Repressed memories
A Towering DebateEver wondered if it is possible to forget a major event in your life and then after several years just recover that lost memory? If you have and were unable to reach a conclusion on this issue you are not alone. The reliability of repressed and recovered memories has been one of the most controversial issues in the field of Psychology during the last two decades. Even after years of researches and debates, no one could claim with certainty that repression of memory occurs or does not occur or that recovered memories are trustworthy or vice versa (Lynn and McConkey 33). Repressed memories are those memories that are "buried away from the conscious mind; [repression is] an unconscious mechanism for not remembering" (Baker 22). According to many mental health professionals, repressed memories "can linger intact for years or even decades until some experience, stimulus, or process calls it up" (Til 22), and they define recovered memories as repressed memories "brought back to consciousness" (Wassil-Grimm 73). However there are others who deny the existence of repressed memories. According to them repression of memories never happen, and they are convinced that recovered memories are always a resul
Williams and her research assistant had a one-on-one interview with each of the 129 subjects willing to be interviewed. This time the subjects were asked to rate their confidentiality on each aspect of their memory, using a five-point scale where a rating of one meant just guessing and a rating of five meant absolutely certain. She claim that it is often forgotten that "human memory is flexible and super imposable" (Loftus and Ketcham 3) and that "memories are sometimes lost, and there is no use searching for it in therapy" (Brenneis 48). Loftus claims that these assumptions then resurface as a memory in the patients' mind, and the patients would not be able to separate it from reality. The researchers in the group asked several of their relatives with whom they had high credibility if they remembered the time they had been lost in the mall. Several studies conducted by Psychologists all around the globe in the recent years support these con-repression arguments (Lynn and McConkey 37). However, Chris could not recall anything about one of the true memories that Jim had reminded him (Wassil-Grimm 131-32). Then the subjects were asked to recall as many details as they could about the event and record them in a journal. That is, no suggestive reminders were used by the researchers (Wassil-Grimm 149). He even recalled several details including the description of the man who rescued him and recalled that he got lost while looking at the toys in the Kay-Bee toy store. In selective amnesia, "the brain snips out certain traumatic events and stores the edited pieces in a special, inaccessible memory drawer" (Loftus and Ketcham 215). Similar was the case with several other subjects. If memories of devastating trauma are not repressed, it would have highly negative effects on our mind and could even question our survival or existence (Sinason 54). It is this nature of this debate that makes it a rather interesting one - we cannot totally avoid either side (Worsnop 593). Also, the researchers made sure that they did not directly ask the subjects if they had been sexually abused.
Common topics in this essay:
Loftus Ketcham,
Lynn McConkey,
Linda Williams,
University Hampshire,
Challenger January,
Jim Chris's,
Elizabeth Loftus,
Memory Syndrome,
Towering Debate,
Mawr College,
repressed memories,
recovered memories,
loftus ketcham,
sexual abuse,
repressed recovered,
lost mall,
false memories,
repressed recovered memories,
recovered memory,
sexually abused,
human memory,
existence repressed recovered,
childhood sexual abuse,
opposers repressed recovered,
implanting false memories,
|
Acceptance Essays
