The seven sins of memory : how the mind forgets and remembers /
Daniel L. Schacter.
- Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2001.
- x, 272 p. : ill. ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references (p. 230-257) and index.
The sin of transience -- The sin of absent-mindedness -- The sin of blocking -- The sin of misattribution -- The sin of suggestibility -- The sin of bias -- The sin of persistence -- The seven sins: vices or attributes?
"Daniel L. Schacter, chairman of Harvard University's Psychology Department and a leading expert on memory, has developed the first framework that describes the basic memory miscues we all encounter. Just like the seven deadly sins, the seven memory sins appear routinely in everyday life. Schacter explains how transience reflects a weakening of memory over time, how absent-mindedness occurs when failures of attention sabotage memory, and how blocking happens when we can't retrieve a name we know well. Three other sins involve distorted memories: misattribution (assigning a memory to the wrong source), suggestibility (implanting false memories), and bias (rewriting the past based on present beliefs). The seventh sin, persistence, concerns intrusive recollections that we cannot forget - even when we wish we could. Although these sins may cause difficulties, as Schacter notes, they're surprisingly vital to a keen mind."--Jacket