Are Ariel Castro's Neighbors Inadvertently Creating False Memories?

[DonViejo]

By Amanda Marcotte | Posted Wednesday, May 8, 2013, at 5:27 PM

As more details emerge from the bizarre kidnapping case in Cleveland, people are beginning to wonder how Ariel Castro could have kept women locked up in his house for a decade without anyone actually noticing that something strange was going on. Enter the neighbors, some of whom are telling the press that they did, in fact, see all sorts of weird behavior—and that they called the police, who did nothing about it. The police, however, are denying these reports, saying that the two visits made to the house in the decade were unrelated to any suspicious activities. Considering Castro's frightening history of domestic violence and child abuse, it's hard to imagine the police would just ignore it if the neighbors kept complaining about him doing things like dragging naked women around on leashes in his yard.

So what's going on? Are all these people lying? Are the cops? Or is this a case of lost records or unrecorded police calls? One possible explanation is that the neighbors are simply caught up in the excitement over a national story unfolding in their backyard, and they're misremembering their pasts because of it. False memories, particularly regarding incredibly emotional situations, are easier to develop than many realize.

Researcher Elizabeth Loftus is probably the world's foremost expert on false memories. She spoke with Psychology Today in 2012 about doing hundreds of studies that showed people could misremember the details of their own experiences. They could even conjure up entirely false memories after being prompted to do so:

“Despite the ethical limitations imposed on laboratory studies of artificially created memories, research showed that creating false memories of a relatively benign childhood experience, i.e., becoming lost in a shopping mall as a young child, was easily induced. In other studies, even much more extreme examples of false memories (e.g. spilling punch on the bride’s parents at a family wedding or nearly drowning as a child) could be induced in as many as a quarter of the subjects tested. Even in subjects who failed to develop a complete false memory, partial recall could be induced in nearly half of all research subjects.”

full article
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/05/08/ariel_castro_s_neighbors_claimed_they_called_the_police_are_they_misremembering.html

[Blue_Tires]

1. I'd suggested from the start that at least a couple of those interviewed

were either whoring for their 15 seconds on TV, or didn't want to sound complicit by saying they honestly didn't know what was going on...

Like I said, you don't go from general neighbor reactions like:

"Castro? He was always a regular guy and none of us suspected anything" (on the first day), to:

"It's about time they arrested him; I've called the cops a hundred times about the obscene naked women in the backyard..." in a couple of days' time...

[arcane1]

3. That has been my thought as well. I was reminded of the "West memphis Three" case

When those three were first arrested, neighbors and school kids suddenly had all kinds of stories and things they had seen or heard, none of which were true. It was nothing more than a scramble for some of those 15 seconds.

The ones with the most outrageous stories likely felt they would get the most attention.

[randome]

2. I'd say that's a very real possibility.

Also, some neighbors may want to 'protect' themselves so it doesn't look to the world at large as if they were ignorant or willfully blind about what was going on so near to them.

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[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
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[LisaL]

4. And the lady whose daughters claim they saw a naked woman admit she didn't even call the police.

I am not sure at all that any of the calls from neighbors took place.

[DonViejo]

6. The Cleveland Police...

are saying no one ever called

"...despite some reports to the contrary, the women were never allowed out of the house and no citizens ever called to report suspicions."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022825285

[Brickbat]

5. I remember hearing an NPR piece about introducing false memories in adults of hugging a Bugs Bunny

figure at their childhood trips to Disneyland. Which, of course, wouldn't have had a Bugs Bunny figure on the property.