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On the continuing lack of scientific evidence for repression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2006

Harlene Hayne*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealandhttp://psy.otago.ac.nz/stff/hayne.html
Maryanne Garry*
Affiliation:
Victoria University of Wellington, School of Psychology, Box 600, Wellington, New Zealandhttp://www.vuw.ac.nz/psyc/staff/maryanne-garry/index.aspx
Elizabeth F. Loftus*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Ecology, 2393 II, University of California, Irvine, CA92697-7085http://www.seweb.uci.edu/faculty/loftus/

Abstract:

The forgetting and remembering phenomena that Erdelyi outlines here have little to do with the concept of repression. None of the research that he describes shows that it is possible for people to repress (and then recover) memories for entire, significant, and potentially emotion-laden events. In the absence of scientific evidence, we continue to challenge the validity of the concept of repression.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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