Question

Why do researchers such as Loftus, question the existence of repressed memories? Explain why these researcher believe that a search for repressed memories may do more harm than good.

Answer 1

The validity of repressed memory is questionable as there is no empirical evidence to prove the existence of these repressed memories. A memory is not always an accurate description of events, instead it consists of many factors, our memory also can be altered when we reconstruct the memory itself or through confabulation memories, when the memories become severely distorted as we tend to fill in the fragments of memory based on our interpretation of events or our emotions attached to it. Various studies of repressed memories have shown that events which occurred in childhood were recalled and remembered only in childhood and these repressed memories could not be recalled in adulthood. Based on these observations, the issue of repressed memories is controversial as there no clear evidence of the existence of these memories, which makes the repressed memories unreliable and do more harm than good.