Social Psychology in Nocturnal Animals

Introduction outlining the source materials

There are two source materials that are used in this presentation. The first is ‘Doctor Foster’, which is a British Drama. The second is an American film ‘Nocturnal Animals’. Doctor Foster is a British Drama TV series aired on BBC 1 in 2015. The drama revolves around the relationship between a wife (Dr. Jemma Foster) and her husband (Simon Foster), who is cheating on her with a younger woman. The wife is a doctor employed with the local council and the husband is an entrepreneur. His mistress is the daughter of his business associate and investor. The psychological elements seen in the drama that are also relevant to this project are centred in the myth of Medea, or as is sometimes referred to as “Beware the wrath of the women scorned”. The important questions that arise in this drama, and which are considered in this presentation are:

Why does Gemma Foster not confront her husband when she realises that he is having an affair? What is the underlying relationship between the husband and wife and how does it relate to her not confronting her husband?

Why does Gemma attempt to commit suicide? What is behind her suicidal feelings and what helps her overcome these feelings? Where do Gemma’s need from revenge come from? Is it some primal emotion that is normal for a woman undergoing what she is? Or is it something that is unique to her character in that, not every woman would respond to the situation as she did?

Nocturnal Animals is an American Hollywood film which was released in 2016. The central character in the film, Susan Morrow, who sees similarities between her real life with her ex-husband, and the new novel written by him, titled Nocturnal Animals. She is consumed by the novel, and as the story unfolds, two things become clear. One, she was not happy with her first husband the novelist, who loved her deeply, but was not successful financially. Second, she is not happy with the second husband, for whom she left her first husband, despite his being successful in the financial sense (although he is having some difficulties at the time), and who does not love her and is possibly having an affair with someone else. The important questions that arise with respect to the movie in context of this presentation are: Take a deeper dive into Pilot Training Challenges in Australia with our additional resources.

What is the core reason why Susan is not able to achieve happiness in either of her marriages?

Are Susan’s relationships based on her conditioning of who she is supposed to love because of her mother’s conditioning and domineering nature?

How far is Susan able to live her life the way she would really like to?

To what extent does the social psychological approach helps to explore one relationship in Nocturnal Animals

The relationship between Susan and her ex-husband, Edward Sheffield is depicting of a dissatisfaction on the part of Susan and she is not able to achieve happiness in her marriage with Edward. Outwardly, Edward and Susan are in love, but their relationship with each other is tense and they are constantly fighting with each other. Usually, their fights involve disagreements on Edward’s focus on writing, instead of furthering his career on more promising grounds. Susan is obviously not pleased that Edward is seriously contemplating writing as a career and she wants him to be more ambitious. On the other hand, Edward feels that Susan does not appreciate his talents and she is forcing him to get involved in a type of professional advancement that does not suit his temperament. The Social Psychology approach may explain the reasons for the problems between Susan and Edward and their failing relationship (Levinger, 1976). Social Psychology is the study of the manner and ways in which the personality, motivations, and behaviour of the individual influence and are influenced by social groups (Levinger, 1976). In other words, when people are in a relationship with each other, their relationship is affected by their personality and motivations that are further affected by their social groups.

