Outline and evaluate research into the way emotional factors influence forgetting

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Sarah Keogh

Outline and evaluate research into the way emotional factors influence forgetting

 

     Forgetting encompasses the inability to recall or recognise information. Forgetting may occur because the information no longer exists in memory and so is not available for retrieval. Alternatively it can occur because it cannot be found and so is not accessible (cue-dependent forgetting). Forgetting is more likely to occur with information that needs to be recalled, as recognition is generally easier than recall.

In this essay I am going to discuss how emotional factors influence forgetting.

     A theory for the inability to retrieve a memory is that emotionally threatening material is being repressed, or held from conscious awareness. Two concepts, repression and flashbulb memory, have created interest in the effect of emotion on memory – the first suggesting it could increase forgetting and the second suggesting it could prevent it. Cognitive psychologists have tried to use their theories (e.g. of rehearsal, interference, and cue dependency) to explain such emotional effects.

      Freud proposed that forgetting is motivated by the desire to avoid displeasure; embarrassing, unpleasant or anxiety-producing experiences are repressed/ pushed down into the unconscious.

     Repression, in Freudian terminology, is defined as a protective defence mechanism that involves the ego actively blocking the conscious recall of memories, thus becoming inaccessible. Direct recall attempts to try and retrieve these memories will either fail, lead to distorted recall or digression from the topic.

     According to Freud, the mind consists of three parts, the Id, Ego and Superego. The Id is governed by the pleasure principle; it seeks pleasure to avoid pain, the emphasis is on immediate gratification. The Ego is governed by the reality principle, thus taking environmental factors into account and realising what is possible. The superego is the conscience; this takes into account what is morally right and wrong for that individual.

      Freud suggested that there are frequent conflicts between the Id, Ego and Superego; this conflict leads to anxiety. To avoid anxiety, the ego protects itself by using a defence mechanism known as repression. If a memory is painful or causes distress, the individual represses it into the part of the mind that is unconscious. These unconscious thoughts are difficult to recall because the individual is not aware of them, hence why they are forgotten. To be able to retrieve these unconscious thoughts into the consciousness, psychoanalytic techniques are necessary to access repressed memories.

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     Levinger and Clark (1961) conducted an experimental test of Freud’s repression hypothesis. They looked at the retention of associations to negatively-charged words, such as quarrel, war, angry, fear; compared with those for neutral words such as window, cow, and tree. Participants were then asked to give immediate free association to the words (to say exactly what comes into their minds). It took participants longer to respond to the emotional words. These words also produced higher galvanic skin responses (GSR – a measure of emotional arousal).

       Immediately after the word association tests had been completed, ...

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