Memories Form Knowledge
Throughout history, people have formed knowledge that they strongly believe in. However, little do they know that what they consider to be knowledge could be entirely false. This knowledge is based entirely on memories and preexisting schemas.
Throughout the past 30 years, experiments have demonstrated that memories are not immune to distortion. Research performed by Elizabeth A. Kensinger, p.h.D in Boston College shows that participants were better at remembering details of emotionally negative objects than of neutral ones. For example, they were able to remember what a snake looked like than what a monkey looked like. (Kensinger) Once objective knowledge enters the mind, it is painted by our hopes, fears, intentions and so on. A knowledge claim can be interpreted in different ways depending on the preexisting schemas and memories of the individual. For example, if I see a red clock, and I once grew up with red clocks, then I would distort the image of the red clock to a bigger idea than it is. To make sure we don’t create unreliable knowledge, we use methods such as memorization in education to teach children factual information that doesn’t involve using emotions. Knowledge that excludes memories and emotions are also used throughout generations to pass on stories and cultures. For example, if Greeks used emotion and memory when telling their children about mythology, Greek mythology would be extinct. All oral cultures place importance on faithful memorization without interpretations using emotion; they rely on such techniques for their survival. One of the most predominant examples of this psychological phenomena is the example of Steve Titus in 1986. …show more content…
He was an American businessman who was falsely accused of rape. Titus was falsely accused of rape because the policemen saw that his car “sort of” resembled a car of a rapist in the neighborhood. He was convicted of rape and the victim’s statements went from “that one is the closest” to “I’m absolutely positive that is the man.” Titus died of a heart attack from stress at the age of 35 because of knowledge that was based on preexisting schemas in the mind of the victim. This shows how the emotions of the victim of humiliation and melancholy made her judgment on Titus false because she wished to find the man who raped her and the Titus was the first man accused in this case. As Elizabeth Loftus said, “your brain is essentially a Wikipedia page, where you can distort your own memories and so can others.” (Loftus) Joshua Foer, an American Journalist, discovered that anyone could train his or her memory to remember correct knowledge. He attended the United States Memory Championship in New York City that tests how good the contestant’s memory is. These contestants were able to memorize hundreds of random numbers and the order of a shuffled deck. However, surprisingly these contestants have an average IQ, they simply trained their memories. Scientists tested the brains of the champions and they realized that their scans lighted up in different places, which were referred to as spatial memory and navigation. Foer also states “once upon a time, this idea of training your memory was not nearly as alien that it seems to us.” We have invented a series of technologies that have made it easier for us to outsource our memories, weakening our memory every time. Foer claims that false memories are created because we simply don’t
Throughout history, people have formed knowledge that they strongly believe in. However, little do they know that what they consider to be knowledge could be entirely false. This knowledge is based entirely on memories and preexisting schemas.
Throughout the past 30 years, experiments have demonstrated that memories are not immune to distortion. Research performed by Elizabeth A. Kensinger, p.h.D in Boston College shows that participants were better at remembering details of emotionally negative objects than of neutral ones. For example, they were able to remember what a snake looked like than what a monkey looked like. (Kensinger) Once objective knowledge enters the mind, it is painted by our hopes, fears, intentions and so on. A knowledge claim can be interpreted in different ways depending on the preexisting schemas and memories of the individual. For example, if I see a red clock, and I once grew up with red clocks, then I would distort the image of the red clock to a bigger idea than it is. To make sure we don’t create unreliable knowledge, we use methods such as memorization in education to teach children factual information that doesn’t involve using emotions. Knowledge that excludes memories and emotions are also used throughout generations to pass on stories and cultures. For example, if Greeks used emotion and memory when telling their children about mythology, Greek mythology would be extinct. All oral cultures place importance on faithful memorization without interpretations using emotion; they rely on such techniques for their survival. One of the most predominant examples of this psychological phenomena is the example of Steve Titus in 1986. …show more content…
He was an American businessman who was falsely accused of rape. Titus was falsely accused of rape because the policemen saw that his car “sort of” resembled a car of a rapist in the neighborhood. He was convicted of rape and the victim’s statements went from “that one is the closest” to “I’m absolutely positive that is the man.” Titus died of a heart attack from stress at the age of 35 because of knowledge that was based on preexisting schemas in the mind of the victim. This shows how the emotions of the victim of humiliation and melancholy made her judgment on Titus false because she wished to find the man who raped her and the Titus was the first man accused in this case. As Elizabeth Loftus said, “your brain is essentially a Wikipedia page, where you can distort your own memories and so can others.” (Loftus) Joshua Foer, an American Journalist, discovered that anyone could train his or her memory to remember correct knowledge. He attended the United States Memory Championship in New York City that tests how good the contestant’s memory is. These contestants were able to memorize hundreds of random numbers and the order of a shuffled deck. However, surprisingly these contestants have an average IQ, they simply trained their memories. Scientists tested the brains of the champions and they realized that their scans lighted up in different places, which were referred to as spatial memory and navigation. Foer also states “once upon a time, this idea of training your memory was not nearly as alien that it seems to us.” We have invented a series of technologies that have made it easier for us to outsource our memories, weakening our memory every time. Foer claims that false memories are created because we simply don’t