The Social Exchange theory posited by Levinger (1976) proposes that the marriage is stable when the advantages of staying married outweigh the barriers to divorce. Here, the advantages of staying married can be emotional security, financial security and social status. In other words, people may find that they have certain advantages in staying married that outweigh the barriers to divorce. These barriers to divorce may be religious restrictions, financial expenses, and inability to live alone. When relationships offer emotional security and financial security or an enhanced social status, and these factors are important to the individuals who are in a relationship, they may put in more effort to remain married. In the case of Susan and Edward, at least for Susan, a time comes when she feels that the benefits of staying together are outweighed by the barriers to divorce and therefore, it would be better for her to be with someone else than to be with Edward. Edward does not offer her financial security and social status and these are the two things that she desires more. Edward does not have a job or work life that Susan can be proud of. While Susan is extremely successful at her job, Edward is average or below average at his. Susan would like him to be a high powered executive, but Edward is more interested in writing his novel. Susan on the other hand, does not see any potential in Edward’s writing. She does not seem to value the love that Edward feels for her. Moreover, Susan and Edward have not been able to start a family, which may have served as a barrier to divorce. They do not have any children. Susan even aborts the child that they are having together without telling Edward, possibly because she does not want any barriers to divorce. Therefore, one way to look at it is that social exchange between spouses is the reason why they stay together in a marriage. Once the social exchange is not applicable to the relationship, in the sense, that the spouses are not giving to each other what they need then there are no longer any benefits in the continuation of the union. The social psychological approach also suggests that there are individual and other factors that form the background for the interaction between spouses and also determine the level of satisfaction that the spouses have in the trajectory of their marriage (Karney & Bradbury, 1995). There are variables in such interaction between the spouses that include personality and past experiences and these variables explain the way that the relationship is managed between the spouses (Karney & Bradbury, 1995). These factors affect the relationship between the spouses in a positive or negative manner (Karney & Bradbury, 1995). Every individual brings something of himself into the relationship. This is based on the past experiences, conditioning, and acquired knowledge of the individuals. In that sense, every individual is different from the other. However, sometimes there can be some common experiences or common conditioning, which may lead to the individuals having some similar though processes or ideas. This may form the basis for a satisfactory interaction between the two individuals in a relationship. In the film Nocturnal Animals, Susan and Edward fall in love and get married but then they realise that they are very different from each other. Susan is driven professionally and expects Edward to have the same kind of ambition and drive, which he does not. This becomes a major source of friction for them. Following the Social Psychological theory, one may see that Susan and Edwards are also different because of their history and personality. Susan’s mother is an ambitious woman and does not respect Edward’s lack of ambition. Edward is a talented writer, who is waiting to write and publish something meaningful and does not believe in the material conceptualisation of success. It is clear that Susan feels more like her mother and to a great extent, this feeling is historical in the sense that it is in the conditioning and bringing up of Susan with a mother who is ambitious. On the other hand, Edward is of a very retiring and easy going nature, which is very different from Susan’s. So eventually, their differences are rooted in their past, their upbringing and personality differences.

If Susan and Edward were shown how they are conflicting because of their personality differences, which are rooted in their past conditioning and upbringing, there is a chance that they can learn to empathise with each other. Couple counselling or therapy with a focus on bringing out the reasons for differences in Susan and Edward’s personalities would have been useful in bringing more understanding to both of them. This may have helped resolved their problems or addressed the specific areas of their relationship dynamics where they have issues or problems.

To what extent does the developmental approach helps to explore one relationship from Doctor Foster

