Everyday Remembering Flashcards
What was Bartletts opinion of memory?
He believed it was the ‘war of the ghosts’ meaning that memories are distorted when carried across cultures through processes such as ;
- conventionalisation
- transformation
- omission
- commission
“Memory is like a video recorder” - who believes this?
Simons and Chabris -
63% of US sample agreed
47% thought that once an event was experienced the memory doesn’t change
Bahrick -
Memory over 50 year span is very accurate, (classmates and teachers names)
Rubin -
‘Reminiscence bump’ number of recalled events between 10-30 years old increases
What is conventionalisation?
When stories are told across cultures and words are replaced with words that they more commonly use. E.g “boats” becoming “canoes”
What is transformation?
When details of memories don’t make sense to someone of a different culture and so are therefore changed to make more sense to them.
What is omission?
This is when details are missed out of memories.
What is commission?
When details of a certain memory are made up.
What is a study looking into post-event misinformation?
Loftus and Palmer showed participants clips of car accidents. They were asked questions about the event. One being how fast were the cars going when they ____ each other?
Different words were substituted in including; smashed,hit, bumped.
When the word smashed was used the participants thought the cars were going faster than hit or bumped.
What are flashbulb memories?
Detailed memories about certain world events even though we did not witness it ourselves
E.g where we’re you when 9/11 happened?
Conway believed the event had to be personally relevant to form a flashbulb memory
What is weapon focus?
Weapon focus is when events involve threatening objects (gun) which reduces the victims memory of any peripheral details because they are so focused on the weapon.
What are cultural differences within everyday memory?
Wang and Conway
In China the earliest memory is 6 months later than white US
(UK is somewhere in between)
How can remembering be unreliable?
Unfamiliar material
Biased by expectation
Post-event misinformation
Emotionally arousing stimuli
What are the explanations for “reminiscence bump?”
Biological - cognitive processes are bets during this time
Cognitive - novel time period, when a lot of “firsts” happen
Developmental - tied to your emerging identity as an adult
What are the implications of the belief that “memory is like a video recorder?”
That forgetting is just failing to retrieve information correctly and that it’s available but not accessible.
What is a schema?
A stored framework or body of knowledge about a topic. Example - stereotypes.
Outline a study that looks into children’s memory of stressful events
2-5 year olds asked to recall treatment at A&E
Recall was measured after 2 days and 2 years and parents level of reminiscal was altered
Parents who reminisced more had children who remembered more at 2 years.
