Sanchay Devnath, Week 14: The Illusions of Memories
Have you ever noticed that memories often have the power to cause you to remember an experience you had in a better light?
Let me clarify.
You haven't been to school all summer and you are somewhat excited to go to school again, however, within a couple of weeks this excitement ends and you realize you are back to keeping up with assignments and losing sleep. Another example, you get a really bad haircut and cannot wait for your hair to grow back, but once it grows back you barely notice it.
How can your memory alter your perception of something so dramatically?
Is it because we are never content with the present? Or because we can use our imagination to sculpt how our past experiences played out today to our liking?
But with this ability to modify our perception of the past, comes a downside.
How many times have you been stifled into inaction because of an experience?
An example of this is PTSD, after a traumatic event people often refrain from putting themselves in situations that make them vulnerable to being exposed to a similar experience.
A more common example is procrastination.
How many times have you delayed your homework because of the fear of having to put in more work than you would like?
This fear is caused by a specific memory rooted in your mind of you working extremely hard on an assignment; your mind uses this memory as a catalyst to prompt you into inaction.
Regardless of how your mind causes you to perceive your past, it is important to acknowledge its ability to do so, as if it goes unchecked your mind can prevent you from living the life you wish for yourself.
ReplyDeleteThis is honestly a really interesting and complex concept that I have never put much thought into until now. I already am aware of defense mechanisms that can cause people to forget traumatic memories, such as repression (which may be why we tend to remember the good memories more often.) But, in the case of procrastination, that is such an interesting way to explain why we do it so often. I have never really thought about procrastination being caused by a “fear” of doing work (similar to how PTSD works in a way,) as I would usually think that it is my way to stay relaxed for a longer time and spend more time enjoying myself instead of boring my head off to homework. So, this gave such an interesting look into our mindsets that even my AP Psychology class hasn’t explained to me.
I like this question-and-answer format that you have decided to go with this week’s blog. It almost reenacts a teaching scenario, where curious people like me ask questions about this foreign concept, and you provide detailed answers to them. However, I wonder what you mean when you say that if your mind goes unchecked, it can “prevent you from living the life you wish for yourself,” and I kind of wish you elaborate more on that part. But maybe the ambiguity is what makes this last sentence feel so threatening, so overall, I enjoyed reading this informational blog. I feel like I’ve learned something that I can actually apply to real-life scenarios now!