LS272 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Recovered-Memory Therapy
13 Feb 2019
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LS 272 - Lecture 12 - Children’s Testimony
● Much of the research regarding children's testimony is focused on sexual violations
Sexual Violation of Children
● Sex with children is socially reprehensible
○ Sex is an 'adult' act - should be freely chosen
● Significant implications (It's never JUST sex)
● Do it cause we want to
● Can only truly consensually engage in something if you fully understand it
plus its consequences
● Children won't have a good grasp of this (cognitively immature)
● Saying No is just as viable as saying Yes. PRESSURE FREE
● Almost impossible of when an adult is asking a child because the
children see the adult as having some level of authority over them
● Can't be completely freely open
○ Children are not active participants
● In most cases, children are not the ones to actively seek this out,
especially with an adult
● Children don't ask for it
○ Sex is a valued, even sacred, symbolic act
● Carries meaning way beyond the act itself
● Sex with an adult isn't always harmful to children BUT
○ It substantially increases the risk that children will suffer significant, often life-
long, harm
● We shouldn't increase the risk unnecessarily. That's why we have laws
Memories of Sexual Violation
● Stephen, Ceci, and Bruck (1993)
○ Over half of children produced false details and/or convincing believable stories
that were false
● False memories feel and look like real memories
● Persistent memories can still be false
● False accusations can damage people's reputations and ruin their lives
○ Super high stakes
○ Ex) in the prison system, sexual predators are seen as the lowest of the low
● Even if exonerated, they can continue to live under a cloud of suspicion
○ "maybe there's still something wrong with you if you were suspected in the first
place"
○ "there's just not enough evidence to prove you did it"
The Issue of False Memories
Document Summary
Ls 272 - lecture 12 - children"s testimony. Much of the research regarding children"s testimony is focused on sexual violations. Sex is an "adult" act - should be freely chosen. Can only truly consensually engage in something if you fully understand it plus its consequences. Children won"t have a good grasp of this (cognitively immature) Saying no is just as viable as saying yes. Almost impossible of when an adult is asking a child because the children see the adult as having some level of authority over them. In most cases, children are not the ones to actively seek this out, especially with an adult. Sex is a valued, even sacred, symbolic act. Carries meaning way beyond the act itself. Sex with an adult isn"t always harmful to children but. It substantially increases the risk that children will suffer significant, often life- long, harm. Over half of children produced false details and/or convincing believable stories that were false.
