Chapter title |
Searching for repressed memory.
|
---|---|
Chapter number | 4 |
Book title |
True and False Recovered Memories
|
Published in |
Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, February 2012
|
DOI | 10.1007/978-1-4614-1195-6_4 |
Pubmed ID | |
Book ISBNs |
978-1-4614-1194-9, 978-1-4614-1195-6
|
Authors |
McNally RJ, McNally, Richard J., Richard J. McNally |
Abstract |
This chapter summarizes the work of my research group on adults who report either repressed, recovered, or continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) or who report no history of CSA. Adapting paradigms from cognitive psychology, we tested hypotheses inspired by both the "repressed memory" and "false memory" perspectives on recovered memories of CSA. We found some evidence for the false memory perspective, but no evidence for the repressed memory perspective. However, our work also suggests a third perspective on recovered memories that does not require the concept of repression. Some children do not understand their CSA when it occurs, and do not experience terror. Years later, they recall the experience, and understanding it as abuse, suffer intense distress. The memory failed to come to mind for years, partly because the child did not encode it as terrifying (i.e., traumatic), not because the person was unable to recall it. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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United States | 1 | 50% |
Unknown | 1 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
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Scientists | 2 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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Mexico | 1 | 1% |
United States | 1 | 1% |
Germany | 1 | 1% |
Australia | 1 | 1% |
Unknown | 73 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 11 | 14% |
Student > Bachelor | 9 | 12% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 8 | 10% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 7 | 9% |
Researcher | 7 | 9% |
Other | 13 | 17% |
Unknown | 22 | 29% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
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Psychology | 32 | 42% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 4 | 5% |
Neuroscience | 4 | 5% |
Social Sciences | 4 | 5% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 3 | 4% |
Other | 6 | 8% |
Unknown | 24 | 31% |