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1 s2.0 S1162908813000674 Main PDF
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Original article
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Introduction. – Research has shown that lay people, and even psychologists, may have distorted knowl-
Received 27 June 2012 edge about memory functioning. May different study programs in psychology influence their ideas?
Received in revised form 22 May 2013 Objective(s). – The study was aimed at evaluating psychology students’ and psychology professors’ knowl-
Accepted 20 July 2013
edge about memory and factors potentially affecting the accuracy of episodic memory reports in clinical
and legal contexts.
Keywords: Method. – A questionnaire was administered to introductory and advanced students of psychology
Memory
enrolled at different curricula – experimental psychology and clinical psychology with a psychoanalytical
Eyewitness testimony
Beliefs
orientation – and to professors teaching the courses in the same curricula.
Psychology students Results. – Results showed that advanced students and professors in experimental psychology have higher
Psychology professors general knowledge of factors influencing memory performance than their peers, including memory issues
of particular relevance to clinical psychology; no difference between the curricula was found for the
introductory students.
Conclusion. – The results are discussed in terms of the risks that the lack of knowledge on memory
functioning of the psychologists with a psychodynamic orientation may have in producing wrong reports
in forensic contexts.
© 2013 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.
r é s u m é
Mots clés : Introduction. – Le fait de suivre un cursus particulier de psychologie peut-il affecter les croyances à propos
Mémoire du fonctionnement de la mémoire ?
Témoignage Objectifs et méthode. – De manière à évaluer les connaissances que possèdent les étudiants en psycholo-
Croyances gie et leurs professeurs à propos de la mémoire et des facteurs susceptibles d’affecter l’exactitude des
Étudiants de psychologie
informations rappelées dans des contextes cliniques et judiciaires, un questionnaire a été proposé à des
Professeurs de psychologie
étudiants débutant leur cursus et à des étudiants avancés suivant soit un cursus de psychologie expéri-
mentale, soit un cursus de psychologie clinique avec une orientation psychanalytique. Les professeurs
intervenant dans ces différents cursus ont également rempli le questionnaire.
Résultats. – Les résultats indiquent que les étudiants avancés inscrits dans un cursus de psychologie
expérimentale et leurs enseignants ont une connaissance plus élevée des facteurs qui affectent les per-
formances mnésiques des témoins, en comparaison des étudiants avancés inscrits en psychologie clinique
psychanalytique et des professeurs de ces derniers. Cette différence porte également sur des aspects de
la mémoire qui concernent directement la psychologie clinique. Pour les étudiants débutant leur cursus,
on n’observe pas de différence en fonction de l’orientation choisie.
∗ Corresponding author. Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy.
E-mail address: chiara.mirandola@unipd.it (C. Mirandola).
Discussion. – Les résultats sont discutés en termes de risques encourus dans le contexte judiciaire lorsque
les psychologues qui interviennent ne possèdent pas de connaissances suffisantes à propos du fonction-
nement de la mémoire.
© 2013 Publié par Elsevier Masson SAS.
Table 1
Eyewitnesses topics and statements – the response alternative believed to be most correct according to current memory science is indicated by an asterisk.
Thèmes et énoncés à propos des témoins oculaires (l’astérisque indique la réponse considérée comme la plus correcte sur la base de la recherche sur la mémoire).
Topics Statements
1. Confidence–accuracy At trial, an eyewitness’s confidence is a good predictor of his or her accuracy in identifying the defendant as the
perpetrator of the crime
Response alternatives: agree – disagree* – uncertain
2. Effects of post-event information Eyewitness testimony about an event often reflects not only what a witness actually saw but information obtained
later on from other witnesses, the police, the media, etc.
Response alternatives: agree* – disagree – uncertain
3. Minor details A witness’s ability to recall minor details about a crime is a good indicator of the accuracy of the witness’s
identification of the perpetrator of the crime
Response alternatives: agree – disagree* – uncertain
4. Impact of stress Very high stress at the time of observation has a negative effect on the accuracy of testimony
Response alternatives: agree* – disagree – uncertain
5. Attitudes and expectations An eyewitness’s perception and memory for an event may be affected by his or her attitudes and expectations
Response alternatives: agree* – disagree – uncertain
6. Weapon focus The presence of a weapon can impair an eyewitness’s ability to accurately identify the perpetrator’s face
Response alternatives: generally true* – generally false – uncertain
7. Forgetting curve The rate of memory loss for an event is greatest right after the event and then levels off over time
Response alternatives: generally true* – generally false – uncertain
8. Children’s recall When small children tell about events they have experienced, do you think they remember better, as well as, or worse
than adults?
Response alternatives: better – as good as – worse* – uncertain
9. Infantile amnesia Many people talk about memory from early childhood year. How far back in time do you believe people can
remember?
