Sigmund Freud's Narrative Self-Consciousness

Level 4 describes the narrative self-consciousness, by which the function of language is essentially large. The narrative self-consciousness and functions of self-consciousness associate one another through language via inner or audible speech. The process of directing attention to the content allows for better remembrance and the verbalization of said same content will result in the same remembrance. (Talvitie & Tiitinen, 2006)

The concept of the repression of contents was Freud’s theoretical cornerstone suggesting that absent contents and their emergence were pre-existing in a conscious form. (Talvitie & Tiitinen, 2006) He proposed the question, “How are we to arrive at a knowledge of unconscious? And answers, “It is of course only as something conscious that we know it, after it has undergone transformation or translation into something conscious.” (Freud, Repression, 1915/1957)

Within Freud’s meta-psychological writings, Talvitie and Tiitinen express that Freud’s model of concepts regarding unconsciousness maintain that awareness is geared more toward accuracy or inaccuracy.

They suggest that Freud’s observational data consisted of a patient’s disorders and the absence of conscious contents which would appear during the psychoanalytic talking-cure. With this fundamental basis Freud formulated a theory which leads to the belief that the repressed unconscious thoughts in essence caused the disorders. (Talvitie & Tiitinen, 2006) Talvitie and Tiitinen modify the historical realm of psychoanalytic terms of repressed contents and the meta-psychology towards the present era using neurophysiological and empirical studies of consciousness, which focus more on the dynamic systems approach and one’s consciousness, memory, attention, and self. (Talvitie & Tiitinen,

2006)
Golding, Sanchez, and Sego surveyed 613 undergraduates regarding beliefs and experiences with repressed memories. The results indicated that the students had some level of belief with repressed memories, felt that therapy can sometimes lead to false memory implantation, felt that false memory evidence should be allowed in court to some existential level, and had experiences with repressed memories either through personal experience of through that of media coverage. (Golding, Sanchez, & Sego, 1996) The results further indicated how women had a greater belief in and showed more personal experience with memory repression. (Golding, Sanchez, & Sego, 1996)
Golding (et al) further stated that in the interest of renewed memories, it has led to the concern of the validity over the debate of memory repression. There is a further emphasis in which skeptics argue that repressed memories are realistic observations that are deficient in supporting evidence. Media coverage, irregardless of the nature surrounding repressed memories, seems to influence more plausible belief in its existence. (Golding, Sanchez, & Sego, 1996) This has caused the possible increase in which childhood memories involving sexual assault have been increasingly involved in child eyewitness testimony. (Golding, Sanchez, & Sego, 1996)
Golding and associates found that 54% of men involved in the study were more skeptical of those with repressed memories. Men were less willing to believe that children in eyewitness testimony regarding sexual crimes because they are less offended than women of sexual assault, they are more skeptical of a child’s ability, they believe that a child’s memory does not compare to that of an adult, and that children are predisposed to illusions of a sexual nature. (Golding, Sanchez, & Sego, 1996)