Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Imperfect Memories259How does imagining an event—even one that never took place—help create amemory that is so subjectively compelling? Several factors seem to be involved.First, repeatedly imagining an event makes the event seem increasingly familiar.People then misinterpret the sense of familiarity as an indication that the eventreally happened (Sharman & others, 2004).Second, coupled with the sense of increased familiarity, people experience sourceconfusion. That is, subtle confusion can occur as to whether a retrieved “memory” hasa real event—or an imagined event—as its source. Over time people may misattributetheir memory of imagining the pseudoevent as being a memory of the actual event.Third, the more vivid and detailed the imaginative experience, the more likely itis that people will confuse the imagined event with a real occurrence (Thomas &others, 2003). Vivid sensory and perceptual details can make the imagined events“feel” more like “real” events.Simple manipulations, such as suggestions and imagination exercises, canincrease the incidence and realism of false memories. So can vivid memory cues andfamily photos. The ease with which false memories can be implanted is more thanjust an academic question. It also has some powerful real-world implications. In theCritical Thinking box, we explore the highly charged controversy that has beendubbed “the memory wars.”imagination inflationA memory phenomenon in which vividlyimagining an event markedly increases confidencethat the event actually occurred.While it is relatively common for a person to be unable toremember some of the specific details of a traumatic event or tobe troubled by memory problems after the traumatic event, suchmemory problems do not typically include difficulty in rememberingthe trauma itself (McNally, 2007). Memory researchersagree that a person might experience amnesia for a single traumaticincident but are skeptical that anyone could repress allmemories of repeated incidents of abuse, especially when thoseincidents occurred over a period of several years (Loftus, 2001;Schacter, 1995).Critics of repressed memory therapy contend that many of thesupposedly “recovered” memories are actually false memories thatwere produced by the well-intentioned but misguided use of suggestivetherapeutic techniques (de Rivera, 2000). Memory expertsobject to the use of hypnosis and other highly suggestive techniquesto recover repressed memories (Ceci & Loftus, 1994; Gerrie& others, 2004; Lindsay & Read, 1994; Lynn & others, 1997).Understandably so. As you've seen in this chapter, compellingresearch shows the ease with which misinformation, suggestion,and imagination can create vivid—but completely false—memories.What Conclusions Can Be Drawn?After years of debate, some areas of consensus have emerged(Knapp & VandeCreek, 2000). First, there is no question thatphysical and sexual abuse in childhood is a serious social problemthat also contributes to psychological problems in adulthood(Kendler, Bulik, & others, 2000; Nelson & others, 2002).Second, some psychologists contend it is possible for memoriesof childhood abuse to be completely forgotten, only tosurface many years later in adulthood (Brenneis, 2000;Schooler, 2001). Nevertheless, it’s clear that repressedmemories that have been recovered in psychotherapy need tobe regarded with caution (Bowers & Favolden, 1996; Cloitre,2004).Third, the details of memories can be distorted with disturbingease. Consequently, the use of highly suggestive techniquesto recover memories of abuse raises serious concernsabout the accuracy of such memories. As we have noted repeatedlyin this chapter, a person’s confidence in a memory isno guarantee that the memory is indeed accurate. False orfabricated memories can seem just as detailed, vivid, and realas accurate ones (Gerrie & others, 2004; Lampinen & others,2005).Fourth, keep in mind that every act of remembering involvesreconstructing a memory. Remembering an experience is notlike replaying a movie captured with your cell phone. Memoriescan change over time. Without our awareness, memories cangrow and evolve, sometimes in unexpected ways.Finally, psychologists and other therapists have become moreaware of the possibility of inadvertently creating false memoriesin therapy (Palm & Gibson, 1998). Guidelines have been developedto help mental health pro fessionals avoid unintentionallycreating false memories in clients (American Psychological AssociationWorking Group, 1998; Colangelo, 2007).CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS Why is it difficult to determine the accuracy of a “memory”that is recovered in therapy? How could the phenomenon of source confusion be used toexplain the production of false memories?