PSY 201: Introduction to Psychology I

Article assignment, Part 1: Finding and reading empirical research reports

Some false beliefs about human psychology have been described as “zombie” ideas. These are ideas that are commonly believed despite repeatedly failing empirical examination. One such idea is the belief in “repressed memories”. This is the idea that memories of intensely aversive or traumatic experiences get “buried” such that the person is not consciously aware of them and that these repressed memories can still affect behavior and be discovered by therapists using hypnosis or some other technique. Such a phenomenon has never been supported by empirical research and contradicts the modern scientific understanding of emotion and memory.

Do NOT copy and paste bits of the article for these (for other than perhaps the citation). Paraphrase or put in your own words the appropriate response to the prompt.

1. Find an empirical research paper.

Use PsycInfo on the OT library site or some other academic search engine to find an empirical research report on the subject of repressed memories or “recovering” repressed memories.

2. Answer the following questions about that paper you located.

• What is the title of the paper?
• What is the name of the journal that published the paper?
• Briefly describe what the authors investigated. Be specific. What is being tested or explored exactly?
• Briefly describe their methods. How are they testing or exploring the hypothesis?
• What do the authors conclude?

3. Provide the APA-formatted citation.