I did my paper on psychology featured in the twilight Zone.
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental process. Rod Serling uses the psychological thriller genre in his episodes of the twilight zone. Psychological thriller is a combination of using psychology of the mind with suspense techniques used in thriller plots. Among its techniques psychological of fear, and sensory conditioning.
With suspense, horror and fantasy, Rod Serling was a master of triggering psychological fear and anxiety through the show The Twilight Zone.
Studies have confirmed most of humans likes, dislikes, prejudices and fears are conditioned emotional responses, so Serling used this emotional response of fear to trigger and create fear in its viewers.
Serling leaves his audience in the in between of fear and reality. This fear and confusion tends to grow throughout each episode of the twilight zone. Fear can also be a constructive emotion. Some characters in the show face their fears or surrender to the fears which release them the bonds of that fear.
We see this in the episode “Nightmare as a Child” Helen Foley has blocked out a traumatic event from her childhood. As a small child she had witnessed her mother’s murdered. One day after work Helen meets this little girl nicknamed Markie, it turns out that Markie is Helen when she was a child. Markie then helps Helen remember her past and face her fears and this ends up saving Helens life. (Show video clip nightmare as a child start at 2:20 stop at 2:50)
Another great episode that focuses on psychological fear is “The Hitch-Hiker”. While driving across the county from New York to Los Angeles, twenty seven year old Nan Adams, gets into a car accident. She has a mechanic put a new tire on her car, and when she comes to drive away she sees a strange man hitch-hiking. As she drives further on she sees the same hitch-hiker turn up every where she goes.
The extreme nervousness of Nan, when coupled with the deadpan calm of the hitch hiker makes a great deal of tension. The tension is built up with many shots, of which the face of the hitch hiker unexpectedly comes into view. The Psychological thriller techniques in this episode are the perception of the mind of the main character, Nan, the building of fear, and constant questioning of her reality
Other psychological technique used in other twilight zone episodes is sensory memor . Basically certain sights, sounds, smells, taste, and touch will trigger memories that are associated to events in our life. Sensory memory is the first stage of memory. The five senses are the physiological methods of perception and scientific study of sense that crosses over in the philosophy of perception for example in “walking distance” frustrated businessman Martin Sloan is driving through the country, he makes an unexpected stop at his hometown, Homewood. it has been over twenty years since he has been home..
As he sits at a soda shop drinking an ice cream soda he uses to eat as a child, Things start to feel overly familiar, next thing he knows Martin is has some how, gone back in time.
(Show clip walking distance start at 3:27 stop at 4:35)
The main psychological theme played out in this episode, is the use of senses to trigger memories, “A longing for the past fills this episode, and that longing is communicated more through words than action” ( Zicree 43). Sensory memories that trigger Martin’s childhood are familiar sights and sounds of the neighborhood, the taste of the three scope ice cream soda from the soda shop, sounds of the bike bell, children playing in the park and the merry-go-round. Martin starts to sense that something is off with the time period. When he sees himself in the park and confronts his parents at their home he realizes that he has crossed back in time. The main narrator reveals to the viewer Martin’s psyche confusion as he journeys back in time. Even Martin expresses the many childhood sound, sights and smells brings him back to the happiness of his youth. Martin realizes that you only get one chance at life and you really cannot go back
In conclusion Serling used many psychological techniques in the show. He mastered triggering, psychological fear and the sensory memory.