The idea of this article came after another experiment tested negative false belief and the experimenters were interested in seeing if a similar experiment but with positive false belief could affect memory. The article experimented by testing adults and their memories by creating a false memory and seeing how they act according the information given. The adults were told they “loved eating asparagus as children” (Laney, Morris, Bernstein, and Wakefield, & Loftus, 2008, p.291), after this they were tested to see if they liked asparagus more as adults. This experiment was successful and the adults were also tested on their willingness to buy and consume more asparagus. The experiments altered the view of childhood in these adults, and the experiment was successful (Laney et al., 2008), and showed that experiments like this one can be used to help patients and treat them from past traumas and/or alter their minds.
Variables in this experiment consisted of the independent variable is the one that is changed by the scientist, was the idea/words implemented during both experiments, the would be the people and the altering minds/thoughts of the people
The
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They were then assigned to the “love Group” or the “control Group”. All groups completed questionnaires about their personalities and food preferences. They were also asked to complete another questionnaire and about their preferences of dishes. A week passed and the groups were asked to come back, this time they were given false feedback including “you loved to eat cooked asparagus”. Then they were asked to complete them same question once again, along with two other question test. The first had to do with food preferences and the second focused on food cost questions. At the end they were asked to do one final test, that tested them on their memory and belief about asparagus and if so what were the
In this study, Øverås et al. (2014) experiment’s had two independent variables. The first independ...
Experimental research is the one type of research that allows psychologists to make causal statements. It is where the researcher changes one or more variables that may have an effect on some other variables (King, 2016). The hypothesis is a specific expectation about what is going to happen in the experiment (King, 2016). In the research, the hypothesis was that women would perceive fat talk to be more socially acceptable than men (Katrevich et al., 2014). The other elements of experimental method are dependent and independent variables. The independent variable (IV) is the cause of the results, and it is changed by the experimenter to find the effects, but the dependent vari...
Research has demonstrated the vast implications of false memories for eyewitness testimony and therapeutic recall. However, there is also great potential for positive applications of this research. The plasticity of memories could have significant therapeutic implications. Positive false memories could be created as well as neutralizing traumatic ones. Researchers in cognitive psychology and neuroscience are currently researching these possibilities. This paper will discuss the current state of research on therapeutic memory manipulation.
Steffens, M., & Mecklenbräuker, S. (2007). False memories: Phenomena, theories, and implications. Zeitschrift Für Psychologie/Journal Of Psychology, 215(1), 12-24. doi:10.1027/0044-3409.215.1.12
Belief is a fundamental human trait. Belief in many things is what helps humans continue living their lives. Religious beliefs are one of the strongest forces of human emotion and often times those emotions can create dangerous situations. When people's religious beliefs are taken to extreme levels innocent people can be hurt. All throughout history there have been examples of just such incidents occurring. From the Inquisition, to suicide bombers in Israel, to the fighting in Ireland, to the recent events at the World Trade Center religious beliefs taken to extremes have been seen. In the United States many groups preach extreme beliefs that are harmful to the American people. One such group is the Religious Right.
Research has shown that even though information may be committed to memory, what is retrieved can be altered during the encoding process. It has been said that, “the recollection of memory can be manipulated and or large aspects of the event can be confabulated.” (Cain,1997). Moreover, the recollection of past experiences can negatively affect future decisions, opinions, and more significant outcomes such as an eyewitness. This type of impact is due to something called, “false memories.” False memories can be defined as “an recollection of an event that never actually occurred.” False memories are said to be normal occurrences and have little impact on lives. However, Loftus and Palmer argue something different. In 1974, Loftus and Palmer conducted an experiment to test out the theory behind “false memories.” Their aim was to show that language used in eyewitness testimony can alter memory. People in this experiment were asked to estimate the speed of motor vehicles using different ways of questioning. Loftus and Palmer asked questions in regards to vehicle speed because typically that is something that most people are bad at estimating. Therefore these people would be more vulnerable and open to suggestions. The procedure of this experiment involved participants watching a video of cars. Participants were asked what they had seen in regards to how that car came in contact with the other car. Loftus and Palmer used words like “crashed, collided, hit, and smashed.” Their findings concluded that the estimated speed was affected by the verb used to describe the cars’ contact with one another. It seem as if participants saw that the verbs as clues of the speed the cars were going. Loftus and Palmer also came to the conclusion that there could only be two reasons for their findings. Those reasons were Response- bias factors or the fact that the memory representation is alter.
