Week 6 Flashcards
Theory of Repression
Something horrible happens
Mind represses memory in attempt to protect
If can remember, then can deal with and recover it
Remember with a gaiety of “therapeutic” techniques
How does one recover a memory?
Therapy
- cue-dependent retrieval
- guided imagery (imagine what could happen)
- hypnosis
- detailed dream analysis
How is a false memory created?
Similarly to how memories are recovered
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
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
Hilgard (1986, 1992)
Hypnotized people -> arms into ice baths
Unhypn. intense pain within 25 seconds
Hypn. felt cold, but no pain
Dissociation between sensation of pain and emotional experience of pain
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
Hypnosis has been used as
Entertainment
Method of psychotherapy
Procedure in branched of medicine
To enhance memory of eyewitness and victims
Benefits of hypnosis
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
Can hypnosis enhance memories of forgotten events?
Chowchilla, CA 1976
- school bus full of children kidnapped
- driver saw license, but couldn’t recall -> hypn. -> captured perp (lot of evidence that was right)
Boston, MA 1981
- armored car robbed
- hypno. -> confidently recalled -> license to president of Harvard, where he used to work
Is hypnosis reliable?
No, can actually make memories worse
Confabulations (talking more, so more info, but not more accurate)
Pseudo-memories
Brown (1995)
Highly suggestible, dissociated, self-help -> more susceptible to false 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%)
Lucid dreaming
Events seem so normal that dreamers feel as if they are awake and conscious
- do “experiments” to determine if awake or dream
Rare to achieve with any regularity
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
Source confusion errors
Memory distortion that occurs when the true scorch of the memory is forgotten
- attributing a memory for one event to the wrong source (retain content, not source)
- > can help explain misinformation effect
Memories are distributed across the cortex
- one of the frailest parts of memory is its source
- retain the image, but not the context in which we acquired it
- > was it really what they experienced in their past or was it by suggestion?
EXAMPLES
- telling friend same story they told you
- misattributing story to friend that heard on TV
- misremember doing something you only IMAGINED doing
- misremembering something that occurred in a dream
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)
Infantile amnesia
Cannot remember before 3 years old
Development of explicit memory - verbal recall
Loftus & Pickrell (1995)
False memories
“Lost in the Mall” study
- told fictitious story about how they were lost in the mall as a child
- > 25% came to believe they had been lost in the mall!
Braun, Ellis & Loftus (2002)
False memories
Picture with Bugs Bunny at Disneyland 25% claimed
Wade, Garry, Read & Lindsay (2002)
False memories
Photoshopped participant’s picture on to a hot air balloon ride
~50% of participants created partial or full memories of the fictitious event
Limitation for false memory studies?
Laboratory studies
Not in context of abuse
Imagination inflation
Garry, Manning, Loftus, & Sherman (1996)
-asked participants variety of questions, such as breaking window with hand
Two weeks later
-imagination exercise, imagined self breaking window with hand, cutting self, and bleeding
Then questioned again
Vividly imagining events lead to increased confidence by subjects that the event occurred in childhood
Repressed Memories
APA Working Group on Investigation of Memories of Child Abuse
comprised of research and clinical psychologists
tasked with delving into issue and attempting to reach consensus about phenomenon
Stance:
- repression can probably occur, but rarely
- cannot tell difference between recovered memory and false memory
Choosing a therapist
- No single set of symptoms indicative of childhood abuse
- Unbiased therapist
- Licensed practitioner
People v. George Frankling revisited
Conviction overturned
Civil suit filed -> court ruled she did not do it intentionally
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
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?
Five basis APA principles
- Beneficence & Non-maleficence
- Fidelity & Responsibility
- Integrity
- Justice
- Respect for people’s rights & dignity
Beneficence & Non-maleficence
Strive to benefit those they serve
To do no harm
Fidelity & Responsibility
Establish relationships characterized by trust
Have professional & scientific responsibilities to society
Integrity
In all activities, psychologist strive to be accurate, honest, and truthful
Justice
All persons are entitles to access to & benefit from the profession of psychology
Psychologists should RECOGNIZE their biases and boundaries of competence
Respect for people’s rights & dignity
Respect rights & dignity of all people & enact safeguards to ensure protection of these rights
APA Ethical Guidelines
Relationships with clients
Informed consent
Maintaining competence
Confidentiality
APA Ethical Guidelines: Relationships with clients
No sexual relationship with current client
No sexual relationships with relatives or significant others of current client
No client with former sexual relationship
ONLY yes
- after two years of therapy termination
- considered nature, duration, and intensity of therapy
- considered circumstance of therapy termination
- considered client’s personal history
- considered client’s current mental status
- considered likelihood of adverse impact on the client
- no statement or action took place during course of therapy suggesting or inviting post termination sexual or romantic relationship
Excessive self-disclosure single most common precursor to therapist-client sex
Pope & Vetter (1991)
- tended to be females
- most involved intimacies prior to termination
- judged harm in at least 80% of cases of post termination sexual relationship
- > harm = attempt/complete suicide, hospitalization, sued
Retrospectively, former clients feel exploited
- often victims of child abuse
- lonely, isolated prior to relationship
70-90% of therapists been attracted to client
-> 2-10% (and declining) sexual involvement
Manage sexual feelings by consulting with colleagues
~5-10% disclose their sexual attraction (men more likely)
Refrain from serving more than ONE role with client or close associates of client
Exception: if can est. that rel. would NOT be expected to impair or risk exploitation or harm (need INFORMED CONSENT)
APA Ethical Guidelines: Informed consent
Inform
- benefits of procedure
- risks of procedure
- what will happen if no procedure
Holds up in court
General
- legal capacity to give consent
- > minors: assent
- > consent from others (parents, guardians, etc.)
- court-ordered services
- > inform client, NO consent needed
- documentation
Research
- inform
- > purpose of research, expected duration, benefits, procedures
- > if deception, then debriefing
- right to decline participation and withdrawal once study has begun
Assessment
- for assessments, evaluations, or diagnostic services
- exceptions
- > mandated by law or gov regulations
- > routine edu, institutional, or org activities
- > to eval “decisional capacity”
Therapy
- nature of anticipated course of therapy
- any and all fees
- involvement of 3rd parties
- limits to confidentiality
- trainees & supervision (not fully licensed, etc.)
- generally recognized techniques
- > if not gen. rec., must notify client
- developing nature of treatment
- potential risks involved
- alternative treatments
- voluntary nature of their participation
- EXAMPLE: repressed memory recall tech.
APA Ethical Guidelines: Maintaining competence
Boundaries of competence
-must be competent in area
Maintaining competence
- must maintain knowledge/ know the lit.
- > conferences
- > read appropriate journals
- > consult with peers in field
- > take classes if nec.
Bases for scientific and professional judgements
- needs to be scientific and prof. evidence for treatment
- > NO anecdotes, or personal observation & beliefs
APA Ethical Guidelines: Confidentiality
Content considered privileged communication
->NO disclosure of info about client WITHOUT client’s expressed permission
EXCEPTIONS
- Mandated by law
- To provide needed professional services
- To obtain professional consultation
- To obtain payment services
- To protect client or another person from harm
Not following the APA guidelines can lead to
Trouble.
- potential harm for client
- potential for getting sued
Transference
Freudian
Client transfers feelings of a sign. person in their life to their therapist
GOOD
- can work out outside issues
- can help to turn to healthy feelings
Countertransference
Therapist transfers own unconscious feelings onto their client
Must be careful to be as OBJECTIVE as possible
Classical (unethical) psych studies
Stanford prison experiment Milgram experiment (obedience) Little Albert (fear of anything white)
