I am going to ask you to engage in a group project surrounding the issue of recovered memories. We will split ourselves into two groups. Each group will be responsible for reviewing the literature on recovered memories; one will do so from the perspective of clinicians, the other will do so from the perspective of non-clinical psychologists. I will provide you with some references to get you started, but your group will be responsible for doing its own independent research in addition to the resources that I give you. Each group will present their review to the class in the form of a 20-minute oral presentation. It will be up to each group to decide how to construct their presentation. One person can do the entire presentation, or the presentation can be shared amongst group members. The presentation can be formal (power-point) or informal. It may include demonstrations but it need not do so. Your goal is to provide the most effective, cogent, convincing arguments to support your ‘side' of the debate.
Each individual will also be responsible for writing a 5-7 page paper based on your group's work. Again, the goal of the paper is to present the strongest argument that you can to support your team's view. A draft of your paper MAY be turned in PRIOR to the start of the last day of class. The draft is optional.
On the last day of class, we will listen to the two group presentations. We will use these conversations as a basis for a rounded discussion of the false memory controversy. Your final assignment for the semester will be to revise your original paper. I will read your paper and provide some feedback, but you should also use our discussion in class and the presentation of the other group to inform your discussion. Your final paper is due on Friday, May 15th.
Submitted by Matthew Schulkind
on Sunday, 1/11/2009, at 9:43 PM