False Memories Flashcards
George Franklin Sr 1090
First citizen to be convicted of murder on the basis of a repressed memory.
- stood trial for murdering Susan Nolan (age 8) in 1969.
- daughter Eileen, only 8 claimed to have witnessed it, repressed it and then recovered it.
- Eileen’s memory report was believed by her therapist, so,e of her family and by San Mateo County district attorney’s office who prosecuted her father.
- lack of physical evidence, so the court relied on expert witness’ repression and recovery of memory.
- the jury impressed by Eileen’s detailed and confident memory, found her father guilty of murder in the first degree.
USA legislation on CSA
Legislation now allows for the delayed reporting of childhood abuse to be admissible in court.
Has to be reported within three years of the time that they remembered it.
Organisations against backlash include
Parents, carers, teachers etc, claims of ‘false accusations’.
Victims of local child abuse laws (VOCAL)
United campaign against fake allegations of abuse (UCAFAA)
Falsely accused carers and teachers (FACT)
Gary Ramona
- executive, 3 kids
- daughter 19, sought therapy for bulimia and depression
- therapist told her 80% of bulimia cases were a result of being sexually abused as a child
- holly reported a recovered memory of being abused by her father
- father brought suit against her therapists involved
- jury’s decision: Hollywood psychiatrist had developed false memories of sexual abuse through irresponsible negligent therapeutic practise.
- Ramona awarded $500’000 in damages
This case established a parents right to sue therapists for planting false memories of sexual abuse in a child’s mind.
The false memory debate
Two sides
Therapists position
- memories are reproductive
- helping people recover memories allows them to heal
Psychological position
- memories are reconstructive
- the recovered memories are likely to be products of the therapeutic process itself
History behind repressed memories
Freud & Psychoanalysis
Repressed memories of trauma = present day dysfunction
Finding the ‘cause’ was often thought to alleviate problems
Childhood sexual abuse often thought to be a cause
Many modern day therapeutic treatments rely on ‘recovered memory therapy’, where the primary goal is to uncover repressed, dissociated or otherwise unavailable ‘memories’ of a trauma in order to resolve present day psychological ailments.
Hypothetical sequence of events
Seek help for low esteem/anxiety/depression
Therapist suggests that people struggling with some problems have been molested as a child
Initial shock and denial from the client
Therapist provides a self help book ‘the courage to heal’ (BASS & DAVIS, 1988)
Therapist asks client to consider the possibility of repressed memory as accessing memories is vital to recovery.
Repressed memory recovery techniques
Imagery work Dream work Hypnotic regression Art therapy Group therapy
Finkelhor 1990
Retrospective survey evidence from adults in USA who claimed they had been sexually abused as children.
Reported adult symptoms of CSA included; Low self esteem Poor sleep Depression Substance abuse
CSA also implicated as a causative feature in psychiatric diagnosis including trauma stress disorders, eating disorders etc.
Goodman 2013
Is it common to forget CSA
Conducted a study with 175 women and men who were involved with CSA (141 women).
89% involved with genital contact, 42% penetration
3 phases 1) phone interview 2) postal survey 3) in person interview
Research framed as being about legal experiences and attitudes
- participants were not specifically asked about the cases they had been involved in
- the researchers did not disclose their knowledge of the woman’s histories
First phase: 81.1% disclosed the target case
9% denied ever being victimised
Phase 2 & 3: over 90%
Results from the study indicated that forgetting CSA may not be a common experience.
Imply that normal cognitive operations underlie long-term memory for CSA.
Challenge for future research would be to integrate social, cognitive and clinical factors into theories of memory for childhood trauma.
Is it possible to repress memories
Holmes 1995
“No controlled laboratory evidence supporting the concept of repression”
No reliable evidence that individuals ‘repress’ or ‘dissociate’ memories of traumatic events.
Minimal evidence for repressed memories raises a serious possibility that the recovered ‘memories’ are false.
DRM paradigm
Roediger & McDermott 1995
The Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm is a procedure in cognitive psychology used to study false memory in humans
Participants study a list of semantically related words.
When they are later tested, participants often falsely recall non presented critical lures
Lost in mall paradigm
Loftus & Pickrell 1995
24 participants received suggestions from siblings of how they got lost in the mall as a child
Results: 6 (25%) participants had “full or partial memory” for the event
Problems with Loftus & Pickrell 1995 study
Results do not generalise to childhood memory of sexual abuse
The experience of childhood sexual abuse is a relatively implausible event for most children
In contrast, getting lost is a familiar childhood event that is relatively plausible for most children
- parental obsession
- most children have been lost at least once
- fairy tales
Pezdek, Finger & Hodge 1997
20 participants were presented with
1 childhood event
2 false childhood events
- plausible event: Loftus’ lost in mall target event
- implausible event: Received a rectal enema target event
DV: whether each participant recalled information beyond that presented in the description
Plausible event: Loftus’ ‘lost in mall’ paradigm- 3/20 (15%) recalled this event
Implausible event: received a rectal enema - 0/20 recalled this event
