Sense Of Self

Sense of Self
Feature films	Inside Out 2
Purpose	To reflect and store Riley's beliefs

“Thirteen years of work wrapped up with what some might call our masterpiece.”

―Joy

The Sense of Self is an object installed inside Headquarters in the film Inside Out 2.

History

The Sense of Self is built from the Memories contained in the Belief System. When activated, it says its main belief.

If a new Sense of Self is created, the Belief System will light up and will send a wave of light through the strings to the holder, causing a new Sense of Self to grow. In a event where the Sense of Self is blocked from growing, the white holder will blink white until the new one can grow.

It first appeared when Grace dropped her coins during a presentation. Disgust didn't want to help Grace but then Riley's Sense of Self appeared, which helps Riley make good choices, so she went to help her.

The Sense of Self continued to grow until Anxiety showed up and tried to change Riley by ripping the Sense of Self off the holder and sending it to the Back of the Mind.

Slowly but surely, Anxiety used her own memories to build a new Sense of Self and Belief System. On the last day of camp, Envy panicked, because they needed a completed Sense of Self. Anxiety picked a few memories off the shelf and threw them into the pool of memories and formed her new Sense of Self. The new one said, "I'm not good enough." With this anxious belief, Riley tried to score three goals at hockey, pushed herself too far, injured Grace, and got a penalty. Anxiety panicked and caused an anxiety attack.

Emotions aren't able to have control on what belief is created from a memory. An example is Anxiety trying to make Riley better, but ended up making Riley feel not good enough. The Sense of Self is able to override an emotions action depending on the beliefs. Another example is Anxiety making Riley go to the other team, which she hesitated to do due to her Sense of Self. If it is unplugged, then it is unable to override any emotion's actions.

If no Sense of Self is present when a string is plucked in the Belief System, then a small part of it grows. Otherwise, the wave of light will travel through every string in the Sense of Self and says its main belief before going back down.

When the Belief System was flooded with the bad memories, it made new beliefs and the holder flashed with the white light. Joy noticed this and completely removed the old Sense of Self, causing the new one to grow. When activated, many new beliefs could be heard and the Sense of Self shifted shape and color depending on the emotion and belief.

Beliefs

Riley's old Sense of Self included the beliefs:

• "I am a good person." - Happy
• "I am a winner." - Happy
• "I'm brave." - Happy
• "I'm kind." - Happy
• “I am a really good friend" - Happy
• "Mom and Dad are proud of me." - Happy
• "Homework should be illegal." - Angry
• "Get Up and Glow is the best band ever." - Happy

"New Riley's" Sense of Self included the beliefs:

• "If I'm a Firehawk, then I won't be alone" - Anxious
• "If I'm good at hockey, I will have friends" - Anxious
• "I'm not good enough" - Anxious

Riley's newly formed Sense of Self included the beliefs:

• "I'm selfish" - Scared
• "I'm kind” - Happy
• "I'm not good enough" - Anxious
• "I'm a good person" - Happy
• "I need to fit in, but I want to be myself" - Scared
• "I'm brave, but I get scared" - Scared/Happy
• "Success is everything" - Happy
• "I make mistakes" - Disgusted
• "I'm nice" - Happy
• "I'm mean" - Scared
• "I'm a good friend" - Disgusted
• "I'm a terrible friend" - Sad
• "I am strong" - Disgusted
• "I need help sometimes" - Anxious

Notes and Trivia

• When the Sense of Self appears for the first time in Inside Out 2, it is a series of glowing blue strings neatly twirled together into a core, supported by straight and angled glowing blue strings connected to the inside of a white holder. After Anxiety creates "New Riley's" Sense of Self, it is a series of glowing orange strings except the strings are bent outwards and one of the strings are sticking out and is connected into a core. The core is supported by straight and bent glowing orange strings connected to an orange holder.

Gallery

The first Sense of self to appear when it rapidly changes colours

The second Sense of self to appear when it rapidly changes colours

The Sense of Self when Anxiety attempts to make a new Sense of Self. It also appears when the new Sense of Self rapidly shifts in color and shape after the new one grew.

The Sense of Self when Joy lets the new one grow. It is yellow and neatly twirled. It appears when the new Sense of Self rapidly shifts color and shape.

A Sense of Self that has been formed through all emotions. Joy stands beside him. It is white, but twisted in different styles