As a kid, did you ever play the game where one person makes up a statement and the phrase must be whispered word-for-word into the person sitting next to you? The phrase travels around the room and when it finally reaches the last person, the group gets to see how distorted the original statement became. This game is actually a perfect example of how our own memories, recollections, or ideas are actually distorted views that become mixed up in our minds.
Take Donald M. Thomson, an Australian Psychologist, who one evening was on television discussing the psychology behind eyewitness testimonies. The next day he was accused of attacking and raping a woman at the very same time. Though he had a watertight alibi because he could not have possibly been at the apartment of the victim at the same time he was on a live broadcast, he was the last thing the victim saw before she was attacked. The victim had been watching Thomson’s show, and ended up confusing him for the real attacker.
Unfortunately, Thomson isn’t alone. Many people who are convicted and sent to prison for a crime are done so solely on an eyewitness account. What if the witness thought they saw one thing, but their memory becomes distorted because of outside influences, confusion, shock, etc. Gary Wells at Iowa State University asked the same question. He and his colleagues have already identified 40 US cases where a person was falsely accused. These people have carried out long prison sentences, and some were even given the death penalty.
According to Harvard Psychologist Daniel L. Schacter, the common person has a ‘sin of memory” almost every day. Schacter identified four ‘misattributions’, which occur when some original true aspect of a memory or recollection becomes distorted through time, space, or circumstances.
The four misattributions include: misattributing the source of memories, misattributing a face to the wrong context, misattributing an imagined event to reality, and unintentional plagiarism. The last one, for example, can always put you in hot water, what with people suing one another for stolen ideas, etc. Just this morning, someone told me an innovative idea they had yesterday ended up on the front pages of the news this morning. Another example could be how my family (including myself) promises we came up with the Teeny Beanie Babies idea first. Thanks, Mcdonalds. I could be a millionaire right now if you hadn’t beat me to the patent office!
Because we believe our memories to be our own experiences and understanding of events, it’s ironic how outside influences can cause our stories to become mixed up or misinterpreted. What’s more, truth and honesty is a major foundation for our justice system. But after delving further into what memories are really our own, should it be?
