If you recall your childhood, you may remember things that didn’t happen. ‘Memories’ which were given to you by your parents or other adults who had influence over you. As an adult when you look back, you might see they were ‘boogieman’ stories or misunderstandings.
There are also False Memories which are exposed in Court, especially when it comes to “eye witness” identification.
In the first article I mentioned the ‘White Car’ where an experiment to manipulate a memory was done deliberately.
The same process which happened in that classroom where under grads were ‘told’ what they recalled often occurs in legal matters when the Police tell a witness who what they witnessed.
They may show a photograph to a witness or somehow indicate who should be pointed out on the identification parade.
When this comes out in Court, clearly the accused must be released.
Sometimes it is the memory of the witness him or herself which plays the Trick.
A woman’s premises was burglarised by an ‘Oriental looking’ man. Two weeks after the event she identified a man who sold newspapers. This man had a kiosk on the path she took to work.
For two years she had passed this kiosk.
Directly after the burglary she could only say; “an Oriental looking man”. But two weeks later, she indicated that vendor.
This is because her memory of an Oriental Looking man had pasted itself over the man she had seen, and saw.
Had he been the actual culprit she would have immediately identified him, or done so on the following day. The fact she had not was a clear indication that she had overwritten her memory with the face of this person, confusing two different memories.
A woman was watching an interview on television when a man broke in and raped her. She identified the man she had been watching on television as the rapist.
The fact the show was live was a clear indication she had mixed up what she was watching on the television with what was happening to her.
During the past decades, reliance on eye witness testimony has dwindled. There are many cases in which DNA evidence has been used to exonerate a person who has been convicted, often serving years or decades.
This is because when a person is under stress and experiencing things they can not process at the time, they are likely to confuse faces and make an erroneous identification.
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Yes you say my friend there are many people whose memories deceive them and sometimes proves true keeping in mind all past and childhood memories. It court sharp memory persons are utilized for false witness to deceive the Judge but the Judge knows the fact in spite of this he remains silence ignoring the false eye witness. It is done in every country.
In my country a woman swore that she saw a particular man break into her house. She wasn't shaking a bit. Then the Superintendent of the Prison was called. He testified the man was in Prison at the time of the break in. And she kept insisting she saw him.
There are some memories are being manipulated by the person itself. In giving a speech, some statements uttered without thinking and eventually, denied the fact that it was being said. It is happening in my country. The leader had said something and denies that it was misinterpreted. He can't even contain his feelings into something and created a big issue. It is a talk of the town and can never be erased for the people who had heard the speech.
That refusal to admit, that certainty that he never said it, despite proof is a very good example of the dangers of a false memory
You have rightly mentioned it. In the former case, this is the time gap that proved as false. In the latter case, it is the overlapping of memories. In either case, this is only the individual who is confused. This shows how the cases are twisted in Courts. As there are many such cases which are being twisted finally people are approaching the DNA test.
The DNA tests which prove that the man identified by the witness is innocent has caused a very serious examination of 'eye witness' testimony.
The fact is, many people are 'told' who committed the crime against them, many people confused suspects, many people over write images. So one must be very careful and check.
Yes indeed the mind can definitely play tricks on you. But inherent in the description or phrase “false memory” is … the truth or a true memory must exist! That's the memory that needs to extracted from the mind; especially, if clarification and evidence is needed for a legal matter. Don't you think? :)
One has to be very careful as to how the memory is provoked. This is what scientists are debating about. The victim gives a broad description. One has to be careful not to make an error, not to prompt. It is a far more serious issue than simply mistaking a hershey bar for a cadburry.
The question is: Are they trying a provoke a memory or create a memory? I say the idea of a "false memory" comes from the notion of folks trying to create a memory and inject it into someone's psyche, and badgering the person into believing that it's the truth.
OK. I don't mean any disrespect to genuine scientists who are serious about their research and sincerely want to uncover and explain things that we don't understand, but a lot of the so-called scientists just keep a “debate” going so they can stay employed.
If a devious (unethical and immoral) scientist, a devious medical practitioner, and a devious lawyer decided to get together on a “plan” to work the system, then ___________________. Oh … my … God!!! Can you imagine what can fill in that blank??!! I can't!! My imagination don't stretch that far. But I can guess that it wouldn't be something good!
I maintain that, in any country, in any part of the world, the opposite of FALSE is TRUE. If you wrap up a Hershey bar as a Cadbury, I wouldn't be that upset. If you try to substitute or replace a falsehood for a truth, that's not a mistake. That's a willful and deliberate intent to deceive. Deception is usually never on the tail end or at the beginning of anything good! Just sayin'.
If there is a chocolate on the desk and you remember it being a Hershey Bar but it was really Cadburry; that is NOT False Memory. False Memory is when there was no chocolate on the desk but somehow you are made to believe that there was a chocolate on the desk and you took it. But there was no chocolate on the Desk.
So you're saying it was “created”. It didn't happen!
I wish this just a discussion just about chocolate. It would be more palatable. :) I put all this talk about “false memory” in the same category with people who try to legally argue they committed a crime because they are “demon possessed”.
If you're in the field of psychology or medicine and you create a memory of an event that never happened, no way you're going to convince me that you're trying to cure your patient.
