:05:04
"Research subjects.
Nine hundred a week".
:05:07
Here's how they're organized. The groups
have very different personalities.
:05:12
Scored all over the Kiersey Temperament
Sorter, just like you asked for,
:05:16
and they all score very high
on the insomnia charts.
:05:18
Oh, what a beautiful profile.
:05:20
A classic dependent
personality disorder.
:05:24
However, we were looking
for "suggestible".
:05:27
Her mother died
two months ago.
:05:29
She really wants to do this.
:05:31
And what are your feelings,
Mary?
:05:34
Tell me what
your intuitions say.
:05:36
I put my favorites
on top.
:05:38
Mm-hmm.
What else have we got here?
:05:41
"Low self-esteem,
high narcissism,
:05:46
chronic feeling of emptiness,
:05:48
identity disturbance".
:05:50
Good, good. Very good.
:05:52
Is this where we're going?
:05:54
That's Hill House.
That's perfect, isn't it?
:05:57
- The Hill House Project...
- Is absolutely essential
to my research, Malcom.
:06:00
No, just listen.
I grant you,
:06:02
fear and performance
is a big, sexy idea.
:06:07
- But as chairman
of this department, I cannot...
- I know you clinical guys...
:06:11
don't like to ask these questions,
but think about it.
:06:13
What is fear, anyway? It's a series of
automatic responses to a given stimulus,
:06:17
characterized by increased
heart rate, respiratory activity
and adrenaline function.
:06:20
The only problem with fear
is that it has largely become
inappropriate and nonadaptive.
:06:25
Do sweaty palms
help to talk to your boss?
:06:27
Does a racing pulse help
some kid's score on an SAT?
:06:31
And yet we carry with us
these primordial fear responses...
:06:34
that do the opposite of what
they were intended to do.
:06:36
- So why is that?
- David, David, no one is saying...
:06:38
that these aren't
provocative questions.
:06:40
But you can't conduct this research
ethically or responsibly.
:06:43
And on top of that,
you're bringing your insomniacs...
:06:46
to this house
under false pretenses.
:06:48
Because the experiment needs
a credible cover story.
Calling it an insomnia study...
:06:51
allows me to create a highly
suggestive environment...
:06:53
to investigate
the dynamics of fear.
:06:55
You don't tell the rats they're
actually in a maze, Malcom. Come on.