This essay discusses the critical debate about the validity of recovered memories and the extent to which they are authentic or genuine. The memory wars are far from being resolved and the debate between the two groups still continues to form an important part of the field of psychology.
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Running head: PSYCHOLOGY AND MEMORY WARS Psychology and Memory Wars Name of the Student: Name of the University: Author’s Note:
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1PSYCHOLOGY AND MEMORY WARS “The biggest wall you have to climb is the one you build in your mind: Never let your mind talk you out of your dreams, trick you into giving up. Never let your mind become the greatest obstacle to success. To get your mind on the right track, the rest will follow`” The above quoted lines of the famous author Roy T. Bennett from his work “The Light in the Heart” speak volume about the nature of the human mind and the power which it wields over the individuals concerned. The human mind has been an area of much research since the traditional times and it is a reflection of this that a number of critical debates have centered round this particular debate (Rutten, Fedor and Zvereva 2013).Memory and the validity of the memories which the human beings have are one of the topics which had gathered much critical attention in the present times (Forrest, François and Hagemann 2013). This is one of the reasons for the memory wars of the later part of the 20thcentury.It is significant to note that one group of the psychologists as well as the researchers believed in the validity of the various memories related to the Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) and other kinds of events whereas, on the other hand, there are others who do not believe in the validity of these memories and are of the opinion that they can be implanted and thus easily be manipulated (Geraerts,Raymaekers and Merckelbach2008). This particular fact can be seen as a reflection of the growing number of the researchers which are being conducted in this particular area and also due to the modern interpretations of the works of scholars as well as theorists like Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan and others (Rutten, Fedor and Zvereva 2013). This essay will discuss argue about the fact that whether the various memory wars can be effectively resolved or not if yes then to what extent they can be resolved. The “memory wars of the 1990s refers to the controversy between some clinicians and memory scientists about the reliability of repressed memories” (Rutten, Fedor and Zvereva 2013). In the opinion of many people the various traumatic memories play a significant role in the life of the various individuals and they as a matter of fact are the
2PSYCHOLOGY AND MEMORY WARS building blocks on which the entire character or the personality of a particular individual is built on (Forrest, François and Hagemann 2013). Therefore, these particular individuals stressing the need to explore this particular hitherto unexplored part of the human brain stressed on the need or the importance to incorporate this particular genre of the human mind with the scientific study of the human minds and consider them as reliable sources of information not only about the identity as well as the character of the person concerned but also about the past experiences and the history of that particular person (Forrest, François and Hagemann 2013). It is a reflection of this that “by early 1990s people were testifying in court, making serious accusations based on their ‘recovered’ memories, and people were being convicted and sent to jail over them” (Rutten, Fedor and Zvereva 2013). However, on the other hand, there are people who consider these memory wars to be insignificant and as mere aberrations or the figments of the human mind and that no such incidents have actually happened in the life of the individual concerned (Forrest, François and Hagemann 2013). It is significant to note that this particular difference in opinion as regards the relative importance of the concept of the “memory wars” has formed the central focus of many arguments even in the recent times and are far from being resolved (Foster and Nettelbeck 2012). The memory war or the critical debate among the psychologists about the validity as well as the reliability of the past memories of the individuals gained prominence in the 1990s (Geraerts, Raymaekers and Merckelbach 2008). The debate about the validity of the various kinds of memory wars gained prominence with the researches of Loftus and “other cognitive psychologists” into the field of the recovered memories while operating their patents and found that the majority of these recovered memories were likely to be ‘false memories’” (Patihis et al. 2014). Furthermore, critics like Belli and Loftus are of the opinion that false memories are results of the actions of “overzealous therapists” who often implant fictitious memoriesorfakememoriesinthemindsofthepeoplewhosoughthelp(Geraerts,
3PSYCHOLOGY AND MEMORY WARS Raymaekers and Merckelbach 2008). It is significant to note that these are precisely the arguments which the various critics as well as psychologists use to nullify the various kinds of memory wars which inflict the individuals (Patihis et al. 2014). The real change in the critical debate between the reality of the various kinds of memory wars and the falsity of them came in the year 1990 when “Professor Jennifer Freyd accused her father of sexually abusing her as a child, after recovering memories of the alleged abuse as an adult.Within almost two years of the accusation her mother and father, Pamela and Peter Freyd, established the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) in the US, which advocated for people accused of sexual offending” (Morris-Suzuki 2014). It is significant to note that this was a turning point in the debate between the two kinds of debaters. The “False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF)” founded by the mother of Jennifer Freyd sought to defend the rights of the people who were accused of sexually offending the children and at the same time the foundation sought to prove that these memories were completely false and just a “figment of the imagination” of the people who claimed the same (Geraerts, Raymaekers and Merckelbach 2008).Likewise, the United Kingdom the “British False Memory Society” was formed in the year 1994 which tried to achieve the same objectives in the United Kingdom which the “False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF)” tried to achieve in the United States of America (Geraerts, Raymaekers and Merckelbach 2008).It is significant to note that over the past few years both the organisations have collected a wide range of case studies and “of either highly improbable accounts of recovered memories or instances where individuals have been wrongly convicted on the grounds of evidence given by complainants” (Bernstein and Loftus 2009). The results of these findings by the two organisations belonging to the two different nations had a considerable impact on the Literature of psychology of that particular point of time as well (Bernstein and Loftus 2009). For example, in the opinion of the psychologist Beckett “prior