The question that is raised with respect to Dr Foster is why does Gemma attempt to commit suicide and what is behind these suicidal feelings and where do her feelings for revenge and vindication come from and why they become so overpowering. In the show, Gemma realises that her husband is cheating on her, very early on; but she does not confront him. Instead, her feelings turn inwards and she becomes self-damaging to some extent, before becoming more violent towards her husband. Therefore, the question that is raised is relevant here as one may wonder at the trajectory of Gemma’s feelings from suicidal to vengeful and violent. This question may be answered with the help of the Development approach. Developmental approach to adults can be explained as “that even in adulthood individuals can be viewed as functioning at different levels along an underlying developmental continuum. The person’s underlying developmental level is presumed to broadly influence social and emotional as well as cognitive functioning. A second premise is that the person’s underlying developmental level continues to influence behaviour after the onset of disorder just as it did in the premorbid period” (Zigler & Glick, 2001, p. 2). Therefore, even though a person is an adult, and may be expected to behave in a certain way, there may be developmental explanations to their cognitive behaviour that may belie the assumptions of accepted behaviour. In the field of Developmental approach, it is posited that an individual can plan and control external event and internal need states by having an apprehension of the self and the external world as differentiated entities (Werner & Kaplan, 1963). The apprehension of the self and external world as differentiated entities is what allows the individual to act in a measured way, delay gratification and work towards achievement of goals (Werner & Kaplan, 1963). In other words, an individual is able to think of himself and the world outside of him as two different entities and this allows the individual to give measured responses to externalities. According to the Developmental approach developed by Werner and Kaplan (1963), the first mode of symptom categorisation is based on the idea that expression in direct action is a symptom of developmentally lower functioning as compared to expression in thought or verbal behaviour. Therefore, those who have a suicidal ideas and obsessions, but not suicidal acts or attempts, are of higher social competence than those who act on these ideas. In other words, people may have suicidal thoughts but may express these to others or not act on these thought, which signifies a higher level of social competence as compared to those who actually act on these ideas. Jemma Foster is talking about suicide (to her ex-colleague) but she is not going through with it. This may be a way for her to reach out for help and be a measured response to her feelings and the externalities that are causing these feelings. Eventually, instead of hurting herself her thoughts turn to revenge against her husband for what he did to her. Again, she goes about extracting vengeance in a measured and planned manner. This shows that her social competence is still at a high level and she is able to take meditated decisions on how she wants to extract revenge from her husband and his mistress.

To what extent does the evolutionary approach help to explore one relationship from Nocturnal Animals

Evolutionary approach to relationships is related to the evolutionary challenges and their responses in the relationships formed, be these, mate attraction, mate retention, kin care, coalition formation and status (Lavner, Bradbury, & Karney, 2012). Evolutional approach focusses on the factors that can help to keep people together in relationships from the perspective of evolutionary explanation. In the context of the relationship between Susan and her ex-husband, Edward, the break-down of their marriage and the reasons why they were not able to retain their relationship can be explained through evolutionary approach. First to explain the theory of evolution in the context of relationships, Darwin posited that pairing behaviours have two decisive processes. The first is the preference for a specific partner and the second is the struggle for a partner that accords to specific idea of who the partner is. As per the evolutionary approach, in order to conserve the union of marriage, the two partners will be faithful, procreate, be financially stable, friendly, and understanding (Lavner, Bradbury, & Karney, 2012). These are the reasons for keeping the relationship strong and grounded. In the film, Nocturnal Animals, none of the above mentioned evolutionary values exist between Susan and Edward, at least from Susan’s side. Susan aborts the baby she conceives with Edward, has an extra marital affair with another man, and refuses to support Edward’s literary aspirations and berates him for not being financially well-to-do. This goes against the evolutionary approach as per which relationships can be maintained only so long as the partners are displaying desirable attitudes in their behaviours, and presenting the best possible image of themselves (Lavner, Bradbury, & Karney, 2012). Susan and Edward’s relationship is tense and there are arguments between them because Susan is not able to adjust to Edward’s lack of ambition and direction. Moreover, as they do not have children with each other, they do not have the ties that can bind them together in an evolutionary perspective (Lavner, Bradbury, & Karney, 2012). Considering the relationship between Susan and Edward, one may see how the two individuals are not able to invest in their relationship by bringing into the relationship the values that the other partner may value. Susan would value more ambition and drive from Edward; while Edward wants respects and family. By each partner not getting what they want from the other, the relationship is threatened. Fincham, Stanley, and Beach (2007) posit that marriage is transformative and the transformative change in a marriage takes place over time and it may determine the outcome of the marriage over a period of time. Transformative changes are positive or negative and these relate to the spouses behaving differently from how they behaved in an earlier time in their relationship. Negative transformative changes can lead to the spouses separating or divorcing over time. A positive transformative change on the other hand, may make the relationship more positive and strong and secure. Susan and Edward have gone through some transformative changes in that they are behaving a lot differently than they did earlier, with Susan becoming more bitter and resentful about Edward’s lack of ambition and drive. This transformative change is not addressed by either spouse or it may have been prevented from ruining their marriage. Therapy with both Susan and Edward could have helped each person see and appreciate what the other desired or wanted from the relationship. Then, if both Susan and Edwards valued their relationship, they could have worked on bringing more into the relationship by adjusting their values to the values of the partner.

