Forgetting in humans, its cause and Theories.pptx

Forgetting

1. Forgetting Prepared By: Nimra Bashir Cheema. Lecturer Psychology.

2. DEFINITION “The failure to recall learnt material is known as forgetting. It is opposite to remembering or retention”.

3. NOTE !! “Our memory is limited, if we’ll put material more than its capacity, we’ll have to delete/more something from it”. “In some situations, we’ll need to intentionally remove some content from our minds e.g. forgetting everything else and focusing on paper during exam”.

4. According to William James (1980) “If we would remember all the minute details, we might become so ill that we could not remember anything”.

5. Significance Forgetting is a blessing, w e are able to forget bad memories and events of our life. We need to forget learnt material in paper to focus on the questions that appeared in paper. To attentively listen to the lecture of teacher, we need to forget about what has happened in house .

6. Causes of Forgetting Interference Proactive Inhibition Retroactive Inhibition Meaningless Material Incomplete Practice Excessive Material Unorganized Material Lapse of Time Head Injury Similarity between materials

7. Theories of Forgetting Decay Theory Interference Theory Motivated Forgetting

8. Motivated Forgetting According to Sigmund Freud, “We intentionally or unintentionally repress our unpleasant memories in to our unconscious mind by can be recalled by Hypnotism ”.

9. Decay Theory According to Ebbinghaus and Bartlett: “The memory traces are consolidated by repetition but if element of repetition is dismissed, these traces of learnt material fade and are gradually dimmed or decay and forgetting occurs”. Forgetting worsen with time and result in total forgetting in long run. Memory decay is also observed in old age. Criticism: We don’t forget learnt skills such as riding a bicycle.

10. Interference Theory Was introduced by McGaugh Statement: “ Rest during learning improves retention and forgetting occurs if something interferes with learning or if learning process is disrupted for some reason”. Memory is a process of positive association. Forgetting is process of negative association.

11. Thank You!