Habit Patterns (1954) hails from the Psychology for Living film series by McGraw Hill Book Company, with an accompanying textbook by Sorenson and Malm. It was targeted at 1950s teens. I’d hate to see what questions they asked the class after showing this hilariously harrowing film.
“It’s a little late for tears, isn’t it Barbara?” she says, the patronizing narrator beginning to chide. “You’re a creature of habit, Barbara, we all are. Unfortunately not all your habits are good ones. Here’s how your day started wrong.”
There’s a list.
“You started your day with no plan at all. Can’t find your hair brush? Can’t remember where you left it?” She continues in the same tone throughout all 14 minutes of this educational film that reminds us social norms change over time.
Barbara is compared to Helen, a neighbour and classmate who behaves perfectly. “[Helen] uses taste in selecting her clothes, and more than that she keeps them clean, and mended. And she’s able to match the right skirt with the right sweater.” At that time, however, this was an important point. Barbara goes off to school in a dirty sweater, which was not okay 50 years ago, as today.
“If you had a habit plan for your mornings you might get off to a decent start one day.” There is useful info about keeping a sleep routine and good hygiene and how some habits smooth life, but poor Barbara isn’t going to learn them this way. If you’d like to build good habits to replace unwanted ones, I suggest starting with a good therapist, or online CBT. (And, break a habit.)
(8 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
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9 Comments to
“Vintage Psychology Film”
That narrator sounds like the voice inside of a depressive’s head filled with negative thoughts and cognitive distortions. If Barbara wasn’t depressed at the beginning of the video, I’m sure she was by the end of it. And if this were today, she’d come back to school the next day with a semi-automatic.
Wendy Aron, author of Hide & Seek: How I Laughed at Depression, Conquered My Fears and Found Happiness
http://www.wendyaron.com
HAhhaha. What a scary glimpse into the past of psychology, and culture. That narrarator was wicked. I’m pretty sure thats how people become Borderline. Poor girl.
Helen’s “habits” sound OCD to me.
Conventions of society my ass.
This is an excellent example of how ‘psychological science’ is not science at all. How we see and study ourselves is an expression of the culture of the times. There is no such thing as objectivity when we study ourselves. We should know that in 50 years, the current psychological knowledge base, and its instructional media, will appear to be as out-dated, odd, or even pathological, as this film seems to us.
Perhaps. But also just as likely is that, just as with any science, as our knowledge progresses, our theories also progress and become more refined. In fact, many of the current modern theories of psychology (such as cognitive-behaviorism) have changed little since their introduction 30+ years ago. That shows that science — any science — progresses with knowledge. But this gradual progress certainly doesn’t discount the legitimacy of these sciences to begin with.
John, don’t confuse change with progress. Progress, in the scientific sense, implies greater precision in control, prediction, and understanding of causal features in a system. Other than making probabilistic statements, we are unable to predict, with certainty, what any person will do tomorrow. In psychology, we have experienced many changes, often inspired by theoretical frameworks from the physical sciences, but still, largely changes which can be described as fads or fashion.
I remember seeing this film back in the ’50s when I started junior high. I wished I could be like Helen, but knew I was hopelessly like Barbara. This hopelessness was not an incentive to change, just a complete downer. But that’s the way kids were raised back then. And, you know what? We grew up to be productive citizens who contributed much to society. Even the get-together at the friend’s house was sooo civil. Kids today would likely be acting out in all kinds of ways in such a setting. Back then, the worst offense at school was chewing gum. Despite the negative aspects of this film compared to how we advise kids today (and I have a 12 year old, an 18 year old, and a son in college), some of the information given to Barbara does make good, common sense, and is applicable today.
A curious blend of good advice and intolerance of failure. Such is the fascism of days past…
Wow! What a video! I’m so glad we’ve moved on from this (for the most part).
As a researcher, it seems that the narrator is trying to change the behavior of students is by shaming them. The whole film is a 15 minute shaming exercise. Today we know that shame doesn’t generally lead to more effective behavior, but if anything leads to more withdrawal and things like depression.
Jason Luoma
http://www.portlandpsychotherapyclinic.com
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 26 Aug 2008
