Dec 11
The Grand Cinema Tacoma, WA
TicketsJennifer McCullen
Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Puget Sound
The Muppet Christmas Carol— From Humbug to Harmony: The Interplay of Risk and Resilience in Emotion Regulation
Program Description
How do adverse childhood experiences and lifelong stressors impair emotion regulation and subsequent social behavior? Dr. McCullen will examine this question through the lens of the famously antisocial Ebenezer Scrooge. She’ll explore how resilience factors can foster emotion regulation and promote change and growth. How can these skills act as the psychological equivalent of being visited by Three Spirits?
Film Synopsis
The Muppets put their spin on the tale of an elder, Christmas-hating miser who is visited by spirits who foretell his future and share secrets from his past and present, which helps change his view on life.
The Muppets perform the classic Dickens holiday tale, with Kermit the Frog playing Bob Cratchit, the put-upon clerk of stingy Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine). Other Muppets—Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear and Sam the Eagle—weave in and out of the story, while Scrooge receives visits from spirits of three Christmases—past, present and future. They show him the error of his self-serving ways, but the miserable old man seems to be past any hope of redemption and happiness.
Photo credit: Walt Disney Pictures
About the Speaker
Jennifer McCullen, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Puget Sound, is interested in the role of emotion regulation in development and mental health. Her particular area of study is how we can best assess emotion regulation strategies in order to best understand how they relate to mental health risk and resilience. Her goal is to create tools to assess strategies in a way that is both accessible and transportable to underrepresented populations and informative for intervention and assessment.