After 18 years you've become one of Spirited Away and why we like psychological testing

"I can only send you here, and you have to go the rest of the way by yourself, don't look back." Animation master Hayao Miyazaki's classic "Spirited Away" finally landed in domestic theaters after 18 years. The only animated film to win both the Oscars and the Berlin Golden Bear has grossed 400 million so far.

Chihiro, Hakuryu, Faceless Man... As a collective memory of the childhood of the post-80s and post-90s, this movie set off a wave of "memory killing". The fun psychological test that followed was a test, and who did you become in Spirited Away 18 years later? "Swipe the screen in the circle of friends."

In fact, the fun psychological test of pairing with characters or celebrities in popular film and television dramas, classic original works, has become quite popular in recent years, such as, "Test it, which hero are you in Jin Yong's pen?" "World Book Day 丨 Test which writer is your soul background?" And so on. So, what kind of psychology is behind the popularity of psychological tests such as this?

Different occasions show different "me"

"The world is changing rapidly, society is becoming more complex but flattened, and personal characteristics are gradually hidden and blurred. Many people have no idea who they really are and fall into the self-cognitive myth of 'who am I'. Dr. Lei Kaichun, a researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with the surging news (www.thepaper.cn), "The psychological test of character matching can meet people's psychological needs to define 'who I am' in the most simple and intuitive way." ”

"These classic characters have a high degree of recognition and social consensus, and it is clear at a glance what a character or character symbol represents. Of course, in addition to the individual's exploration of the self, there is another layer of social significance, that is, through the pairing of characters to let others quickly know 'me'. Lei Kaichun said.

It is worth noting that any psychological test is a self-explanatory test with subjective presuppositions. Dr. Lei Kaichun believes that when individuals do such psychological tests, they actually have a certain tendency in their hearts.

"Individuals often have the illusion of 'ideal personality' in their cognition of themselves, but there is no small deviation from the real self. And the 'social self' that the individual shows in the process of social interaction is not necessarily the true self. An individual's self-perception and the 'me' seen by those around them can sometimes be at odds with each other. And the fun psychological test results are posted on social platforms such as the circle of friends, simply and rudely labeling themselves, flaunting which one they belong to, not only to explore 'who I am', or to resonate and close the distance between people, for example, 'I and you have tested out that we are white dragons, ah, it turns out that we are the same kind of ah. So, with the talking point, the conversation box opened. Lei Kaichun said.

Presenting oneself differently on different occasions is known in psychology as a "personality mask". Guan Anji, a national second-level psychological counselor and registered hypnotist, told the surging news reporter, "Everyone will have a lot of different personality masks, and the two words mask, in Chinese culture, seem to be pejorative, but in fact, in the psychological sense, this is not a pejorative meaning." ”

"A healthy and sound adult must have a variety of different personality masks and be able to use them very flexibly in different situations. For example, if you are the leader of a company, the way you look at your subordinates at work is different from the state you present when you return home as a husband's wife, father and mother. Therefore, when assessing whether a person's personality is complete and healthy, there is a very important evaluation criterion: is the individual actively invoking these personality masks, or is the individual passively and uncontrollably controlled by these personality masks? Guan Anji said.

The rebellious period is also a search for "who I am"

Spirited Away also happens to be a film that explores self-knowledge. "Chihiro Ogino" is the heroine's real name. But when she stumbles into the "mysterious world", the name is stripped away, leaving only the new name "Thousand". The names "Chihiro" and "Chihiro" are metaphors for two selves— the original Chihiro and the lost Chihiro.

With the loss of the name, Chihiro's memory also begins to gradually decline, and Chihiro's search for her real name runs through the entire film, implying the percussion of "who am I". In contrast, the white dragon, who cannot recall his name, cannot find a way back, loses himself, and loses his freedom.

When exactly did the formation of individual self-knowledge begin? Guan Anji said that in the process of growing up, the initial self-perception formation is when going to nursery or kindergarten, "At this age, children first begin to try to be independent. Trying to leave the control of your parents and become a real self. Therefore, this period will be jokingly called the first rebellious period by many parents. ”

At this stage, children will like to say something to their parents, they all say no, you let him go east, he must go west, you have to come backwards with you, it looks very similar to the fifteen or sixteen-year-old adolescence stage, but this stage, because the child's energy is relatively small, his power against the parents will be relatively small, will not cause the parents to pay great attention, the child is unlikely to make a particularly out of line behavior.

The ages of two to six are important stages in which children begin to explore who I am, mainly through learning and opposing authority. Guan Anji said: "Children at this stage will find a person he particularly admires as an example to learn to become such a person in life. And before learning from someone, it is often determined by opposing authority to 'who I am', I have to be different from you, I can know that I am me, if I am like you, then I have not become you? Therefore, almost all people establish themselves at the beginning of life by opposing authority, mainly against their parents or against their primary nurturers, but in the process they encounter some resistance. ”

Why label yourself

In Guan Anji's view, behind the pursuit of psychological tests for character matching, it reflects the lack of self-identity, "people who lack self-identity will constantly look for 'who I am'." The popularity of the circle of friends of such psychological tests reflects the lack of self-awareness of many people. Of course, this kind of test is not everyone is interested, some people will find this kind of test boring, scorn it, they will feel what a rich and three-dimensional person they are, why should they label themselves as a character? ”

Guan Anji said that in fact, such labeled psychological tests are very similar to the popular constellation tests in the early years (Note: the constellations mentioned here are different from the astrological disk), and will be doped with some ambiguous and specious personality characteristics in the test results of each constellation. ”