Page 20 - 2023-ml-myers-pel6e-chapter7-sample

P. 20

198
PSYCHOLOGY IN EVERYDAY LIFE
finger?” The stunning result: 58 percent
Eyewitness accuracy is also influenced Improving Memory
by our tendency to recall faces of our of preschoolers produced false (often
own race more accurately than faces of vivid) stories about one or more events LOQ 7-20 How can you use memory
other races (see Chapter 11’s discussion they had never experienced (Ceci et al., research findings to do better in this
of the other- race effect). Among criminal 1994). Here’s one: course and in others?
suspects exonerated with DNA evidence
after eyewitness misidentification, My brother Colin was trying to get iology’s findings benefit medicine.
42 percent were falsely accused after a Blowtorch [an action figure] from me, BBotany’s findings benefit agricul-
cross- racial misidentification (Innocence and I wouldn’t let him take it from me, ture. Can memory researchers’ findings
Project, 2021). so he pushed me into the wood pile benefit your performance in class and
where the mousetrap was. And then
my finger got caught in it. And then we on tests? You bet! Here, for easy refer-
went to the hospital, and my mommy, ence, is a summary of research- based
IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE daddy, and Colin drove me there, to the suggestions that can help you remem-
Think of a memory you frequently recall. How hospital in our van, because it was far ber information when you need it. The
might you have changed it without conscious away. And the doctor put a bandage on SQ3R — Survey, Question, Read, Retrieve,
awareness? this finger. Review — study technique introduced
in Chapter 1 includes several of these
Given such detailed stories, profes- strategies:
CHILDREN’S EYEWITNESS sional psychologists who specialize in
RECALL interviewing children could not reli- Rehearse repeatedly. To master mate-
ably separate the real memories from rial, remember the spacing effect — use
LOQ 7-19 How reliable are young the false ones. Nor could the children distributed (spaced) practice. To learn a con-
children’s eyewitness descriptions? themselves. The child quoted above, cept, give yourself many separate study
reminded that his parents had told him sessions. Take advantage of life’s little
If memories can be sincere, yet sincerely
wrong, how can jurors decide cases in several times that the mousetrap event intervals — riding a bus, walking across
which children’s memories of sexual never happened — that he had imagined campus, waiting for class to start. New
abuse are the only evidence? it — protested. “But it really did happen. memories are weak; if you exercise them,
As Stephen Ceci (1993) notes, “It would I remember it!” they will strengthen. Experts recommend
be truly awful to ever lose sight of the With carefully trained interview- retrieving a to- be- remembered item
enormity of child abuse.” Yet Ceci and ers, however, both adults and children three times before you stop studying it
Maggie Bruck’s (1993, 1995) studies have can be accurate eyewitnesses (Wixted (Miyatsu et al., 2018). As the testing effect has
made them aware of how easily chil- et al., 2018). When a neutral person asks shown, it pays to study actively. Mentally
dren’s memories can err. For example, nonleading questions soon after the saying, writing, or typing information
they asked 3-year- olds to show on ana- event, using easy- to- understand lan- beats silently reading it (MacLeod & Bodner,
tomically correct dolls where a pediatri- guage, children often accurately recall 2017). This production effect explains why
cian had touched them. Of the children what happened and who did it (Brewin & we so often learn something best when
who had not received genital examina- Andrews, 2017; Goodman & Quas, 2008; Pipe teaching it, explaining it to ourselves,
tions, 55 percent pointed to either geni- et al., 2004). or rehearsing it out loud (Bisra et al., 2018;
tal or anal areas. Forrin & Macleod, 2018; Koh et al., 2018).
The researchers also studied the effect The learning power of explaining
of suggestive interviewing techniques REtRIEVE REMEMBER or rehearsing information often goes
(Bruck & Ceci, 1999, 2004). In one experiment, ANSWERS IN APPENDIX F unnoticed. One experiment randomly
children chose a card from a deck con- 17. Imagine being a jury member in a trial assigned students to experience either
taining events that, according to their for a parent accused of sexual abuse based passive lectures or active learning. The
parents, had and had not happened. An on a recovered memory. What insights from students learned more in the active
memory research should you share with the
adult then asked them a question about rest of the jury? classroom — but they believed they
the event on the card — for example, learned less (Deslauriers et al., 2019). So, you
“Think real hard, and tell me if this ever might form a study group where you can
happened to you. Can you remember verbalize your class material and reap
going to the hospital with a mousetrap Play the role of a researcher the rewards of social support.
on your finger?” In weekly interviews, studying these issues by engaging online with
the same adult repeatedly asked the the activity How Would You Know If People’s Laptop distraction? In one study of
children to think about the same events, Memories Are Accurate? And to hear from a introductory psychology students, the
both real and fictitious. After 10 weeks prominent memory researcher about his work average student spent one- third of the
of this, a new adult asked the original on forgetting and memory distortion, see the class hour browsing online. The greater the
6-minute Video: Daniel Schacter: The Seven Sins
question: “Can you remember going to of Memory. amount of time spent online, the poorer the
exam performance (Ravizza et al., 2017).
the hospital with a mousetrap on your

08_pel6e_41872_ch07_179_201.indd 198 11/03/22 4:34 PM

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23