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4PSYCHOLOGY AND MEMORY WARS to 1991 the vast majority (80%) of the literature on child sexual abuse pertained to the victims and their needs, whereas just three years later the predominant focus of the literature (80%) was on the problem of false memories of CSA and the potential for the wrongful conviction of innocent people erroneously accused of CSA” (Bernstein and Loftus 2009). Furthermore, the Dallam is significant to note in this particular context when he says that a memory which has been recovered by individuals with the aid of the various psychologists is more likely to be false one than a genuine one (Bernstein and Loftus 2009). This particular view of Dallam is refuted by the other psychologists by providing the examples of the various cases where the individuals suffered from a partial amnesia and also their memories were legally documented (Bernstein and Loftus 2009). The believers in this particular hypothesis often take the help of the “Lost in the Shopping Mall” experiment to justify their view that the various kinds of recovered memories are likely to false ones (Madill and Holch 2004). The significance of this particular experiment lies in the fact that this particular experiment tried to “demonstrate is that it is possible to implant false autobiographical memories” and thus this particular experiment forms one of the major cornerstones of the argument for the people who believe the various kinds of recovered memories to be false (Madill and Holch 2004). There are other people, on the other hand, who are of the opinion that these recovered memories are genuine and the only reason the person concerned was not able to remember them before was due to the fact of amnesia which most of the individuals who face this particular problem often state is related with the memory (Geraerts, Raymaekers and Merckelbach 2008). It is significant to note that most of these memories are related to the various incidents of the “child sexual abuse” (CSA) (Geraerts, Raymaekers and Merckelbach 2008). In the recent times it is seen that these recovered memories have been used as a source testify against the perpetrators of the violence in the legal court of laws. However, the
5PSYCHOLOGY AND MEMORY WARS opinion of Uba is significant to note in this particular context when he says that the validity of these recovered memories or the extent to which these recovered memories related to the “child sexual abuse” is not possible to access because of the fact that “researching trauma ethically means that we have been unable to conduct rigorously controlled, experimental studiesontraumaticmemories”(Geraerts,RaymaekersandMerckelbach2008).Itis significant to note that many people even use the 2007 experiments of “Pezdek and Lam” to prove the falsity of the various recovered memories (Geraerts, Raymaekers and Merckelbach 2008). These researchers conducted an experiment to show that the recovered memories are false and can be easily manipulated by the psychologists or the other individuals. In the first experiment they provided around 198 people with a list of semantically related words and when the people participating in the process were asked to recall the words they recalled a word which was strongly related to the ones which they have been provided with in the first place(Geraerts,RaymaekersandMerckelbach2008).Thefindingsofthisparticular experiment clearly states that memories can be implanted very easily by the various cognitive psychologists and it is one of the primary reasons why the various memories which are recovered by the individuals by means of the aid of the psychologists should not be considered hundred percent true (Bernstein and Loftus 2009). It is significant to note that in the present times various kinds of tests as well as means have been devised by means of which the psychologists try to analyze the authenticity of the recovered memories (Bernstein and Loftus 2009). However, there are two methods which are increasingly being used by the psychologists as well as the various courts of law for analysing the authenticity of the recovered memories are the “Rorschach projective imagery test” and the “Statement Validity Analysis” (Bernstein and Loftus 2009). For the “Rorschach projective imagery test”, the psychologist takes the help of the various kinds of images and visual aids and analyzes the response of the patients to them in a bid to find out the authenticity of the recovered
6PSYCHOLOGY AND MEMORY WARS memories(Geraerts,RaymaekersandMerckelbach2008).Thepsychologistforthe “Statement Validity Analysis” is required to analyze the various statements of the individuals with the recovered memories in the context of the experiences which they are trying to related and find the authenticity of the recovered memories (Geraerts, Raymaekers and Merckelbach 2008). To conclude, the memory wars are far from being resolved and the debate between the two groups still continues to form an important part of the field of psychology. In the later part of the 20thcentury a critical debate emerged about the validity of the recovered memory and the extent to which recovered memories were authentic or genuine.It is significant to note that many individualsrepudiatedthe various recovered memoriesof the diverse individuals as a mere “figment of their imagination” or to be implanted by the various cognitive psychologists. However, on the other hand, there are individuals who believe that these recovered memories are authentic and thus should be considered as real. Therefore, it can be said that the memory wars are not over yet.
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