False Memory as an Aspect of Humans - Essay Example

False Memory Introduction People who work in investigations can assert to the fact that a lot of evidences and cases have been lost due to unreliability of information that the informants give during most investigations. An individual can be present in a crime scene and swear to bear witness to the investigators, however, during investigations; the witnesses themselves fail to give any relevant information about what they witnessed at the crime scene. In most cases, humans tend to think that occurrences happened when in real sense they did not. All these happenings occur due to a condition that psychologists describe as “false memories”. This paper discusses the concept of false memories based on the views of psychologists, Elizabeth Loftus, Garry Maryanne and Steven (Jay & Judith 67) Definition Psychologists have come up with numerous but varying definitions of what “false memory” can be. One should take into considerations that most of these definitions have, however, not scientifically proven. False memory can be described as the mental recollection of or pieces of information followed by a belief that the recollected information occurred when in the real sense it did not. A woman who occasionally locks her house, leaving her keys at the neighbor’s house can illustrate the concept of “false memory”. One day, the woman locks the door and walks away with the keys, but in the evening, she walks to the neighbor’s house asking for the same keys. The following are some of the views of different psychologists on the concept of false memory. Elizabeth Loftus Being a reputable cognitive psychologist, Elizabeth Loftus is credited to have changed the way people viewed the field of psychology. In her research works, Elizabeth Loftus puts a lot of focus on human memory. False memory was therefore by default Elizabeth’s area of interest. Discussed below are some of the views by Elizabeth Loftus on false memory (Loftus and Ketcham 107): Causes of False Memory- Elizabeth Loftus Many human and environmental factors form a huge component of the factors that may cause the manifestation of false memory in an individual. Elizabeth Loftus opines that human beings live in environments where they interact with other humans unconditionally. The interactions with other individuals in a particular set up create automatic expectations amongst humans. Failure to achieve these expectations may affect human’s perceptions in different ways depending on the individual. However, the most common kind of environmental impact of humans that emanate from the environment is false memory (Loftus and Ketcham 108). By understanding the environment and different characteristics of humans, Elizabeth Loftus further categorized those factors that may be central to the acquisition of false memory in individuals (Loftus & Ketcham 430). Discussed below are the basic factors that contribute to false memory in humans by Elizabeth Loftus: Misinformation Humans are naturally attracted to some sort of information. Also, there are sorts of information that other humans do not enjoy getting associated with. Elizabeth argues that, before an individual receives some piece of information, either oral or written, there are sorts of expectations for such individuals. If an individual expects a positive piece of information from another and unfortunately receives negative information, there is a high probability that the receiver of the information will presume that the information received was positive. According to Elizabeth, misinformation forms a huge percentage of the false memory cases (Loftus 57). Misattribution Misattribution entails less detailed explanations about the causes of certain behaviors or events. The feelings of arousal and making assumptions are believed to be the major causes of misattribution in humans. According to Elizabeth Loftus, people who are excited in some ways are more likely to make assumptions on the exact things that they see or feel. When an individual in misinformed out of excitement, there are chances that such an individual is going to make false interpretations of the explanations after a while (Loftus 60). Existing knowledge Adults are more likely to suffer from false memory as compared to teenagers. In this case, age is considered a vital factor in as far as the study of false memory is concerned. According to the assertions of Elizabeth Loftus, adults tend to have more experience and knowledge as compared to younger people. The vast knowledge in adults contributes to the manifestation of false memory in adults in that, adults, bearing the vast and varied pieces of experience and knowledge that they have been more likely to replace the original information with those that exist in their respective memories. Induction There are high possibilities for individuals to induce new information depending on how long an individual has stayed with the original source of information. With time, people tend to forget what they originally saw, felt, or heard. If the original information had some psychological touch with the individual in question, there is a high probability that the affected individual will probably replace the original information with their own experiences thus distortion and change of information. The Affected According to Loftus, false memories are very easy to attack. The question then is who is vulnerable to false memory? Well, Elizabeth answered this question by testing how fast people forgot the words. The words used were; “smashed into”. However, at the end of her lesson, Elizabeth noticed that all the participants used the word “hit” more than they used the words “smashed into.” From this illustration, it is easy to notice that everybody is vulnerable to manifesting the syndromes of false memory even though most people tend to deny this fact. Even though the arguments by Elizabeth Loftus have attracted a lot of criticism, it is important to note that her assertions were as well important. Most psychologists today do not understand why Elizabeth could insist that everyone is vulnerable to false memory. Everyone should notice that at some point, they have either given or intended to give information that they originally never intended. The assertions by Elizabeth have not been not been scientifically proven (Loftus 79). Maryanne Garry Maryanne Garry is another scholar who apart from believing that there exists, false memory also gave a different dimension, as compared to the theory by Elizabeth Loftus in understanding false memory. According to Garry, the study of psychology can be so hectic researchers were not specific to whatever they wanted. Garry further argues that for one to study false memory and come up with accurate and believable information, they ought to take some specific dimension in their study. Here, Garry