Response alternatives: from birth on – 1 year – 2 years – 3 years* – 4 years – 5 years – 6 years or older
10. Recovered memories Sometimes adults in psychotherapy remember traumatic events from early childhood, about which they previously
had absolutely no recollection. Do you think such memories are real or false?
Response alternatives: all are real – most are real – most are false* – all are false – uncertain
11. Dramatic events Sometimes people become witnesses to dramatic events. Do you think the memory for such events are worse, as good
as or better compared to the memory for everyday events?
Response alternatives: better* – as good as – worse – uncertain
12. Repression of adult traumatic memories Sometimes people who have committed murder claim to have no memory for the crime. Do you think such memories
can be repressed and that the perpetrator believes they are telling the truth, or do you think they are lying?
Response alternatives: they tell the truth – they are lying* – uncertain
of these students were enrolled at the experimental curriculum the experimental psychology students, and in a clinical setting with
in psychology and the other half at the psychodynamic clinical a psychodynamic orientation in the other case.
curriculum; The questionnaire (Table 1) is the short 12-item questionnaire
• advanced students (n = 100), who had completed their first- used by Magnussen and Melinder (2012), translated and adapted to
level degree in psychology, had studied psychology for at least Italian with the assistance of author S.M. The questionnaire com-
four years and were attending the specialization courses either bines a few items from eyewitness surveys (Wise & Safer, 2004)
in the experimental curriculum (n = 50) or a psychodynamic with items from more general memory surveys (Magnussen et al.,
clinical curriculum with a psychoanalytical orientation (n = 50) 2006). Each item includes three to six response alternatives; the
and; correct response is the alternative supported by current scientific
• professors of the experimental curriculum (n = 25) and professors knowledge (Kassin, Tubb, Hosch, & Memon, 2001; Magnussen et al.,
of the clinical curriculum (n = 28). 2006, 2008; Magnussen & Melinder, 2012; Wise & Safer, 2004).
The student respondents received the questionnaire either at
the beginning or at the end of a lecture and completed it within
Within each group students were randomly selected dur- 10 to 12 minutes, with an instruction stating that “this is a survey
ing their class attendance. The professor sample was comprised we are conducting at the General Psychology Department and we
of full professors, associate professors, contract professors and would like you to read each statement carefully and answer indicat-
researchers with a teaching responsibility. Professors in the area of ing which one is the best option to you”. The professors received the
memory research were excluded, in order to avoid specific exper- questionnaire by e-mail, with the following instructions: “You will
tise in memory. find a brief questionnaire with some sentences referring to general
The two curricula are characterized by a series of common knowledge on memory and eyewitness testimony in forensic con-
courses (such as Introductory Psychology, Social Psychology, Psy- texts. Please, read each statement carefully and tell us your opinion
chometrics, Developmental Psychology, etc.) which last for about about its content (marking which one is the best option to you).”
18 months and then differentiate completely for the remaining
credits such that the Experimental course mainly proposes lectures
on the topics of Experimental Psychology, Neuropsychology, Cogni- 3. Results
tive Sciences, Methodology and the Psychodynamic course mainly
deals with Freudian theory, Dynamic Psychology and Psychoanalyt- We first calculated a total accuracy score based upon the
ical therapy. Students follow courses and are also required to fulfil most accurate responses according to the scientific knowledge
350 hours of internship, typically carried out in a lab in the case of available in psychological literature, following the scoring system
254 C. Mirandola et al. / Revue européenne de psychologie appliquée 63 (2013) 251–256
Table 2
Response distribution for the advanced-students and professor samples, in percent.
Distribution des réponses (en pourcentages) pour les étudiants avancés et leurs professeurs.
8. Children’s recall 12, 6/12, 11 10, 12/8, 18 42, 28/68, 28a 36, 54/12, 39
Birth to > 1 year > 2 years > 3 years > 4 years > 5 years
9. Infantile amnesia 0, 6/0, 11 2, 16/8, 28 38, 36/56, 39a 24, 16/4, 4 36, 26/32, 18
Notations: the percentages of responses are in order reported for the following groups: advanced students experimental, advanced students clinical/professors experimental,
professors clinical.
a
Correct answer according to current memory science.
C. Mirandola et al. / Revue européenne de psychologie appliquée 63 (2013) 251–256 255
“uncertain” responses are high on these items. If the “uncer- and “don’t know” categories were ticked off at a higher rate than in
tain” responses are excluded from the statistical analysis the the sample of practitioners surveyed by Magnussen and Melinder
difference remain significant: children’s recall (p < .05), recovered (2012), otherwise the distribution of responses are quite similar in
memories (p < .05), repression of memories (p < .001), indicat- the two questionnaires. The presence of this type of responses rep-
ing a higher propensity of the experimental professors and resents, on the one hand, a limitation as it reduces the number of
advanced students in responding correctly to the questionnaire unambiguous responses, but, on the other hand, it shows that many
items. people in the psychological Italian community have an unclear rep-
resentation on how memory works both at the basic level and in a
more applied context.
