Exam 2 Study Guide Flashcards
Ramona v. Isabella et al.
Gary Ramona (father) accused by daughter to have abused her
Claim came after daughter attended therapy by Marche Isabella
—> “80% of all bulimics have been sexually abused”
Father lost wife, daughters, job
–> sued daughter’s therapist as third party
- > awarded damages * -> first time third party sued therapist and won
Tyson v. Tyson and post-legislation
Nancy (daughter) in therapy
Recovered memories of father’s sexual abuse (father denied)
Nancy 26 when filed claims
- > father made motion for summary judgement (request for review of case to see if even worth trial)
- > Wash State Supreme Court decided it wasn’t worth it
- > psychoanalysis/therapy is for assistance, not about if recovered events are true
- > Wash State Supreme Court decided it wasn’t worth it
- Lead to new legislation:
Wash state passed doctrine of delayed discovery to be applied to repressed memory cases
People v. George Franklin
- FIRST case to admit repressed memory as testimony
- > defendant’s daughter recovered memory after therapy (hypnosis) and cue
convicted 20 years after crime
LATER
Conviction overturned
Civil suit filed -> court ruled she did not do it intentionally
People v. Paul Ingram
Daughter accused father of abuse
Father underwent hypnosis, confessed to: rape, animal sacrifice, being leader of satanic cult that killed 25 babies
- Richard Ofshe showed that father was highly suggestible
- asked father something that daughter never reported, father confessed to doing it
—> used as evidence for false confession
Conviction never overturned
People v. Thomas Brewster
Shots fired at car, man killed, passenger then assaulted.
Description given to police.
After 7 lineups and 11 years, finally gave positive ID of defendant.
Attorney told expert witness that they were doing secret DNA testing
Question raised (ethical dilemma) What is the role of an expert witness? If know defendant is guilty, should they testify as to the reliability of science involved in case?
Case with Jane Doe (Corwin & Olafson)
Molestation case (mother was abuser) Years later claimed recovered memory
Taus v. Loftus et al.
Jane Doe sued with real name because tracked down (psychological harm)
JD sued Loftus, Univ. of Wash, and journal
JD ordered to PAY other side’s lit. costs (~$250,000)
Tarasoff v. Regents of Univ of California
August, 1969
- Poddar told therapist (Moore) he intended to kill Tarasoff
- therapist notified supervisor and campus police who detained Poddar, then released him
Oct. 26, 1969
Poddar killed Tarasoff
Tarasoff parents sued
et al.
- therapist
- supervisor
- officers who detained
- officers who received therapist’s oral communication
- chief who received therapist’s letter
APA Amicus Brief
problem that NEGLIGENT to warn, not predict
Ruling:
Defense argued
-Poddar detained (LPS hold)
-Informing T would violate confidentiality
-public employees should be immune to liability (CA Tort Claims Act 1963)
Court REJECTED all arguments
- Limits to confidentiality
- mental health prof. have duty to patient AND those specifically threatened by patient
- *Tatasoff Warning (duty to warn)
- notify individual who is in danger from a client
- -> identifiability
- -> forgeability of harm
- -> prediction of violence
When to issue Tarasoff warning:
Makes specific threat to identifiable person
–> issue Tarasoff warning
ID
- kill everyone vs. kill Bob
Forseeability
- if forseeability of harm (details, etc.), you have DUTY to WARN
- ->Rowland v. Christian
Prediction of violence
- ppl say things don’t mean all time, HISTORY BASED
- ->Garner v. Stone
Rowland v. Christian
FORSEEABILITY OF HARM
R visited C C didn't tell R about bad sink -R used bathroom -R injured self -R sued C
Ruled
- forseeability of harm
- -> duty to warn
Garner v. Stone
PREDICTION OF VIOLENCE
G told S he had dreams of killing Captain
S referred G to someone else, who referred him to another, G canceled his apt
S issued Tarasoff warning
G FIRED
G sued S, and won
People v. Bierenbaum
Subsequent development
B
-missing wife
No body found
Case reopened after 12 yrs
-argued body dumped ocean
-evidence he alt. flight records
- Pros sought to open psych records
- b/c issued Tarasoff warning
- argued client-therapist priv. broken
- -> only CLIENT can waive priv. (court agreed)
B convicted w/o this evidence
Ewing v. Goldstein
Subsequent development
Client father called therapist
-thought son kill ex’s new bf
No Tarasoff warning issued
Son killed ex’s new bf and committed suicide
Bf’s family sued therapist
APA- would increase liability and undermine practice (court REJECTED)
CA Supreme Court
*-psyc CAN use info provided by 3rd parties to issue Tarasoff warning IF info deemed credible
Barefoot v. Estelle
Barefoot
- convicted for murder of police officer
- sentenced to death
- based on testimony from psychiatrists on ‘future dangerousness’ saying absolute chance
- > neither had actually EXAMINED HIM!
