Introduction
At an elderly age, people tend to repress memories of their childhood. In most of the time, these memories include those that had a huge impact on a person’s life. the impact could either be positive or negative. Surprisingly, certain memories are only imaginary though in line with the environment into which a person lived. The memories of things that never happened are false memories. However, they could have a big impact on one’s behavior at the later ages of life (Matlin, 2013).
False memories originate from one’s failure in life. People begin to think about what probably went wrong at their early ages of life. The failure to realize one’s goals in life is what brings such memories. For instance, one could think that they are unsuccessful because they chose the wrong profession. Others may reason that failing to make appropriate choices in life is the reason behind their unsuccessfulness. False memories have adverse consequences to one’s life (Larson, 2009). This is because people tend to have high regret levels that may go beyond their personal living. To some extent, such people transfer their problems to their immediate environment.
These include their families and close friends. People’s hard build lives that prevail for a long time could come to an immediate end. False memories lead to family breaks, low levels of family commitment and lack of taking the responsibilities as expected. In a situation where the person holds a public significant position, false memories may ruin their reputations. There is a direct relationship between false memories and family divorces. Men usually get harsh judgment when they divorce. They get little respect compared to what they used to earn at earlier stages. More so, divorces are accompanied with legal costs (Matlin, 2013). Legal issues that determine the fate of children and grandchildren may bring out untold suffering in their entire lifespan.
References
Larson, C. B. (2009). Metacognition: New research developments. New York: Nova Science.
Matlin, M. W. (2013). Cognitive psychology (8th ed.). Singapore: John Wiley and sons.
