The article by Miller (1997) tackled how to deal with repressed memories attained by the victims and witnesses of childhood sexual abuse. The article aimed to guide teachers and professors of psychology on how to touch issues related to repressed memories by outlining the appropriate course goals and integrate topics into an individual course. The author aims to emphasize the “importance, relevance, and potential to inform the lay public as well as our future attorneys, law enforcement officers, therapists, and current or future patients of therapists” with regards to the nature of repressed memories and how it can effectively be taught in a class setup. Although the author provides some viable strategies for teaching the topics, it seems that some methods suggested lack creativity and innovation.
The relevance of this article to the area of teaching psychology is that it carefully discussed the Freudian premise that the human mind purposefully but unconsciously hides frightening or potentially damaging memories, as repression is seen by many clinicians and researchers as a major root of psychological dysfunction. But critics of this premise see it more as a fiction created by a biased theoretical perspective through which therapists may unwittingly damage their patients and their families.
While repressed memory continues to remain a controversial academic topic in psychology, it now also has become the center of a public debate about the veracity of it being used as a basis for our legal system. On legal grounds, “factual memory is critical” because it is the basis of the court system of whether an accused person is guilty or not. Most often, Miller (1997) informed that victims and witnesses of crimes often do not remember fully the information about what they experienced or what they saw because of the traumatic experience.
This makes the accuracy of the contents of their memories questionable for some because their testimonies can put an innocent person into jail or inappropriately release a guilty assailant. With this, Miller (1997) created a course format that would be appropriate to teach introductory psychology students in being able to understand this topic through approaches like providing great literature for students to read on the related topic, assigning reading materials, inviting guest speakers, class discussions, film viewings and an appropriate project at the end of the course.
Although Miller (1997) veritably created a viable course that will effectively teach students about repressed memory, the methodologies being suggested are very common that all of these approaches are used in virtually every college course. Although students may be able to understand the concepts about how memory works and its imperfections, it is believed that usual teaching methods can bore the students and that may hinder their learning about the topic. For example, the numerous readings about repressed memory, eyewitness testimony, and identification would be hardly absorbed due to the voluminous number of papers they are required to read.
What must be done in this case is that the instructor should condense these readings into a Powerpoint presentation or lecture notes so that students can readily appreciate the concepts being taught and they will be more interested in research where these lessons are taken from. However, the guest speakers and the discussion would be very effective because students will be able to experience the topics by asking directly a knowledgeable guest about the intricacies of each topic. Through this, they will be able to create their realizations about the topics related to repressed memories and they will be motivated to research more on other matters they deem important in widening their understanding.
Ultimately, the author has suggested effective means in teaching “repressed memory” to students. However, it lacks novelty or creativity with the methods suggested. Why not have a field trip to an institution that treats victims of childhood sexual abuse or create a class group that would interview a victim (anonymously) and present their case in class? It is undeniable that this topic is sensitive and there are still numerous studies being done to prove some theories about repressed memory.
Teaching the concepts related to this topic can be a great challenge, but with enough creativity and innovation available, the instructor can easily reinforce his or her strategies in relaying the lessons to students. What is important is that the teacher should not rely on readings and theories alone, but letting the students have an appropriate experience and participatory learning about the topics so that their interest will be sparked and their insights will be developed.
References
Miller, L. A. (1997). Teaching about repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse and eyewitness testimony. Teaching of Psychology, 24, 250-255.