APA
~2/3 predictions were wrong
-prediction of violence deemed unreliable by field
- Supreme Court
- went against science
People v. Kacyzinski
Unabomber (string of bombings 1978-1995)
- killed 3
- injured 29
Arrested after “manifesto” in papers 1996
K wanted to defend self and refused public defense attorneys
Refused to go along w/ NGRI defense
[comp to do these things?]
Eventually, plea
- K plead guilty
- death penalty taken off table
- life prison, no poss. parole
People v. Hinckley
Hinckley (crazy about Jodie Foster; attempted assassination of Reagan)
Found NGRI
–> Congress (and rest of America) pissed! -> Insanity Defense Reform Act
Kansas v. Hendricks
Ruled that involuntary civil commitment for SVP is constitutional b/c civil vs. criminal matter
Two types of motivated forgetting
Supression:
Motivated forgetting that occurs consciously
Consciously avoid thinking about it, and attend to other things
Repression:
Motivated forgetting that occurs unconsciously (Freud)
Some memories are so horrible that our mind automatically pushes them into our unconscious
Makes all other defense mechanisms possible (Freud)
Repression vs. Natural forgetting
NOT the same!
Natural forgetting
- tends to occr when people do not think about prior events
- little controversy
Repressed memory debate
Clinicians side
- traumatic event
- memories can be repressed
- memories can be recovered accurately, years or event decades after an event occurs
Experimental psychologist side
- no traumatic event
- memory unavailable because it does not, and never has existed
- memory is falsely created (suggestion, leading questions, coercion)
Recovered memory and false memory
Recovered memory
- a repressed memory that has once again become consciously accessible
False memory (i.e., pseudomemory)
- a memory for an event that never occured
Statute of Limitations
The maximum amount of time after a crime that legal proceedings can be initiated
- Fraud, 3 years in Cali
Murder, NONE
Purpose:
To protect people against claims made after
- physical evidence has been lost
- witnesses become impossible or difficult to find
- memories for the event have faded
Child Sexual Abuse
Sex abuse alleged to have been committed when victim was under 18 years old
-> anytime prior to victim’s 28 birthday
Employmeny of minor to profeorm prohibited acts
-> 10 years after offense
Doctrine of Delayed Discovery
Statue of limitations commences when the plantiff knew, or should have known, that they were injured
- statute of limitations is tolled when the plantiff’s ignorance is “blameless”
Rationale (need to be aware Ruth v. Dight)
Usage (recovered memories, etc.)
Balance between:
- Right of plaintiff to prosecute
- Protection of respondent from stale claims
For a theory based on repressed & recovered memories to be supported, what must be true?
- Traumatic memories must be - at least sometimes - repressed
- Repressed memories must be - at least sometimes - recovered accurately
Anderson & Green
Claimed to be evidence for suppressed memories
Presented word-pairs to subjects
- think/ no think
- > respond to words / supress words
Cued recall
-> supressed words were recalled less often
Willians- Seminal study
Claimed to be evidence for repressed memories
- 38% did not report having been abused
- > some not old enought during event to remember (10 months old)
- > some may not have been ready to admit/ face abuse
Evidence that people can experience events for which they have no conscious memory
Madame D (told husband dead, no memory but fear at doorway where told)
Korsakoff’s patient (cannot store new memories, but won’t shake had because previos time had pin)
Eich, 1984 (word pair implicit task, spelled less common homophone)
Evidence that people can supress memories for non-traumatic events
Anderson & Green, 2001
Presented word-pairs to subjects
- think/ no think
- > respond to words / supress words
Cued recall
-> supressed words were recalled less often
Evidence (perhaps) that people can repress memories for traumatic events
Williams, 1994
Claimed to be evidence for repressed memories
- 38% did not report having been abused
- > some not old enought during event to remember (10 months old)
- > some may not have been ready to admit/ face abuse
Cue-dependent retrieval
- Eich: dichotic listening task (difference seen in implicit task, but not explicit)
- > recognition task, poor
- > spelling task, nearly twice as likely to spell less common homophome (evidence for unconscious processing)
People may forget things not because it’s not in memory, but because we don’t have the right cues
-> along with event/memory, code context, which can be used as a cue
People v. George Franklin