4. Discussion Magnussen et al. (2006) found that, on certain questions,
respondents with elementary school education actually surpassed
The results of the present study suggest that the knowledge academic respondents, expressing beliefs in harmony with current
about a number of key issues in human memory is not impres- memory science. We looked for a similar “dis-learning” effect in the
sively high among university students and their professors, with present results, comparing the results for the introductory students
an average score of about 45% to 65% correct answers in the six to those of the advance students and professors. No such effect was
samples tested, with advanced students and professors in general found.
experimental psychology having the highest knowledge scores. It Given the importance of issues of episodic and autobiograph-
is perhaps not so surprising that experimental psychologists know ical memory in many professional contexts – in the court room
more about memory in general than do psychodynamic clinical and the therapy room – practitioners should be well rehearsed in
psychologists; what is somewhat surprising is the higher knowl- the psychology of memory. However, the results of the present
edge in these samples about memory issues that are of most study show that the level of knowledge of episodic memory
relevance to clinical psychologists. The difference between the psy- among introductory and advanced students, and among professors
chodynamic clinical and experimental psychology samples is not of psychology at a major Italian university is modest, especially
due to self-selection by an early interest in memory issues, since among participants in the clinical study programs with a psycho-
no differences were observed between the introductory students dynamic orientation. Thus, when professionally confronted with
in the two curricula. This is in line also with a recent study in which such questions, many practitioners educated in these programs
undergraduate students were found to perform similarly to trial will have insufficient knowledge of the results of current mem-
judges and significantly worse than advanced law students (Wise, ory science, at a risk of making the wrong judgments. This is
Gong, Safer & Lee, 2010). particularly important when psychologists are required to work
There is a majority or a sizable minority in all samples, which as memory experts in court (Howe, 2012). It must be noted that
expressed the belief that memories that surfaced for the very first the present results cannot be extended to teachers and practi-
time during therapy are mostly real rather than false (item 10), and tioners following a non-psychodynamic training/orientation, e.g.
that offenders of violent crimes, such as murder, may have amne- cognitive-behavioral, but that – as already mentioned – they are
sia for the killing (item 12). Both of these beliefs are associated valid for a large percentage of psychologists who could be involved
with the idea of repression or dissociation of traumatic memories. in perital forensic work, as the majority of clinical psychologists
However, there is no sound scientific evidence for this hypothesis working in Italy (and also in other countries) still follow a psy-
in current memory science; rather the evidence strongly suggests chodynamic orientation. The present research would therefore
that both early and adult traumatic experiences are well remem- seem to have implications for the teaching of memory aspects at
bered and resistant to forgetting (McNally, 2003; Davis & Loftus, university courses. In a legal context, courts should be informed
2009; Christianson, 2007; Piper et al., 2008; Goodman, Quas, & Ogle, that psychologists with different backgrounds may offer differ-
2010). In fact, it is even doubtful that there is theoretical support ent types of opinions and should be oriented towards the choice
for the idea of repression of memories of real traumatic experi- of psychologists specifically prepared for the type of required
ences in classical works. Freud nowhere speaks of repression of consultation, paying attention to the fact that the psycholo-
adult traumatic experiences, and in most of his writings repres- gist’s preparation must be specifically related with eyewitness
sion is associated with infantile wishes. In “The interpretation of memory, as a standard experimental program does not offer a
dreams” (Freud, 1950) he writes: “. . .among these wish impulses sufficient preparation. Only a specific training would guarantee a
originating in the infantile life, indestructible and incapable of inhi- deeper understanding of the factors involved in eyewitness mem-
bition, there are some the fulfilment of which have come to be in ory related issues and, in turn, a more knowledgeable practice
contradiction with the purposive ideas of our secondary thinking. when psychologists are required to work as experts in the court-
The fulfilment of these wishes would no longer produce an affect room.
of pleasure, but of pain; and it is just this conversion of affect that
constitutes the essence of what we call “repression””(p. 455). Piper Disclosure of interest
et al. (2008) have searched the writings of Freud and Janet without
detecting support for the idea of repression of real traumatic events, The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest con-
and they ascribe this idea to a paper by the psychiatrist Judith Her- cerning this article.
mon given to the American Psychiatric Association in 1985. Not
supported, neither by classical theory nor empirical evidence, it
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