To what extent does critical mental health perspective help to explain the mood of Dr Foster from Doctor Foster

Critical mental health perspective can help explain the moods of Gemma in Dr Foster. In this show, Gemma’s moods fluctuate from self-destructive to vengeful. She is also helpless, scared and desperate at some times; and angry, frustrated and driven to hurt at other times. It may be said that Gemma Foster is suffering from some kind of depression and needs help. One explanation of her depression in the show is found in the psychodynamic theory. One psychodynamic theory is that of object relations theory. The objects relations theory is focused on the way people understand and mentally represent their relationships with others, with the objects being the representations of people by the person doing this objectification (Flanagan, 2016). The theory provides an insight into how the moods and emotions of people can be understood through their relationships with others (Flanagan, 2016). In other words, the theory provides a link between the understanding of the mood of a person with the background of the personal relations. A person may be sad and unhappy because of the personal relationships with those who are important in that person’s life; or the person may be happy and cheerful because of strong family ties based on trust and affection. One of the principal themes in the object relations theory is that an individual’s early relationships may set the tone for their relationships later in life (Flanagan, 2016). Using this theory to understand moods of depression brings to focus two points. First, depression may be a consequence of an individual’s ongoing struggle to maintain emotional contact with desired objects, that is, relationships with others. This can be understood as anaclitic pattern and the introjective pattern (Flanagan, 2016). Anaclitic depression is referred to a depression that is caused by a dependency on a specific relationship and the threatened loss of that relationship (Flanagan, 2016). Such depression may be characterised by feelings of helplessness in the individual suffering from depression (Flanagan, 2016). Introjective depression refers to a feeling caused by failure to meet standards set by the individuals themselves or by desired objects (Flanagan, 2016). In the case of Dr Foster, she seems to exhibit symptoms of anaclitic pattern of depression as she is having depressive feelings arising out of the threatened loss of her marriage to Simon. She is unable to focus on work, and cannot speak about what she is going through with others. It also seems that she has a hope that she can keep her marriage together and somehow break the relationship between her husband and his mistress. Coyne's interpersonal theory of depression can also be used to explain Dr Foster’s increasing depressive symptoms. Coyne’s interpersonal theory of depression suggests that when a person is depressed, their negative interpersonal behaviours may cause their rejection by others (Coyne, 1976). The interpersonal model of depression sees an escalating cycle which involves the depressed person and those that they have relationship with (Coyne, 1976). The depressed person desperately seeks reassurance from the others, but this is seen in a negative light by the others and they may start to avoid them or reject them (Coyne, 1976). With such rejection, the depressed individuals become more depressed (Coyne, 1976). The Interpersonal Therapy or IPT can be used to help depressed people break out of this negative cycle. This therapy is focussed on helping people who are having depression due to problems in their personal relationships and can help people like Gemma Foster. Critical mental health perspective can provide an insight into Gemma Foster’s mood. Throughout the series, Dr Foster’s mood remains pensive, introverted and sombre. Despite knowing of her husband’s extramarital affair, she refrains from speaking with him about the affair and becomes more pensive and introverted. He mood affects her work, her relationships with patients and co-workers and even her relationship with her child. She is obviously in a depression as she even tries to take her own life by drowning. It is noteworthy that she despite being a doctor is not able to, or willing to recognise in her own self the symptoms of depression. If Gemma Foster had received help at the right time, she may have been able to break out of her cycle of depression and take better care of her mental health.

