir up controversy, as the theory line of thinking further into the realm of taboo subjects where then envy and jealousy of young boys are aimed at the father, the object of the mother's affection and attention (Mcleod). In contrast, Carl Jung argues that in the structure of the unconscious, sexuality was not at the base of all unconscious thoughts, and thought the concept was limited and instead of simply being a reservoir of repressed thoughts and motivation, the unconscious could also be a source of creativity (AllPsychologySchools).  




As a psychology major, I am fascinated by the brain and neuroscience. Surprisingly, I did not expect the great neurologist Sigmund Freud and psychiatrist Carl Jung to be applied to the study of art. However, the creativity of neuroscience can be applied to the art field, including the creation of movies, such as thrillers and horror genres, as the famous filmmaker David Cronenberg implements Freudian and Jungian theories into many of his filmmaking processes. 


Freud and Jung


Work Cited: 

All Psychology Schools. “How Freud and Jung Made Psychology Popular.” All Psychology Schools, 2024, https://www.allpsychologyschools.com/blog/freud-jung/.

Mcleod, Saul. “Oedipus Complex: Sigmund Freud Mother Theory.” Simply Psychology, 25 January 2024, https://www.simplypsychology.org/oedipal-complex.html.

Mcleod, Saul. “Sigmund Freud Dream Theory.” Simply Psychology, 24 January 2024, https://www.simplypsychology.org/sigmund-freud-dream-theory.html.

NIH. “Brain Basics: Know Your Brain | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.” National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 15 November 2023, https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-know-your-brain.

Sack, Harald. “The Interpretation of Dreams according to Sigmund Freud.” SciHi Blog, 4 November 2021, http://scihi.org/interpretation-dreams/. Accessed 17 May 2024.

Vesna, Victoria. “Neuroscience and Art Part 2: Unconscious Mind/Dreams.” BruinLearn, 2024, https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/courses/183769/pages/unit-7-view?module_item_id=6671254


Image Cited:

Appignanesi, Lisa. “BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, Freud vs Jung.” BBC, 2012, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019qj15.

Sack, Harald. “The Interpretation of Dreams according to Sigmund Freud.” SciHi Blog, 4 November 2021, http://scihi.org/interpretation-dreams/. 

Wilde, Charlotte. “Dreams: Inner Workings Of The Unconscious Mind | Charlotte Wilde.” Patheos, 8 February 2023, https://www.patheos.com/blogs/oldwaysinmoderntimes/2023/02/dreams-inner-workings-of-the-unconscious-mind/.







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