memory as an active process Flashcards
4 parts to active process
- memory is inaccurate
- reconstruction
- social and cultural influences
- effort after meaning
memory is inaccurate
it is not an exact reproduction of experiences
reconstruction
record pieces of information recombined to tell the whole story
social and cultural influences
expectations come from the world/culture we live in, and affect storage and recall
effort after meaning
we focus on the meaning of events and make an effort afterwards to make sense of fragments of memory
evaluation of the active process theory
More realistic research – reflects how we use memory in everyday life because it uses a story not word lists
Some memories are accurate – not all recall is reconstructed as some memories of the story are accurate
Real life application – explains problems with eyewitness testimony as people do not always recall accurately
bartletts war of the ghosts - aim
to see how memory is reconstructed when recalling an unfamiliar story
bartletts war of the ghosts - method
the War of the Ghosts story was read by one participant and recalled after 15 mins, then read by another participant and recalled and so on
bartletts war of the ghosts - results
pp’s changed the story to fit cultural expectations, leaving out unfamiliar information
bartletts war of the ghosts - conclusion
we use our knowledge of social situations to reconstruct memory
bartletts war of the ghosts - weakness I
Lacks control – P’s were not told accurate recall was important, which could have affected results
bartletts war of the ghosts - weakness II
Results were biased – Bartlett analysed the recollections himself, so we cannot fully trust the conclusions
bartletts war of the ghosts - weakness III
Story was unusual – story was unusual so may not reflect everyday memory processed
