The repressed memory
Repression is an occurrence that has found many faces to hide in. There are various factors that can contribute to a repressed memory. For example, in the case of the Japanese-Americans during and after the World War II, it is noted that there was a great deal of documented repression that masqueraded as social control structure by the American government that brought great damage later oni. It is also noted that due to parents’ tendency to be overly dominating over their children, these children tend to develop memory repression and their views and other apparent issue that affect their lives remain unattended toii.
In addition, in the event of sexual harassment or other forms of abuse, these children develop a memory illusion of what life is and they have tendencies to provide / give information that is not cognitive with reference to legal and justice system. This means that if persons undergoing through memory repression is asked to testify in a court of law, they are either likely not to give the appropriate evidence in that they give no evidence related to the case at all, or they will provide mixed up stories through divergence into other life experience stories or thoughtsiii. It is identified that autonomy, objections, interference by higher authorities and social treatments are crucial factors to memory repression.
While careers are good, they have also been related to memory repression in that individuals share controversial information due to perspective diversity that gets bogged up in their mind and relate it with another event in real life and perceive as one continuous eventiv. It is also noted that the education system can sometimes provide outright memory repression by deliberately baring learners’ crucial information to be learnt by placing academia costs before academia accessv.
Another interesting incidence that is discussed is that of post-traumatic stress disorder especially from persons who have been to battle fronts that exhibit cases of memory repressionvi. It is noted that persons having memory repression in most cases do not see the reason to get rid of the agent. It is noted that there are two facets of repression extermination that go through the minds of the individual.
First it is noted that individuals may have a desire to address the agent and thus pursuing that line of thought would mean satisfying the desire. On the other hand, the individual may not be willing to pursue that line of thought but at times would be obligated to, without the individual’s desire/ independent of previous motives, and thus these are external reasonsvii.
Repressed memory and the California Court System
The California Court system also gives provision to minors and under 18’s autonomy rights in some aspects of their social lives that includes healthcare decisions as well as voting. This ensures that these children have a sense of adulthood mentality and thus can be able to tap into the repressed memory given time and a safe environmentx.
Memory repression and forensic psychologist
Forensic psychologist note that repressed memory contains some vital but scanted information that can be analyzed and used as evidence in a court of lawxi. Forensic psychology has developed an activation process especially using fMRI and the neural process whereby there is examination of the left inferior prefrontal region as well as the lateral temporal regions which are repressed memory sitesxii.
Conclusion
In Conclusion, it is evident that memory repression is affected by various aspect of life including, but not limited to, autonomy, objections, interference and provisions of the constitution to the people. It is also noted that the California Court system has made tremendous steps in ensuring that repressed memory is used as evidence in the court. Additionally, the services of forensic psychologists and the science on fMRI has enabled faster synthesis of the right information and activation processes.
Works Cited
Calhoun, Craig. "Academic Freedom: Public Knowledge and the Structural Transformation of the University." Social Research 76.2 (2009): 561,598,769. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.
Gallo, David A. “False memories and fantastic beliefs: 15 years of the DRM illusion.” Memory & Cognition (pre-2011) 38.7 (2010): 833-848. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.
Hamilton, Vivian E. "Immature Citizens and the State." Brigham Young University Law Review 2010.4 (2010): 1055-147. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.
Hastings, Emiko. ""no Longer a Silent Victim of History:" Repurposing the Documents of Japanese American Internment." Archival Science 11.1-2 (2011): 25-46. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.
Jaeger, Gary. "Repression and External Reasons." Journal of Value Inquiry 43.4 (2009): 433-46. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.
Malik, Farah, and Glyn Humphreys. "Cognitive Interference for Trauma Related Word Cues in Maltreated Children: Evidence from the "Emotional Stroop Task" in A Pakistani Cohirt." International Journal of Business and Social Science 2.8 (2011): n/a. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.
Stockdale, Margaret S., T. K. Logan, and Rebecca Weston. "Sexual Harassment and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Damages Beyond Prior Abuse." Law and human behavior 33.5 (2009): 405-18. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.
Endnotes
