Source Confusion ⁉
🧠 Psych - 77 / 100
Hello,
Today, we will be talking about the Source confusion.
What is it?
Source confusion refers to the memory of your information as being obtained from one source when it was in fact obtained from another!
Example -
An example of this would be, a witness who heard a police officer say he had a gun and then that witness later says they saw the gun. [1]
This is how you are misattributing your own memory!
Where does it occur?
There could be cognitive causes behind it when your memory will misattribute the source of information.
It can occur at places where you are recounting some situation but due to distortion or memory being distant, you will not explain it clear way.
Why do I need to know?
It is problematic when recounting an event and claiming to remember something you didn't witness.
For example, thinking you saw a gun during the commission of a crime, whereas in reality you were told of the gun after the fact.
Takeaways: -
Source of confusion can occur during interrogation of witnesses.
Yes, your memory can misattribute, at times.
References & Studies: -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misattribution_of_memory
https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Source+Confusion
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