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Introduction
Psychology is a wide area of study that seeks to explain and understand the behavior, emotions, and thoughts of people. It also seeks to understand the areas that trouble human life; these include our everyday life and our health. Traumatic incidences interfere with people’s health. Psychologists, therefore, try to help people cope with these incidences and be in a position to have their life back.
Arguments presented in the article
The article tries to analyze the effects of external forces on a person’s memory. It suggests that external forces do have an impact on someone’s memory and the ability to recollect events. Psychologists can be in a position to help their patients recall something that they seem not to know about. The article further suggests ways in which external forces influence one’s memory in that what people get from others as true can influence how that person recalls the events. For instance, if a person is told by the mother about a certain incident that happened during childhood, he/she will tend to believe it, even if it is not true. This is one example of external forces and how memory is affected by external forces. A Person’s imagination can also affect his/her ability to remember. People tend to imagine things and with time believe that whatever they imagined is true.
Certain assumptions are put forward in the article. It is assumed that our imagination can help us construct positive memories. For instance, a child who was sexually abused is told to let her imagination run wild. This is supposed to help her remember the incident. She is even supposed to imagine who the likely perpetrator is. When one imagines something, he/she tends to believe it. This imagination tends to increase the confidence that the said action happened. Imagination makes the events more familiar to that person. This situation assumes that imagination helps one to remember some of the hidden memories that people have.
It is also implied that false memories can be planted in a person’s memory. That is where a person can be led to believe that something happened during childhood. This becomes very difficult for the person to differentiate between false memories and the actual things that occurred. When one is exposed to new and misleading information, the person’s recollection usually becomes distorted. The recollection becomes less accurate and the person tends to believe the misleading information. Misleading messages normally leads to memory distortion. This is especially so when someone has experienced some incident, then some sort of misleading information by either talking to others about that particular incident or a related incident or being asked about the incident in a manner to suggest that something different happened. It implies that people can be led to remember their past in totally different ways and also “remember’ things that did not even happen. This situation can lead to the construction of false memories.
Strengths and weaknesses of the arguments
One weakness of this theory- that external forces affect memory is that not all people can be affected by the external forces. Certain people are more vulnerable than others and therefore tend to be affected by external forces more easily than others. For instance, people who have had traumatic experiences during childhood can easily be manipulated and their memory distorted. And so they tend to believe information that is given to them. People who have had traumatic experiences want to fill the gaps in their memory and therefore tend to believe want they are told to have some closure. That is when they are told something by their psychiatrist; they tend to believe the information given to them. These people can therefore be led to have false memories.
The theory of imagination also has some weaknesses. This is because if a person is told to imagine something to remember some hidden memory, the person might imagine something that did not happen. Imagining something tends to make something more real. Therefore if a person imagines something that did not occur, then he/she will be more positive than it did. Trying to convince such a person that a particular incident did not occur might prove to be very difficult. This is one major weakness of imagination as a person can imagine things that did not happen. Imagination can therefore create memories that one is not supposed to have because the events never occurred.
The creation of false childhood memories is quite impossible since scientists say that the part which is responsible for the storage and retrieval of memories is not fully developed during childhood. This is one major weakness of the theory that people can create and remember things that happened during childhood. If the hippocampus (the part responsible for the storage and retrieval of memory) is not developed during childhood, how then do people claim to remember things that happened during childhood? This proves that genuine episodes can not be remembered during adulthood.
Another explanation for this is that memories fade with time and at times, they are even modified. This means even if one is led to believe something; it might not be in its original form since the memories fade with time. Therefore people might not remember the reality but bits of what happened.
An alternative explanation for the lack of childhood memories is that with time the memories that we have to tend to fade and the recollection of such memories is quite difficult. So it is normal for people not to have a recollection of their childhood and as stated earlier the part that is responsible for the storage of our memory is not developed. This is a logical explanation of why people do not have a clear recollection of their childhood.
Another weakness of the theories put forward by the article is that they ignore the concept of rational thinking. Rational thinking enables one to know what action he/she has done. An irrational person is not sure whether or not he/she has committed a crime. Even if there are witnesses, rational thinking should always prevail.
Psychology helps people to identify and cope with everyday issues. For instance, one can know when they are being lied to and how to deal with other issues. A perfect example is when people claim something about our lives; we can apply rational thinking to figure things out. Rational thinking helps us in everyday life to avoid getting scammed through things like “get rich quick schemes”. Psychology also helps people to make and sustain relationships. This is because it is normal to have and want relationships to be platonic or intimate. This explains why people tend to believe things that they are told by their families or friends, thus the need to make friends, be trusted, and trust others. With this in mind psychologists should therefore recognize the need for people to be at peace with themselves and that is why their patients seek their help in the first place. They should not create false memories for their patients but rather help them to acquire much-needed peace of mind. As human beings, we should recognize the effect that we have on others and therefore try to relate well with everyone.
Conclusion
Psychology is an important aspect of human life and it affects our everyday life. This is by giving us ways of coping mechanisms. For instance some of the songs that we sing or the stories that we read give us some hope and the strength to face the next day. Psychology defines our behavior and defines what is acceptable in society. It helps us to go through life by helping us to separate lies from the truth, for example, we can identify politicians who tell us lies and salespeople who persuade just to sell. The article describes how psychology can be used to manipulate people whether in real life or during experiments. So, if used properly psychology can help to heal some wounds and help people lead a normal life. But on the other hand, it can also be used as an instrument to inflict pain through false memories.
References
Antonio, D. (1999). The Scientific American Book of the Brain, New York: Lyons Press.
Loftus, E. F. (1997). Creating False Memories, New York: Oxford University Press.
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