In 1986 a nurse's aid with the last name Cool had her memories altered by her trusted psychiatrist. That man made her truly believe she was crazy! Cool was evidently convinced she had over one hundred and twenty different personalities caused by past abuse. One of those personalities was even a duck. Although that's not the weirdest part of Cool's unfortunate case it's definitely something I really wanted to take note of. Anyways as it turns out, she was never abused and ended up pressing charges against her horrible psychiatrist once she was mentally feeling better. That being said, I believe a person's memories can be very vulnerable.
Not all false memories are as extreme as Cool's case. False memories are actually pretty common! One of the most experienced false memories are the kind where a person believes that they placed an item in a specific location but they actually didn't. I know I'm definitely guilty of this type of false memory. It's not something people …show more content…
I could have sworn I placed my keys on the kitchen counter last night, so sure I would have bet money on that memory being real, but after turning my house upside down I realized my keys were actually in my purse. I specifically remembered placing my keys on the kitchen counter and was greatly surprised when I found out I never actually placed my keys where I thought I had. If it wasn't for this essay I wouldn't even have a name to call this besides crazy.
Another example of a false memory is when a person's actual memory has faded over a period of time and has altered into a slightly different memory. This is also fairly common for a false memory and it's just as weird as my previous example! Anyways getting back to the point here, memories of actual events can be unconsciously altered because of the person's feelings and the amount of time that has passed. Just like my previous example of a false memory, I'm guilty of this one