Study on the definition of Motivated Forgetting

In our memory system we do forget sometimes. Based on Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the founder of psychoanalysis. The major contribution in the memory research explained why we forget by Freud. ‘Motivated forgetting’ is developed by Freud for the painful or traumatic memories are ‘banished’ from the unconscious awareness and it will be forgotten too. Some of this circumstances can resurface when it’s cause discomfort and emotional distress.

The motivated forgetting is the result from the prefrontal cortex activity and had discovered the testing by taking functional magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI ). In our brain, anterior cingulated, intraparietal sulcus, dorsolateras prefrontal cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex is made up from the prefrontal cortex. From this part of the brain is associated to stopping unwanted actions that will suppression the hypothesis of unwanted memory and actions to inhibit its process. Hippocampus is the key words which involves in motivated forgetting, it responsible for recollection and formation of memories. We will actively to attempt suppress unwanted memory by the prefrontal cortex to exhibit activity to suppress the hippocampal in the same time. The control of decision-making and motivated to the functioning of hippocampus is to stop the process recollection of selected memories that have been motivated to forget.

For example, during World War II, mostly all the elderly still be able to remember the traumatic experience such as torture, war, rape and homicide of the people that surrounding them. During the war time, motivated forgetting is high such difficulties of injury and the loss of family members.

Sigmund Freud concept of ‘infantile amnesia’ is referring in the early years of our life which is forgetting. In other way, the exactly the same way that’s lead to motivated forgetting in the emotional experiences from formative years which leading to neurosis causing ‘locked away’ in unconscious and resurfacing.

For instance, as we grown up, we can’t really remember in our childhood before the age of three and only some memories from the age of five or six.

It is clearly explained by Freud in childhood amnesia is the terms of motivated forgetting. The system that ‘stamp in’ is the adaptive value in some events which easy to understand and will increase ability to survived of the emotional events such as sexual abusive. The memory of the different kind will affect the memory in different ways. The mind have clearly inhibits or repress some memory records which is important in psychoanalytic theory in Sigmund Freud theory. (James S.Naire:270)

According to Sigmund Freud, the conscious mind is we will aware things that happen in particular moment like present thoughts, perceptions, feelings, fantasies and others. Freud called conscious mind is ‘preconscious’ it can be easy made as the memory of our thinking to bringing to our mind. It is a smaller part in our mind. The unconscious is the largest part in our mind. It not easily to available to awareness and is the trauma experience and memory that we can’t bear to look at them. The unconscious to motivations, our simple desires for neurotic compulsions, food and sex, we often deny or resist become conscious from this motives.

In Freud famous structure of mind or personality model of tripartite which contain three element structures in the mind which called id, ego and superego. Id is the unconscious demands of needs and desires that present at the birth and biologically. Superego is to develop or show in the early childhood in the social acquired control in parents. Meanwhile ego is the conscious self created by interactions and dynamic tensions between id and superego. In reality the ego deals with the demands of id and superego, it oppose when the anxiety has become overwhelming, the defense is show by the ego itself. The blocking or distorting of the unconscious will be more acceptable and less forming in threatening. This is called ego defense mechanisms. The blocking in the external events from awareness is call denial which the person had pressure to handle or refused to experience it. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivated_forgetting)

For instance, a child will show their needs such as will cry if they are hungry know as id and feel shame when they can’t control their bodily needs know as superego. Child will show negative emotion such crying, shame and screaming due to they can’t control their bladder is known as denial. In this event, the child will learn to talk and request their need from their parents and beside they will learn toilet train themselves is known as superego.

Freud has introduced ‘repression’, defines as defense mechanism of the mental function that safeguard the mind to push threatening thoughts, feeling and memories into unconscious level from the impact of painful experiences. Is the kind of motivated and intentional that is seen by ourselves from the world around us with reasonable and pleasant harmony which acceptable to us. In diverse of it, is often pushed out and it explains why our forgetting is selective like attentions. People often recall more on pleasant than unpleasant events or painful experience. (Mangal:280) Beside there are several studies of the young adult women who the victim of the childhood from sexually abuse which documented in hospital records or criminal experiences. In this result from this study had shown the younger tends to forget about the sexual abuse than the older group in the offense remembered better. For those have family support and encouragement are better memory in repeated abuse. (James W.Kalat:261)

For instance, when Andy had been abused by his father in his childhood and after few years, Andy has grown up to an adult, he will have a fearful or painful emotion whenever he saw other parent scolding or punishing their child. In opposes, Andy might have been forgetting this unpleasant or painful experience which he can’t recall this event in his adulthood as he had the support from family or social worker which give him false memory of his childhood.

In Andy events, is clear that in the result of repression, we will forget things that we do not want to remember such as when someone from our dearest relative has pass away. Most of all we will forget people names which we don’t like. In serious like mental cases where people are under emotional shock, they will forgot people around them like wives, children, home and names.

Beside from the forgetting, emotional behavior impaired by individual will played part in the normal processes in memory.

For example, when a child had spoiled his father antique collection, the sudden of the rises emotions in the father have completely block. The father will beat or scolded the child and give a heavy punishment. In this moment, the father have forgotten the love and caring for his child.

Is apply to us when we going for an interview, we will not able to do well in the interview or examination due having phobia in the test. It do happen in our life that sometimes we may see an actor, musician or performer might also become forget or panic in speech and art in the performance. People tend to remember the positive events such as the types of event which we need to rehearse like presentation or performing on the stage that relate to others.

According to Sigmund Freud, the position of defense in repression can be conscious or unconscious. He had reserved the term for ‘suppression’ for the voluntarily conscious of something. In the differences between suppression is the facts is lies under influences which repressed content in the latter defense mechanisms remain unconscious. According to Freud, the theory is affected to suppress intentionally avoidance of thinking disturbing problem and do not pass into conscious or unconscious. Unconscious sense like anxiety, guilt, sorrow and other negative affect are connected with various fantasies which the defense mechanisms are the result of them would most likely have become unconscious.

For instance, like when decided to cut down expenses to buy clothes, but when we saw a beautiful dress we will temporary forgetting about the saving instead, to buy it and start to cut down the spending by tomorrow.

The neurosis is the formation of basis repression which the most dangerous defense mechanism as according to Freud. According to Freud, in this theory of repression is happen shocking in mind that would recall hold of memory and pushed it down into unconsciousness in some corner. It can hide throughout the years, life time or forever and it may rise up into consciousness when it’s sudden rise. ( Eric Rassin:14)

For example, a child might have forgets about the death of his parents accident. In one day when he passed the same place where the accident had happen, he will recall the fearful memory and remember how it happen in his recall of the incident.

In conclusion, forgetting of memory in by Sigmund Freud theory of repression and suppression can consider same as both a referring to unconscious banishing information that include mechanism of conscious and unconscious. Repression can be constructed use in executive control to the purpose of reducing anxiety, unwanted memory or psychological pain. In this approach it’s allow the repression to be well control of the cognitive and neurobiological knowledge mechanism of our memory and emotion.

b.i) Memory are fleeting and enduring by others and with three-stage model of memory have a proposes three stages of memory that around the length of time which the information will be held in stored of information such as sensory memory, short-term memory and long term memory. Memory it is also a component which hold information as we learn from past, experience and the things that we done in our daily routine and to our life as well.

Sensory motor is a storage system which able to hold tremendous amounts of information at very short time. The attention of visual is known as ironic memory and auditory input is echoic memory.