If you're a lawyer and you want to “try” or “test” a legal argument to see if it will hold up in court, but you're not really interested in getting to the truth of the matter and justice being served, then you will never be legal counsel for me! Just sayin'. :)
This is an interesting discussion. It's a topic that people can be discussing for years! Although it seems like the scientists already figured that out, huh? :)
It is a real issue. It is not just a mythological hypothetical. It is real. There have been cases in which people have been, as in the very first example, brought to believe they were sexually molested when they were not. One of the most horrible was a middle aged woman who was made to believe her brother raped her at a particular time and place. Her brother was dead at the time; killed in Viet Nam. The parents didn't know he was killed until about a year later and kept it from her until she was older. This belief that her brother had molested her was so powerful that she actually believed it and blamed it for all her failings and when she confronted her parents and they proved he was dead a year before the event.. that was a complete breakdown for her.
It is not just an intellectual game. Many psychiatrists/psychologists are having their insurance companies refusing to pay ... advising them of the decision that they will not pay for sudden adult memories of childhood abuse which were 'discovered' in the office of that policy holder and later prove to be untrue.
Yeah it's a real issue alright. The real issue is there is a “subtle evil at work” in the instances you referred to or described and very likely in all of the instances where these “happenings” occur. It is a “really nasty and vicious mind game” that is being played with people by people with “malicious motives”. A person blind from birth can see The Serpent raising its ugly head!
In many legal cases, the therapist is so certain that some sort of abuse happened they stop at nothing to prove it. This was extremely common in the late 80s early 90s. As is coming clear; many therapists are quite dangerous.
In other cases, as you have seen with recent over turnings of convictions, is that how did this complainant come to identify that accused. So eye witness testimony is being carefully scrutinised.
Said this already but I'll say it again. You picked an extremely interesting topic. I have really enjoyed our discussion. You have the last word. Thanks for going back and forth with me on this. It helped clarify a lot in my mind. (Yawn.) It's about 11:30 PM where I am. I'm going to bed. Good night! :)
Memories can come to your brain knowingly and unknowingly. Until this age I always convince my self that I can remember what happened when I was 2 years old. I will be like asking myself, is this true? Or just an imagination of myself when crawling.
Sometimes I tell people I remember when I crawl from my house to a neighbour's house. I believe this so much because the memory comes with a clear image.
Going through this post makes me think I was just having an imagination.
My mother always tell us stories of how we were born and what we did when we were small. So I think my brain relates to her stories and forms a clear image in my brain which will forever be intact. Sometimes I even see clear vision of when my mother was heavily pregnant of me. Relating to her stories, my brain forms a video which perhaps somehow make me think I was one of the doctors that operated on her and brought out the baby(that's me).
Thats a nice post my dear. You really have made me understand a lot about false and true memory and how our brain relate to information being given to us.
But another thing that can cause false memory for my case or any other person's case are the things we see, the television we watch on our daily basis also contribute to our false memory.
When you watch a television or a program where women are being taken to hospital for delivery, you tend to start thinking it was how you were born by your mother. So you start imagining the woman on the television or program as your mother and the baby is you.
Yes. Parents will tell you stories, sometimes they aren't exactly true, but in most cases, they don't imprison you. A false memory does because it 'fights' to survive. For example, a woman who fell out of a window, (according to the doctors she was asleep or unconscious, according to the police the first words she said; "What are you doing in my bedroom?") was made to believe she jumped in a suicide attempt to escape a family member.
Despite the fact her description of the window, the ledge, how she stood and looked is absolutely false, (there is no ledge and the window screen was on the ground, meaning she never opened the screen but went through it, so never stood on any ledge) she will cling to it and it has ruined her life, her relationships.
Yes parents will tell they stories sometimes they ave'nt exactly true in most cases they don't imprison you false memories does examples because they fight to survived for example woman who fell out of window ( according to the doctor she was sleep unconcious) according to the police the first words she said what are you doing in my bedroom, was made to believe that she jump out of window of his house trying to commit suicide family member said.
Despite the facts her description of the window, the ledge how she stold and look the window screen was on the ground meaning she never open the window it an evil for someone to away his or her life no matter what your past throgh.
I am very familiar with that case. The woman herself attended a psychologist who invented the suicide story. She did not try to kill herself. She fell out of a window, but the psychologist looking for an explanation as to why the patient had other problems, created the suicide.
My country Nigeria am a biafra in nigeria which many called zoo the animals kindom, is first country in the whole world which president buhari false man i ever hear about in the history of the world the is so The man is very arogants and packs his family members put in the government and called them saint, a while All the other polical zion are they the crul man, am a biafra we believe one day we will over come
A true democrat is a believe of oneness and unity.it is my earnest desire that the biafran struggle see no good.. I believe in the unity of Nigeria. Long live nigeria
The types of esteem you have influence your total self. High esteem is more preferrd because it influences the way others feel about us. It increases confidence in oneself; self satifaction, belief in one self; ability to cope with chanllenges, willingness to take on new chanllenges; ability to live a good citizen etc. A while the influence of low esteem include
1) makes decision making difficult and leads to low morale.
Lack of selfconfidence,
Unhappiness,lack of self satifaction
Feelingbof being dislike and unwanted, being withdrawn; distorted wiews of self.
Inability to tackle new challenges and avoiding new experinces. If you have low self- esteem; work hard to strength it to high esteem. While high esteem; infuence positive decision, low esteem influence decision negatively. For intance being more influenced by peer presure
Always wanted to please other people; lacking confidence in ones own value
Blaming others for one's failure; finding excuses for refusing positive changes.
Continually wishing to be someone else etc. A look at the negative Impact of low esteem shows that It is better to develop a high esteem.let us examine how high self- esteem may influence our decision.
Choose friends whose values we approve; willing to listen to admired adult.