Memory is an important part of our lives. It fills us with comfort, warmth, and happiness when recalling a joyous event; it may also illicit feelings of anger, sadness, or discontent. Unfortunately, our memory is not as perfect as we may think. In fact, our memory is extremely malleable. Most people think memory acts as a tape recorder; you experience an event, and like a video tape, you can replay the event over and over in exact detail as it happened. This belief could not be further from the truth. In fact, our memory is constantly being shaped by external factors. It is reconstructed in the way we want to remember it. Memory does not act as a tape recorder; rather it is constructed by us and warped by time, emotions, and external forces. Such forces can include the input of family members and friends who want “get the facts straight” with their recollection of the event. This falsification effect can have severely damaging consequences, not only for the person undergoing the recollection, but also for those under attack for these recovered memories.
The title of the article I choose to write about is “Memory suppression can help people “unlearn” behavioral responses- but only for non-emotional memories.” The focus of the research article was to examine whether employing memory suppression can help individuals train their brains to forget behavioral responses associated with intrusive thoughts. I found this article interesting to read because I think that it is a motivating concept to be able to suppress unwanted memories from the brain that could cause an individual mental agony. More in-depth, I think it is an interesting thought to be able to training your brain to do such an amazing and beneficially mental practice. The Literature Review section of this paper explained past research used to teach participants to exclude unwanted memories from their mind by eliminating the memories awareness using what is known as a think/no-think (TNT) paradigm. There were two hypotheses presented in this study. The first one explored if holding in unwanted memories would hold back an individual’s behavioral actions that followed a memory. The second hypothesis explored the effects of undesirable emotions.
Medical advancement coupled with psychology, and behavioral science may potentially hold the combination lock to curing this world of trauma and strife. We now live in a world in which modern medicine and neuroscience can potentially remove a person’s negative memory and change their response to trauma. Whether or not this capacity is ethical or moral is an entirely different issue that requires an in depth analysis of the potential uses of such treatments. Are they morally permissible? Can they help us lead better lives? Could the potential for abuse create moral hazards much worse than the traumas we seek to cure? All this and more must be explored if we are to draw conclusions about this modern wonder.
The study consisted of 3200 participants (all men) .They all were given questionnaires and from their responses and their manner, each participant was put into one of two groups:
According to Sternberg (1999), memory is the extraction of past experiences for information to be used in the present. The retrieval of memory is essential in every aspect of daily life, whether it is for academics, work or social purposes. However, many often take memory for granted and assume that it can be relied on because of how realistic it appears in the mind. This form of memory is also known as flashbulb memory. (Brown and Kulik, 1977). The question of whether our memory is reliably accurate has been shown to have implications in providing precise details of past events. (The British Psychological Association, 2011). In this essay, I would put forth arguments that human memory, in fact, is not completely reliable in providing accurate depictions of our past experiences. Evidence can be seen in the following two studies that support these arguments by examining episodic memory in humans. The first study is by Loftus and Pickrell (1995) who found that memory can be modified by suggestions. The second study is by Naveh-Benjamin and Craik (1995) who found that there is a predisposition for memory to decline with increasing age.
The first method to be discussed and analysed are experimental methods. There is a variety of experimental methods including; laboratory, field and natural experiments. These methods are the most scientific method due to them being highly objective and systematic. In addition, this method is regarded as the most powerful research method used in psychology because of the potential to investigate the causes of events and therefore, identifying the cause and effect relationship. When carrying out an experiment the researcher intervenes directly in the situation being investigated. The researcher manipulates an independent variable (IV) in order to investigate whether there is a change in the dependent variable (DV). Any other variables that could have an
In the first experiment participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups. The first group would read the passage on red paper and test on red paper, the second group read the passage on red paper and test on green paper, the third read the passage on green paper and test on green paper, and the last group read the passage on green paper and test on red paper. The second experiment was done with all new participants. In this experiment, the same passage was used and same time limit on studying and testing time. However in this experiment, participants were randomly assigned to five different groups. The groups represented what color of paper the test was printed on: red, blue, green, yellow, and pink. Students were given the material on white paper and tested on their color group paper.
Robert S. Wyer, J. (2000, July). The Cognitive Impact of Past Behavior: Influences on Beliefs,. Journal of personality and social psychology, 79(1), 5.
Ballarini, F., Martinez, M. C., Perez, M. D., Moncada, D., & Haydee, V. (2013). Memory in elementary school child is improved by an unrelated novel experience. PLOS, 8(6),