The Seven
Sins
of Memory
By
Daniel L.
Schacter
Reviewed by
Geoffrey W. Sutton
Schacter’s Seven
Sins of Memory is like a fine seven course meal. Each course serves up
an interesting collection of research that’s easy to read by the general public
and pleasantly presented, yet rich with enough details to appeal to scholars
and practitioners. I left feeling satisfied.
Every health care professional and all who work with people should read about the
seven sins of memory and come back to it when they wonder about memory
complaints or detect discrepancies in recall.
Students
will find it helpful too as Schacter weaves psychological science into
meaningful stories—a good example of how to write about psychological science
for nonpsychology majors.
I must say
that I found the notion of “sins” strange—is this a psychology of religion
book? I suppose it could be. Afterall, religious scholar Craig
Keener included a discussion of memory in his book about the Gospels and
the Life of Christ. However, the sins of memory are the problems with
human memory—problems that can deceive us and lead to inaccurate conclusions. We
can miss the mark and we may need forgiveness.
I’d like to
suggest a title: Memory: Seven Reasons for Humility. But then again, I’m
not a best selling author or a famous psychological scientist.
**********
There’s so
much in this book. In this post, I will just note some of the key features of
each chapter so you get a sense of what this is all about.
Problems of Forgetting
1. The Sin
of Transience
We forget
names and other things as time passes. Memory fades. Memories are fleeting- transient.
We have less mental
reserve as we age. How much we remember is linked to how much we elaborate
on new information when forming a new memory (encoding).
2. The
Sin of Absent-Mindedness
When we are
distracted, we may not capture sufficient information to form an adequate
memory—we are absent-minded.
We can also be distracted, which can lead to impaired recall of a memory. The
phenomenon of change
blindness fits here too.
3. The
Sin of Blocking
Name
blocking is so common and serves as a quintessential example of blocking.
Sometimes, information seems like it’s on the tip-of-the-tongue – a well-known
phenomenon in memory research.
When Memory is Present but Wrong
4. The
Sin of Attribution
We can make
errors in recall when our memories store misattributions. This can be serious
when people falsely accuse someone of a crime because they have seen someone
else’s familiar face and stored it along with the offense. Psychologists refer
to memory
binding—connecting various bits of information into a memory, which isn't really a record of our personal experience.
5. The
Sin of Suggestibility
The
questions we ask can influence what people recall when they provide answers.
Questions are so powerful that people have recalled events that never happened. Suggestibility can create false memories. Obviously this can, and in fact has been, a serious problem when witnesses to a
crime are interviewed about what they saw or heard. Not surprisingly, Schacter
refers to the work of Elizabeth
Loftus.
6. The
Sin of Bias
Our memories can be influenced by present experiences. We tend to recall the past in ways that are consistent (consistency and change biases) with our present.
Current knowledge influences what we think about the past--that's hindsight bias. We serve ourselves well in egocentric biases.
And our stereotypical biases combined with recall of memories can affect our views about people and experiences in the present.
Schacter includes a useful analysis of the power of fake news to influence our beliefs. Mere repetition appears to strengthen beliefs in fake news (the illusory truth effect).
7. The
Sin of Persistence
When
memories persist, we can re-experience pain and humiliation. Emotional
experiences act to highlight certain experiences and not others. Emotions can also impair what
we remember about an event when we focused on the threat and did not perceive
other details of the event. Thus, because we focused on the threat, our memories are incomplete. Our current mood can influence the nature of
memories we recall.
Following is a Graphic I created as a quick reference.
7 Sins of Memory (Schacter, 2021)
Suttong.com, 2025
The
Seven Sins: Vices or Virtues
In Vices
and Virtues, Schacter suggests ideas about how our problems with memory may
have developed. And he cites some evidence suggesting how our problems may be
beneficial that is, virtues. For example, the gradual fading of some memories
can relieve us of the burden of nonuseful details and may even lessen the pain
of bad experiences. Even trauma can serve us when it allows us to avoid similar painful situations in the future.
**********
I praised
the book at the beginning and conclude with a clear statement that I recommend
this book. I say this as a psychologist with years of experience testing the
memories of children and adults in clinical practice and for the courts. I have
also consulted in numerous cases of people claiming disability due to memory impairment.
I suggested
a different title: Memory: Seven Reasons for Humility. In addition to
the applications suggested by Schacter, I add a lesson in humility. Even those
blessed with the best brains must deal with the common problem that our
memories can lead us astray thus, a dose of humility in warranted. Though some
people are undoubtedly out to deceives us and spin their misdeeds into golden
memories, others are simply mistaken. Great interviewers will be mindful of the
frailties and strengths of human memory. And many of us will need forgiveness.
Our
memories are precious. Without adequate memories, we lose a sense of self-identity—who
are we without a memory?
_____________
Cite this review
Sutton, G. W. (2022). The sevens sins of memory: Book review & resources. SuttonReviews. Retrieved from https://suttonreviews.suttong.com/2022/01/the-seven-sins-of-memory-book-review.html
_____________
Book Reference
Schacter,
D. L. (2021). The seven sins of memory:
How the mind forgets and remembers, updated edition. Mariner. (Kindle Edition)
Book
details: 532 pages, Preface to the updated edition, Introduction, 7 chapters-
one each for the 7 sins, A final reflections/ideas chapter, notes,
bibliography, end material.
About
the book author
Daniel L. Schacter is the
William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Psychology at Harvard University.
Available
as
___________________________
Post Author
______________________________
Related
works
Thinking,
Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahnemann
Christobiography:
Memory, history, and the reliability of the gospels by Craig Keener.
The
myth of repressed memory by Elizabeth Loftus & Katherine Ketcham
The
malleability of memory with Elizabeth Loftus by Howard Burton
Picking
Cotton: Our memoir of injustice and redemption by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino
and Ronald Cotton
Daniel
Schacter on The Seven Sins of Memory on YouTube
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