Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Imperfect Memories253Among clinical psychologists who work with psychologically troubled people,the notion that behavior can be influenced by repressed memories is widely, butcertainly not universally, accepted (Gleaves & others, 2004). Among the generalpublic, many people believe that we are capable of repressing memories of unpleasantevents (Loftus & others, 1994). However, trying to scientifically confirm andstudy the influence of memories that a person does not remember is tricky, if notimpossible.One obvious problem is determining whether a memory has been “repressed” orsimply forgotten. For example, several studies have found that people are better ableto remember positive life experiences than negative life experiences (Lindsay &others, 2004). Is that because unhappy experiences have been “repressed”? Or is itsimply that people are less likely to think about, talk about, dwell on, or rehearseunhappy memories?Among psychologists, repression is an extremely controversial topic (Kihlstrom,2004; McNally, 2004). At one extreme are those who believe that true repressionnever occurs (Holmes, 1990). At the other extreme are those who are convincedthat repressed memories are at the root of many psychological problems, particularlyrepressed memories of childhood sexual abuse (Briere & Conte, 1993;Gleaves & others, 2004). This latter contention gave rise to a form of psychotherapyinvolving the recovery of repressed memories. Later in the chapter, we’llexplore this controversy in the Critical Thinking box, “The Memory Wars: Recoveredor False Memories?”Doonesbury © 1994 G. B. Trudeau. Reprinted with permission of UNIVERSAL PRESSSYNDICATE. All Rights Reserved.Imperfect MemoriesErrors, Distortions, and False MemoriesKey Theme• Memories can be easily distorted so that they contain inaccuracies. Confidencein a memory is no guarantee that the memory is accurate.Key Questions• What is the misinformation effect?• What is source confusion, and how can it distort memories?• What are schemas and scripts, and how can they contribute to memorydistortions?Although people usually remember the general gist of what they experience, the fallibilityof human memory is disturbing. Human memory does not function like acamera or digital recorder that captures a perfect copy of visual or auditory information.Instead, memory details can change over time. Without your awareness, detailscan be added, subtracted, exaggerated, or downplayed (Clifasefi & others, 2007). Infact, each of us has the potential to confidently and vividly remember the details ofsome event—and be completely wrong. Confidence in a memory is no guarantee thatthe memory is accurate.How do errors and distortions creep into memories? A new memory is not simplyrecorded, but actively constructed. To form a new memory, you actively organize andencode different types of information—visual, auditory, tactile, and so on. When youlater attempt to retrieve those details, you actively reconstruct, or rebuild, the detailsof the memory (Bartlett, 1932; Schacter & others, 1998). In the process of activelyconstructing or reconstructing a memory, various factors can contribute to errorsand distortions in what you remember. Or, more accurately, what you think youremember.