Essay On Nonbelieved Memories

An experience of an event has the unwanted consequence that we learn something from it. These experiences are frequently transformed into memories. Experiences can have positive consequences but also negative ones. For instance, when you got very sick of the first cigarette you smoked, you probably learn to never smoke another one that then has a positive consequence for your health now and later in life. However, when you much enjoyed your first cigarette, you probably learn to smoke many more cigarettes that might have a negative consequence for your health now and later in life. Sometimes negative experiences in childhood and thus the subsequent memories can have implications which still have a major effect in adulthood (Berkowitz, Laney, Morris, Garry, & Loftus, 2008).
Studies show that when people are presented with false information about their experiences or other people’s experiences, their confidence increases that they themselves had those experiences

This phenomenon is called a nonbelieved memory. Nonbelieved memories refer mostly to memories of events during middle to late childhood. Mazzoni, Scoboria, and Harvey (2010) investigated 98 students (76 women and 22 men; age range = 17–50 years, M = 21.96, SD = 5.40) who indicated having a nonbelieved memory. They examined the nonbelieved memories of these students. Compared with believed memories, nonbelieved memories are rated lower on connectedness to other events in memory, complexity, specificity, personal importance and plausibility. They are also rated higher on susceptibility to persuasion (Mazzoni et al., 2010). Mazzoni, Scoboria, and Harvey (2010) found that reasons why memories are no longer believed are because someone else told them that the event never happened (to them) (56%), because the event is implausible or impossible (36%) or they are presented with contradictory evidence