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Motivated forgetting is a theorized psychological behavior in which people may forget unwanted memories, either consciously or unconsciously. It is not a defence mechanism, since these are unconscious coping techniques used to reduce anxiety arising from unacceptable or potentially harmful impulses. Defence mechanisms are not to be confused with conscious coping strategies. Thought suppression is a method in which people protect themselves by blocking the recall of these anxiety-arousing memories. For example, if something reminds a person of an unpleasant event, his or her mind may steer towards unrelated topics. This could induce forgetting without being generated by an intention to forget, making it a motivated action. There are two main classes of motivated forgetting: ''psychological repression'' is an unconscious act, while ''thought suppression'' a conscious form of excluding thoughts and memories from awareness. ==History== Neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot was the first to do research into hysteria as a psychological disorder in the late 19th century. Sigmund Freud, Joseph Breuer, and Pierre Janet continued with the research that Charcot began on hysteria. These three psychologists determined that hysteria was an intense emotional reaction to some form of severe psychological disturbance, and they proposed that incest and other sexual traumas were the most likely cause of hysteria.〔Stoler, L., Quina, K., DePrince, A.P., and Freyd, J.J. (2001). Recovered memories. In J. Worrell (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Women and Gender, Volume Two. (pp 905-917). San Diego, California and London: Academic Press.〕 The treatment that Freud, Breuer, and Pierre agreed upon was named the ‘’talking cure’’ and was a method of encouraging patients to recover and discuss their painful memories. During this time, Janet created the term dissociation which is referred to as a lack of integration amongst various memories. He used dissociation to describe the way in which traumatizing memories are stored separately from other memories.〔 The publication of Freud’s famous paper, “the Aetiology of Hysteria”, in 1896 led to much controversy regarding the topic of these traumatic memories. Freud stated that neuroses were caused by repressed sexual memories,〔Freud, S. (1896). The Aetiology of Hysteria. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume III (1893-1899): Early Psychoanalytic Publications.〕 which suggested that incest and sexual abuse must be common throughout upper and middle class Europe. The psychological community did not accept Freud’s ideas, and years passed without further research on the topic. It was during World War I and World War II that interest in memory disturbances was piqued again. During this time, many cases of memory loss appeared among war veterans, especially those who had experienced shell shock. Hypnosis and drugs became popular for the treatment of hysteria during the war.〔 The term post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was introduced upon the appearance of similar cases of memory disturbances from veterans of the Korean War. Forgetting, or the inability to recall a portion of a traumatic event, was considered a key factor for the diagnosis of PTSD. Ann Burgess and Lynda Holmstrom looked into trauma related memory loss in rape victims during the 1970s. This began a large outpouring of stories related to childhood sexual abuse. It took until 1980 to determine that memory loss due to all severe traumas was the same set of processes. The idea of motivated forgetting began with the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in 1894.〔 Nietzshe and Sigmund Freud had similar views on the idea of repression of memories as a form of self-preservation. Nietzsche wrote that man must forget in able to move forward. He stated that this process is active, in that we forget specific events as a defense mechanism.〔Nietzsche, F. (1994). On the Genealogy of Morals. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.〕 The False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) was created in 1992 as a response to the large number of memories claimed to be recovered.〔 The FMSF was created to oppose the idea that memories could be recovered using specific techniques; instead, its members believed that the "memories" were actually confabulations created through the inappropriate use of techniques such as hypnosis. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Motivated forgetting」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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