puts more emphasis on the influence of imagery on false memory. Imagery and Photographs According to the study by Maryanne Garry, information is stored in human brains in the form of imagery. Garry asserts that the human brain converts any information it receives into imagery via an automatic process. During remembrance, humans refer to these mental images, thereby highly influencing the outcome of the information (Garry 46). According to Garry, time plays a huge factor in the quality of information that an individual gives. The lapsing of time may serve to distort the information regarding an event that an individual witnessed. The complex nature of the information is more likely to cause confusion to an individual over an extended period. There is evidence suggesting that the aged are more prone to false memory. In an effort to illustrate this, Garry gives similar cramming tests for teenagers with adults based on an illustration of an accident. During the narrations, Garry noticed a disparity between the narrations of children and those of adults. The explanation for the variance is that adults imagine a lot of things that confuse their narrations as compared to children who have little information and imagination (Wade and Garry 76). Photographs, just as imagery also contribute to the study of false memory. Garry highlighted that there was an evident difference in the way different people viewed photographs. Photographs play a huge role in illustrating events. In her research branded “false memory implantation”, Garry explains how photographs may increase or decrease false memory. Increase of False Memories The most influential factor to false memory, according to Garry is comparison. After allowing some time to elapse following an occurrence, people may give almost similar information on the occurrence. However, when the same people are provided with photographs that depict the occurrence, most people get to give confusing and irrelevant information. Garry explains this illustration with the view that when people see photographs, they automatically try to compare those photographs with what they already have in their minds (Wade and Garry 45). In the middle of the comparison, such people get confused and give distorted pieces of information. Decrease in False Memories Maryanne Garry argues that photographs contribute to the decrease of false memories. In her research, Garry opines that people with clear memories, especially the young, have a better chance of giving clear information just by having a look at the photographs bearing the same information. Undistorted pieces of photographs may be vital when proving the effectiveness of this research. As highlighted above, photographs may serve to either enhance or distort memory. Therefore, using them in case that requires the most correct information available may be tricky. This is because some individuals may rely on the photographs to change what they already know, whereas others may remember things more vividly because of the photograph. Steven Jay Steven Jay highlights the effectiveness of false memory by advising people never to believe in everything that they remember. Just as Maryanne Garry, Steven Jay also emphasizes that the study of false memory should take some specificity. Jay’s view takes into considerations the researches that were carried out by other scholars such as Newman and Baumeister, who had landmark contributions to the study of false memory. Hypnosis and Memory In coming up with his research on false memory, Steven focuses on hypnosis, which denotes the concentration on specific activities or acts while ignoring the influence of the periphery. Jay asserts that paying too much attention to some specific event while giving little attention to other activities going on at the same time, may foster the development of false memory. In addition, Jay opines that the events happening around some specific activities may aid in the recovery of lost memory (Weiner 71). Contributing Characteristics In addition to hypnosis, Steven Jay argues that there are human characteristics that really contribute to false imaginations. Jay highlighted some of the factors influencing the development of false memory, such as what an individual considers as relaxation, and what guides the imagery of individuals. He also considered how individuals interpret their respective dreams together with the exploitations of open associations may increase the chances of an individual having false memories. Jay credits these factors to be central to humans having false memories (Lynn, and McConkey 98).  Reasons Jay had the above convictions because of the following reasons: i. The aspects of false memory that he described centered on the daily routines of people. Therefore, his research could be defined as all-inclusive. ii. The human characteristics described by Jay more directly relate to the aspect of hypnosis. The level of hypnosis varies among individuals. iii. The characteristics described herein always form the core of fantasy and humiliation in humans. Conclusion Based on this paper, it is evident that false memory is a common aspect of humans. Most people deny the fact that they manifest the characteristics of false memory. This denial is mainly because there is lack of a convincing and pragmatic research that supports the same. According to the psychologists discussed in this paper, there is evidence that false memory is a characteristic of humans. Different factors are responsible for the development of false memory. References Garry, Mary-Anne. Castle Acre: A Social History. Larks Press, 2009. Print. Lilienfeld, Scott O, Steven J. Lynn, John Ruscio, and Barry L. Beyerstein. 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions About Human Behavior. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Internet resource. Loftus, Elizabeth F, and Katherine Ketcham. The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse. New York: St. Martins Griffin, 1996. Print. Loftus, Elizabeth F, and Katherine Ketcham. Witness for the Defense: The Accused, the Eyewitness, and the Expert Who Puts Memory on Trial. New York: St. Martins Press, 1991. Print. Loftus, ELizabeth F. Eyewitness Testimony. Cambridge Mass. [etc.: Harvard University Press, 1999. Print. Loftus, Elizabeth F. Memory, Surprising New Insights into How We Remember and Why We Forget. New York: Ardsley House, 1988. Internet resource. Lynn, Steven J, and Judith W. Rhue. Dissociation: Clinical and Theoretical Perspectives. New York, NY [u.a.: Guilford Press, 1994. Print. Lynn, Steven J, and Kevin M. McConkey. Truth in Memory. New York [u.a.: Guilford Press, 1998. Print. Wade, Carole, Carol Tavris, and Maryanne Garry. Psychology. , 2014. Print. Weiner, Irving B. Handbook of Psychology: 11. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2003. Print. Read More