- daughter remembered what father did by cue
Issues with repressed memories
Memory of traumatic events
- assumption: traumatic memories are “different”
- > may depend on the question asked
Repression
->PTSD as counterargument because cannot get trauma out of mind
Dissociation
- split in consciousness; psychologically detach themselves from traumatic situation
- > in turn may affect normal cognitive functioning, including attention and memory processes
- evidence that we can process info below conscious awareness
- > Madame D: told husband dead, no memory but bad feeling at door where she was told
- > Claparede: anterograde amnesia, dr. shakes her hand with pin in it, next time she refuses to shake his hand stating “sometimes pins are hidden in people’s hands” (evidence that some memories form without conscious awareness)
Cue-dependent retrieval
- dichotic listening task (difference seen in implicit task, but not explicit)
- > recognition task, poor
- > spelling task, nearly twice as likely to spell less common homophome (evidence for unconscious processing)
- people may forget things not because it’s not in memory, but because we don’t have the right cues
- > along with event/memory, code context, which can be used as a cue
- People v. George Franklin
- > daughter remembered what father did by cue
Suggestiveness and social influence
- Goodman et al. (2003) 30% African Americans did not disclose as opposed to 15% overall
How does one recover a memory?
Therapy
- cue-dependent retrieval
- guided imagery (imagine what could happen)
- hypnosis
- detailed dream analysis
Similar to how false memories are created
Hypnosis
Altered attention and awareness and unusual receptiveness to suggestions
Steps
- Distractions are minimized
- Told to concentrate on something specific
- Told what to expect (e.g., relaxation)
- Suggest events or feelings sure to occur
Hypnotic age regression
-relive experience from childhood
Has been used as: Entertainment Method of psychotherapy Procedure in branched of medicine To enhance memory of eyewitness and victims
Benefits:
Reduce pain and anxiety
-Ice baths (Hilgard)
-Surgical experiments (Askay & Patterson; Spiegel)
Susceptibility to hypnosis:
Those who have rich fantasy lives and become totally engaged in imaginary events
Aprox. 5-10% of the pop cannot be hypnotized by even a skilled hypnotist
Is hypnosis reliable?
No, can actually make memories worse
Confabulations (talking more, so more info, but not more accurate)
Pseudo-memories
Social Influence Theory
People simply behave how they believe a hypnotized person should behave
Imaginative actors playing a social role
Support: Orne (1954)
-during hypnotic age regression, when asked why they were doing it, said to “asses psych. capacities” which someone that age would not have been able to do
Divided State of Consciousness
During hypnosis
Dissociation
-“splitting” consciousness into different states
One component follows hypnotist’s commands, the other is a “hidden observer”
-part of mind that is not within conscious awareness seems to be watching the person’s experiences as a whole
Is hypnosis reliable?
No, can actually make memories worse
Confabulations (talking more, so more info, but not more accurate)
Pseudo-memories
Dream interpretation
Dreams commonly incorp info of pervious day’s preoccupations
-negative emotional content (8 out of 10 dreams have at least one negative event or emotion)
Failure dreams (common) -failure, being attacked, pursued, rejected, or struck with misfortune
Sexual dreams
young men: 1 in 10 (10%)
young women: 1 in 30 (3.3%)
Wish Fulfillment (Freud)
Dream theory
- Manifest content
- remember storyline
- NO interpretation
- censored version of latent content
- Latent content
- window into unconscious mind and hidden desires
- allows for expression of wishes or needs that may be to painful or guilt-inducing to acknowledge consciously
- KEY aspect of the dream
EXAMPLE
- women dreamt of getting period (manifest) which showed that she was pregnant and not ready to give up her youth and turn to motherhood (latent)
- girl dreams father cases her and sends bears to chase her (manifest) because father abused her as child (latent)
- Criticism:
- lack of scientific support
- dreams can be interpreted in many ways
False memories
Misinformation and source confusion can alter details for memories that already exist
Also possible to create memories that never actually occurred (formation of false memories)
Loftus & Pickrell (1995)
“Lost in the Mall” study
Braun, Ellis & Loftus (2002)
Picture with Bugs Bunny at Disneyland 25% claimed
Wade, Garry, Read & Lindsay (2002)
~50% of participants created partial or full memories of the fictitious event