To what extent does psychobiological perspective explain Dr Foster’s experience of feelings of aggression in Doctor Foster

The psychobiological perspective on experience of feelings and certain emotions explains that the expression of aggressiveness is influenced by an interaction of social, biological and psychological variables (Lesch & Merschdorf, 2000). This perspective argues that the feelings of aggression and suicidality are heritable and can also be results of an interplay between genetic variations and environmental factors (Lesch & Merschdorf, 2000). It is also argued that the central nervous system “serotonergic activity correlates inversely with human aggressive behavior and individual differences in aggressive disposition are influenced by genetic factors” (Lesch & Merschdorf, 2000, p. 587). As per this view, Dr Foster’s angry and aggressive responses may be due to her genetics or other biological variables. Another perspective is provided by Diaz (2010) who says that evidence suggests that the innate factors of behaviour, including genes and brain circuits as well as acquired factors such as learning, cultural norms and worldviews combine to shape behaviour that may be aggressive. Therefore, as per this view, Dr Foster’s aggressiveness in the show is attributable not just to internal factors, such as, genes and brain circuits, as well as external factors.

A critical summary

Social psychological approach helps to explain the relationship between two people where the interaction between the spouses leads to interaction between personality and past experiences and this explains the way that the relationship is managed between the individuals. This may be positive or negative. The utility of this approach is that it can help find resolution to the conflict or issues between the individuals by recourse to therapy which shows how their conflict arises out of their own personalities and past experiences. Developmental approach helps to explain the character and actions of an individual by reference to their underlying developmental continuum, which may be presumed to broadly influence social and emotional as well as cognitive functioning. The utility of this approach is that it can help to devise measures by which insight into an individual’s actions can be gained as well as measures can be created to respond to these actions through cognitive pathways. Evolutionary approach to relationships helps to gain insight into the status of a relationship through the extent the relationship meets evolutionary challenges. The utility of this approach is that it can help people gain an insight into the reasons for their dissatisfaction with their relationships. Critical mental health perspective can help explain the moods of individuals who are suffering from depression or anxiety, to name a few. The perspective focuses on the relationship factor and how this may affect the mental health of an individual. Using this method clinicians may devise measures by which they can help guide the affected people into understanding the reasons for their depression in the background of their relationships. The psychobiological perspective on experience of feelings and certain emotions explains that the expression of aggressiveness is influenced by an interaction of social, biological and psychological variables. This perspective is useful for its insight into the interaction of variables and their impact on the moods of an individual. This can help the clinicians to develop measures that consider multiple factors, social, psychological and biological, for finding solutions to the problem being faced by the individual.

References

Coyne, J. C. (1976). Depression and the response of others. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85, 186-193.

Díaz, J. L. (2010). The psychobiology of aggression and violence: bioethical implications. International social science journal, 61(200-201), 233-245.

Fincham, F. D., Stanley, S. M., & Beach, S. R. (2007). Transformative Processes in Marriage: An Analysis of Emerging Trends. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 275–292 .

Flanagan, L. M. (2016). Object relations theory: Inside out and outside. In J. Berzoff, L. M. Flanagan, & P. Hertz, Psychodynamic clinical theory and psychopathology in contemporary multicultural contexts (pp. 118-157). New York: Rowman & Littlefield.

Karney, B. R., & Bradbury, T. N. (1995). The Longitudinal Course of Marital Quality and Stability: A Review of Theory, Method and Research. Psychological Bulletin, 118(1), 3- 34.

Lavner, J. A., Bradbury, T. N., & Karney, B. (2012). Incremental Change or Initial Differences? Testing Two Models of Marital Deterioration. Journal of Family Psychology, 26(4), 606-616.

Lesch, K. P., & Merschdorf, U. (2000). Impulsivity, aggression, and serotonin: a molecular psychobiological perspective. Behavioral sciences & the law, 18(5), 581-604.

Levinger, G. (1976). A social psychological perspective on marital dissolution. Journal of Social Issues, 32(1), 21-47.

Werner, H., & Kaplan, B. (1963). Symbol formation: An organ- ismic-developmental approach to language and the expression of thought . New York: Wiley.

Zigler, E., & Glick, M. (2001). The developmental approach to adult psychopathology. The Clinical Psychologist, 54(4), 2-11.