Psycho Lit Log

Alfred Hitchcock’s film Psycho was made in 1960, a time where how we understood psychology was changing dramatically. This is definitely reflected in the characters in Psycho and some of the themes in the movie. The character of Norman Bates starts out as seeming strange and unsettling, but we can’t really tell if there is actually anything wrong with him psychologically until later in the movie. In the earlier 1900s, behaviorism was one of the most common psychological schools of thought. This meant analyzing the “observable behaviors” of psychology patients, however it placed little, if any, emphasis on the actual minds of the patients. In the late 50s and the 60s, a new school of thought called humanistic psychology emerged. Humanistic psychology focused on experiences that people had and how that impacted them. Cognitive Psychology combined both of these. People who followed this school of thought were concerned with both observable behavior and the mind itself. With all of these new and unexplored ideas about psychology floating around, the media of the time will reflect that in films like Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” or Ken Kesey’s book “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” An important part of this interest with physiology was the conclusion of the movie, where the doctor tells Lila and Sam about Norman’s condition. It is a satisfying conclusion at first until we hear Norman’s conversation with his “mother,” which casts doubt on the analysis. While some of what the doctor said was true, it was definitely not completely correct, which just shows that they have a limited understanding of what goes on in Norman Bates’ mind. This makes it even creepier since if we don’t understand his mind we have no idea what he might do. This may reflect Hitchcock’s own feelings or the general public’s feelings about people with psychological disorders at the time. This film is like an insight into what people thought in the 1960s. Norman’s condition definitely gets into the ideas of Humanistic psychology, where the things he has experienced have definitely led him to this point in his life. We get some explanation of the trauma he faced as a young person and how he developed his mother into his own mind. This definitely reflects the thinking of Humanistic psychology because it seems this was the single thing that really changed how he had behaved and ultimately gave them his psychological disorder. Throughout most of the film Norman (when he is himself), is still reasonably likable, even if he is unsettling and the audience almost feels sorry for him. It never really seems like it was his fault that his “mother” killed people. A common trait that there seems to be is the stigma around these mental problems. In both Psycho and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest(another piece of media made around the same time), people seem to be frightened by the people with these disorders. In Psycho, Marion is taken aback when Norman mentions his mother and hints that she might have something wrong with her mind. This is really the only point we see Norman flip out and get mad at Marion. It is obvious that these disorders are seen as very bad and people want to avoid them as much as possible. Similarly, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the patients are often treated with disdain and fear, not only by random people they encounter, but the hospital staff as well. These pieces of media are both very conscious of the way these people are treated in the society of their time. The film seems to cast a negative light on people with psychological problems. However it is worth considering that someone who had a psychological disorder who was less violent and more docile may have been a much worse story, especially a horror story, rather than one who is a murderer with complex and obscure motives. Alfed Hitchcock’s Psycho reflects its time. It was a time where people were questioning and discovering new ideas about psychology and this very much was an influence on the media of the time. This was made clear through how little anyone could really understand the actions of Norman Bates, especially when considering the lens of the early 1960s.