Hot Topics in Cognitive Psychology

Hot Topics in Cognitive Psychology

1. A. Select a “hot topic” of cognitive psychology based on what you have heard and/or seen in the media and your personal interests. Consider using a topic that hasn’t been in the news in the last few years, which we have heard a million times. Hire our assignment writing services in case your assignment is devastating you. Our team of experts is ready to help.

Selected “hot topic”: False Memory

1. B. Look for a report in the media (e.g., newspapers, magazines, web pages of professional organizations, etc.) that refers to the selected topic such as “defendant cannot remember what happened,” “false memories explain UFO abduction stories,” and so forth.

Report: Brian Williams admits he wasn’t on Copter shot down in Iraq (Somaiya, 2015)

1. Describe the content of the selected report and offer your own perspective. Namely, use your critical-thinking skills to examine the extent to which the claims made in the report and the evidence upon which the report relies are to be trusted

In this report, Somaiya (2015) writes that Brian Williams stated that he was behind the helicopter that was struck by a grenade in 2003 in Iraq. However, this story changed with time as Williams recounted that he was actually riding the helicopter that was hit. William was labeled a liar in this report because of his changing roles in the story. Somaiya (2015) reported that Williams publicly declared that he was wrong about claiming that he was in the attacked plane. According to this report, a commenter on a Facebook post stated that they had not seen Williams on their plane, but he remembers seeing him an hour after the plane was hit to ask what had happened. In response, Williams responded to the comment on Facebook, admitting that he was mistaken and that he was on the following airplane.

1. D. Then, discuss the real-life consequences of the evidence reported.

Typically, everyone was certain that William was a liar, especially after someone else gave a clear picture of the events of the airplane shooting in Iraq. However, few or none would consider the hypothesis that Williams could have developed a false memory. According to Kaplan et al. (2015), memories of episodes that evoke strong emotions can be lasting and vivid but not always accurate. They add that emotions can enhance one’s vulnerability to false memories under certain conditions. Kaplan et al. (2015) wrote that people often assume that memory refers to simple recordings of past happenings that can be replayed at will. However, errors can happen since memories can be changed by a person’s subsequent beliefs and knowledge (Kaplan et al., 2015). This may have happened with Williams because he also admits that he constantly viewed the video that showed him in the inspection of the impacted place, which made him conflate that with the unclear memory of more than 12 years (Somaiya, 2015). As Parker-Pope (2015) writes, memories are not singular complete happenings in a single spot of the brain; rather, they are fragments of data stored in various places of the mind. Accordingly, stories may change as they are retrieved over time as people see news footage and converse with others (Parker-Pope, 2015).

This states that the report is reliable. Besides, Kaplan et al. (2016) also investigated participants who watched a slideshow showing a car at a sign of yield. Later, those participants were told that the car was at a stop sign, not a yield sign. It was found that the participants exposed to the misleading information were more likely to acknowledge that they had seen the non-existent stop sign. This means that William’s apology can be accepted. In summary, the evidence presented in the report can lead to mistrust of all other information provided by Williams before including all the nitty-gritty of the episode during that day of the attack in Iraq. Moreover, the testimonials of the event may need to be revisited for more clarification.

References

Kaplan, R. L., Van Damme, I., Levine, L. J., & Loftus, E. F. (2016). Emotion and false memory. Emotion Review, 8(1), 8-13.

Parker-Pope, T. (2015). Was Brian Williams a Victim of False Memory? The New York Times.

Somaiya, R. (2015). Brian Williams admits he wasn’t on Copter shot down in Iraq. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://nickykundnani.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/brian-williams-admits-he-wasnt-on-copter-shot-down-in-iraq-by-ravi-somaiya/.

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Hot Topics in Cognitive Psychology

The goal of this discussion forum is to offer you an introduction to the field of cognitive psychology. Cognitive psychology is a discipline within psychology that is concerned with the scientific study of the human mind. The mind is responsible for a variety of functions and abilities, including perception, attention, consciousness, memory, reasoning, and decision-making. Most of our mental life is unconscious. If the objects of our attention are equated to the objects of our consciousness, it is reasonable to assume that we are aware of only a limited number of events in our daily lives.

For your initial post, complete the following steps- (see Marie’s discussion questions below in the reply box, for added information, if something isn’t clear).

Watch the video entitled, The Magic of the Unconscious: Automatic Brain Links to an external site.
Select a “hot topic” of cognitive psychology based on what you have heard and/or seen in the media and your interests.
Look for a report in the media (e.g., newspapers, magazines, web pages of professional organizations, etc.) that refers to the selected topic such as “defendant cannot remember what happened,” “false memories explain UFO abduction stories,” and so forth.
Describe the content of the selected report and offer your perspective. Namely, use your critical-thinking skills to examine the extent to which the claims made in the report and the evidence upon which the report relies are to be trusted. Then, discuss the real-life consequences of the evidence reported.
In your post, include a link to the selected report, and explain to the members of the class why you have selected it. Support your points with evidence from at least one peer-reviewed research article. Your initial post must be a minimum of 250 words.
Hello Class; Please remember to do the following as you respond to this first discussion, SEE Marie Browski’s addition to this discussion below, in the reply box.
Remember to include the question and THEN your response!!
Watch the video entitled, The Magic of the Unconscious: Automatic Brain Links to an external site.
A. Select a “hot topic” of cognitive psychology based on what you have heard and/or seen in the media and your personal interests. Consider using a topic that hasn’t been in the news in the last few years, which we have heard a million times.
B. Look for a report in the media (e.g., newspapers, magazines, web pages of professional organizations, etc.) that refers to the selected topic such as “defendant cannot remember what happened,” “false memories explain UFO abduction stories,” and so forth. Don’t forget to document your resources!!
C. Describe the content of the selected report and offer your perspective. Namely, use your critical-thinking skills to examine the extent to which the claims made in the report and the evidence upon which the report relies are to be trusted.
D. Then, discuss the real-life consequences of the evidence reported.