Abstract
In recent years, memory researchers have convincingly illustrated the dangerous role that suggestion may play in inducing fabricated memories of childhood trauma. Although post-event suggestion had long been known to alter the recollection of details of events (e.g., Loftus, Miller, & Burns, 1978; Schooler, Gerhard, & Loftus, 1986), recent research has demonstrated that experimenter suggestions can cause the vivid recollection of events that never occurred (Ceci, Loftus, Leichtman, & Bruck, 1994; Hyman, 1995; Loftus & Ketcham, 1994). Suggestions can even cause individuals to falsely recall being repeatedly exposed to negative situations that are unlikely to have ever happened (see Lindsay, this volume). The documented power of suggestion to induce memories of experiences that never occurred is especially alarming in light of the suggestive techniques that a minority of therapists are known to use with their clients in pursuit of forgotten memories of abuse (e.g., Polusny & Follette, 1996; Poole, Lindsay, Memon, & Bull, 1995; Yapko, 1994). If individuals can be induced to recall false memories under the modest persuasive pressures used in the laboratory, one can only imagine the dangers of therapy settings in which potentially unwarranted suggestions of abuse are made: 1) by a trusted authoritative figure; 2) over potentially years of sessions, and; 3) with a patient who may be particularly suggestible either due to hypnosis (cf. Lynn, this volume) or as a natural consequence of their dissociative tendencies (cf. Hyman & Billings, 1995) which are commonly associated with patients “diagnosed” as likely victims of abuse.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ceci, S. J., Loftus, E. F., Leichtman, M. D., and Bruck, M. (1994). The possible role of source misattributions in the creation of false beliefs among preschoolers. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 42, 304–320.
Fischoff, B. (1982). For those condemned to study the past: Heuristic and biases in hindsight. In D. Kahneman, P. Slovic, and A. Tversky (Eds.), Judgment under uncertainty.’ Heuristic and biases (pp. 335–351 ). New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Gick, M. L., and Lockhart, R. S. (1995). Cognitive and affective components of insight. In R.J. Sternberg, and J. E. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of insight (pp. 197–228 ). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Harvey, M. R., and Herman, J. L. (1994). Amnesia, partial amnesia and delayed recall among adult survivors of childhood trauma. Consciousness and Cognition, 3, 295–306.
Hyman, I. E. (1995). False memories of childhood experiences. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 9(3), 181–197.
Hyman, I. E. and Billings, F. J. (1995). Individual differences and the creation offalse childhood memories. Submitted for publication.
Kihlstorm, J. F. (1996). The trauma-memory argument and recovered memory therapy. In K. Pezdek, and W. R Banks (Eds). The recovered memory/false memory debate, (pp. 297–311 ), San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Lindsay, D. S., and Read, J. D. (1994). Psychotherapy and memories of child sexual abuse: A cognitive perspective. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 8, 281–338.
Lindsay, D. S., and Read, J. D. (1995). “Memory work” and recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse: Scientific evidence and public, professional, and personal issues. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 1, 4, 846–908.
Loftus, E. F. (1993). The reality of repressed memories. American Psychologist, 48, 518–537.
Loftus, E., and Ketcham, K. (1994). The myth of repressed memory: False memories and allegations of sexual abuse. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
Loftus, E. F., Miller, D. G., and Burns, H. J. (1978). Semantic integration of verbal information into visual memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 4, 19–31.
Neisser, U. (1978). Memory: What are the important questions? In M. M. Gruneberg, R. E. Morris, and R. N. Sykes (Eds), Practical aspects of memory (pp. 3–24 ). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Polusny, M. A., and Follette, V. M. (1996). Remembering childhood sexual abuse: A national survey of psychologists’ clinical practices, beliefs, and personal experiences. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 27, 1, 41–52.
Pezdek, K., and Banks W. R. (1996). The recovered memory/false memory debate. (Eds). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Poole, D. A., Lindsay, D. S., Memon, A., and Bull, R. (1995). Psychotherapy and the recovery of memories of childhood sexual abuse: U.S. and British practitioners beliefs, practices, and experiences. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 426–437.
Ross, M. (1989). Relation of implicit theories to the construction of personal histories. Psychological Review, 96(2), 341–357.
Schooler, J. (1994). Seeking the core: Issues and evidence surrounding recovered accounts of sexual trauma. Consciousness and Cognition, 3, 452–469.
Schooler, J., Bendiksen, M., and Ambadar, Z. (in press). Taking the middle line: Can we accommodate both fabricated memories and recovered memories of sexual abuse? In M. Conway (Ed). Recovered Memories and False Memories (pp. 401–456). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Schooler, J. W., Fallshore, M. F., and Fiore, S. M. (1995). Epilogue: Putting insight into perspective. In R. J. Sternberg, and J. E. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of insight (pp. 559–587). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Schooler, J. W., Gerhard, D., and Loftus, E. F. (1986). Qualities of the unreal. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 12, 71–181.
Sternberg, R. J., and Davidson, J. E. (Eds.). (1995). The nature of insight. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Tulving, E., and Pearlstone, Z. (1966). Availability versus accessibility of information in memory for words. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 5, 381–391.
Tulving, E., and Thompson, D. M. (1973). Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory. Psychological Review, 80, 352–373.
Yapko, M. (1994). Suggestions of abuse: Real and imagined memories. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schooler, J.W., Ambadar, Z., Bendiksen, M. (1997). A Cognitive Corroborative Case Study Approach for Investigating Discovered Memories of Sexual Abuse. In: Read, J.D., Lindsay, D.S. (eds) Recollections of Trauma. NATO ASI Series, vol 291. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2672-5_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2672-5_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-2674-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-2672-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive