And the Memory Wars Wage On Phenomena Only Human. I was reminded of the memory wars of the 1. Marc Marons popular WTF podcast. Hannibal Season 1 All Episodes here. The guest, comedian Tom Arnold, told Maron about his traumatic childhood, which included an alcoholic mother who abandoned him and a neighbor who molested him. Arnold said he came to terms with the trauma through therapy, which culminated in him confronting the neighbor in person. The man denied it, apparently yelling at Arnold that his memories were wrong. It was a heartbreaking story, and obvious from Arnolds telling that he deeply believes his memories are not at all wrong. I dont know any details about Arnolds case other than what he recounted to Maron. I want to believe that his memories are sound, and that confronting his molester provided him with some form of relief. Update, 36 And, as a commenter pointed out below, Arnold also said on the podcast that he found several other neighborhood boys who said they had been molested by the same man. But it must be said that this sort of revelation in which a person uncovers, through therapy or hypnosis, a memory that had been repressed for years or even decades happened a lot in the early 1. In October 1. 99. Arnolds wife at the time, Roseanne Barr Arnold, was on the cover of People Magazine with the headline Roseannes Brave Confession I AM AN INCEST SURVIVOR. According to the piece, Roseanne had repressed these memories until Tom, then her fianc, told her what he had uncovered about his own childhood. Immediately after hearing his story, I began to shake and sweat, Roseanne told People. Pictures started to appear before my eyessurreal and frightening, looming large, then crystallizing into my mothers face. I remember being abused. After more sessions with a therapist, Roseanne began to dream about specific abuse memories. Just a few months earlier, former Miss America Marilyn Van Derbur had made similar claims. And it wasnt just celebrities. Stories of everyday adults suddenly recovering memories of childhood abuse appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, and Time, among others. Why was this happening It was due, at least in part, to several popular books that provided instructions for recovering repressed memories. The books urged therapists to ask their clients about childhood incest, notes William Saletan in his excellent 2. Before you readwatchlisten to If You Can Read This I Can Prove God Exists, read THIS first. The moral argument for the existence of God refers to the claim that God is needed to provide a coherent ontological foundation for the existence of objective moral. I was reminded of the memory wars of the 1990s yesterday when listening to an episode of Marc Marons popular WTF podcast. The guest, comedian Tom Arnold. The Complete List of 200 Most Useful Websites for College Students. Slate series on memory. And they had a huge impact. Women were suing their parents for millions of dollars. Hundreds of accused families sought help. As these accusations mounted, several high profile psychology researchers began speaking out against the idea of repressed memories. In a 1. 99. 3 article in American Psychologist, memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus pointed out that little if any scientific evidence supported the idea of repressed memories Nobody knew how commonly traumatized people repress memories, or how accurate the memories are, or how juries are likely to react to them. And considering the lawsuits waged against alleged abusers, Loftus found this lack of evidence disturbing. When we move from the privacy of the therapy session, in which the clients reality may be the only reality that is important, into the courtroom, in which there can be but a single reality, then we as citizens in a democratic society are entitled to more solid evidence, she wrote. This debate between practicing therapists and research psychologists became known as the memory wars. Over time, scientific criticisms by Loftus and others got more attention in the press, and some accusers recanted their stories. Loftuss own research helped drive the increased skepticism. As Saletans article describes in depth, Loftuss studies showed just how easily false memories can be implanted by a trusted source. Whatever happened to the memory wars Do people still believe in the power of repressed memories Loftus and her colleagues addressed these questions in last months issue of Psychological Science. Their study includes two experiments. In the first, the researchers gave 3. The surveys asked participants whether they agreed or disagreed with various statements. Some of the statements such as Memory is constantly being reconstructed and changed every time we remember something and Memory can be unreliable are supported by lots of evidence. The respondents seem to have known that, for 9. Airline chicken Airline chicken can be several things, depending upon who you talk to. It can be a fancy cut, a special presentation, or a negative appelation. Last week, we were so happy to report that Kendrick Lamar confirmed his engagement to his high school sweetheart, Whitney Alford. However, it appears that not. HTB1GsU9OXXXXXbTXpXXq6xXFXXXd/SKMEI-1135-Leather-Business-wristwatch-Automatic-waterproof-watch-Men-Fashion-Quartz-Watch-top-quality-mens-famous.jpg' alt='Watch Big Business HIGH Quality Definitons' title='Watch Big Business HIGH Quality Definitons' />Other statements focused on repressed memories, which as I mentioned are not rooted in a whole lot of evidence. But the students felt otherwise 8. And 8. 6 percent agreed that if a person has emotional problems and needs therapy, childhood sexual assault is a plausible explanation even if the person has no memory of any kind of abuse. But who cares about college kids. What about the opinions of mental health professionals Turns out that many of them also believe in repressed memories, though in somewhat lower numbers than they did in the 9. The researchers surveyed hundreds of clinical psychologists, experimental psychologists, psychoanalysts, hypnotherapists, primal therapists, neuro linguistic programming therapists, life coaches, scientologists, and family therapists, as well as via Mechanical Turk members of the public in the U. S., U. K., and India. Heres a comparison of how the beliefs of mainstream Ph. D psychotherapists have changed over the past decade Patihis et al, 2. They have evidently lost some faith in hypnosis, and have gained respect for the idea of implanting false memories. On the question of the objectivity of repressed memories, though, the responses havent changed much, with agreements hovering between 1. Perhaps unsurprisingly, experimental psychologists are more skeptical of repressed memories than are psychoanalysts, and psychoanalysts are more skeptical than alternative therapists. Concerning the statement, Traumatic memories are often repressed, 2. Loftus and her team take these data to mean that theres still lots to be done in the way of disseminating findings about memory research to mainstream practitioners and the public at large. These findings suggest that the memory wars are not over, they write. Nevertheless, these battles may now be limited largely to discrete pockets of practicing clinicians, especially those with specific theoretical views regarding the nature of memory. This may be true, but also glazes over a few academics who are more sympathetic to the idea of repressed memories.