Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Everyday Ghosts: An Examination Of Memory In Social Interactions, Sean P. Murphy

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Naturally occurring instances of memory suppression seem to be ones in which conflict arises between a memory and present motivations. For example, being reminded of an embarrassing past event may introduce feelings that are not desired or appropriate if you are hosting company. The emotions connected to the negative memory and the desired emotions expected of a host are in conflict, and so the memory in question may be suppressed to preserve your desire to be a congenial host. While research has served to characterize various aspects of suppression, the methodologies used by such studies rely on explicit instruction from …