Individuals tend to repress memories of traumatic experiences.

False

If you were abducted by an alien, research indicates that you would be likely to remember it. The concept of repressed memories, or dissociative amnesia, can be traced to Sigmund Freuds belief that neuroses and hysteria are caused by sexual molestation in childhood. In fact, there is no mention of dissociative amnesia from a traumatic event in fiction or non-fiction since the 1800s. Moreover, often people remember traumatic events, such as natural disasters and war, all too well in the form of disturbing flashbacks. The concept has not been validated with experimental research we can usually explain memory loss in terms of ordinary forgetfulness. Reference: Lilienfeld,S., Lynn,S.J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B.L. (2010). 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions About Human Behaviour. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell*##**##*