Handout
Is Memory Reliable?
- Schacter writes, “Although this volume is concerned primarily with understanding distortion, it must be emphasized again that memory is quite accurate in many situations. […] Therefore, the key issue is not whether memory is ‘mostly accurate’ or “mostly distorted”; rather, the challenge is to specify the conditions under which accuracy and distortion are most likely to be observed (“Memory Distortion,” 25).
- Diamond, Armson, and Levine found that while roughly only a quarter of things are remembered, those that are remembered can be recalled with about 93%–95% accuracy (“The Truth Is Out There,” 1544–56).
Different Elements of Memory
- (1) a definition and taxonomy of memory, (2) passivism and constructivism, (3) presentism and continuism, (4) philosophical considerations of forgetting, (5) theories of remembering, (6) social and collective memory, (7) transience, (8) absent-mindedness, (9) blocking, (10) misattribution, (11) persistence, (12) Bartlett and schemata, (13) John Dean’s testimony and memory distortion, (14) Deese-Roediger- McDermott (DRM) lists and false memories, (15) suggestibility, (16) the social contagion of memory, (17) memory conformity, (18) hindsight bias, (19) personal event memory and flashbulb memory, (20) memory and age, and (21) the effects of health on memory.
- Which is too much to cover, so we must focus on a few things.
Transience
- “a weakening or loss of memory over time.”
The Implications of Transience
- If Jesus was crucified around 30/33 CE, and First Corinthians was written around 53–57 CE, this represents an interval of around 20 to 27 years. Based on the forgetting curves discussed in Section 3.2, this falls into the “c) 20–50 years” grouping, which would indicate an approximate 62%–85% likelihood that the information was remembered correctly (assuming individual memory with infrequent rehearsal). Nevertheless, as outlined in Section 3.3.2, it is more likely that such traditions were performed regularly (perhaps even weekly by community members), and as such, the likelihood that the information was remembered correctly would have been very probable.
- Paul probably received the creed of 1 Corinthians 15:3–5/7 within 18 months to 5 years from Jesus’ alleged resurrection (and probably no more than a decade after the event).
A Forgetting Curve
The Period Between Events and Writing
| Book | Lower (Bernier) | Lower (Robinson) | Middle (Harnack) | Higher (Sturdy) |
| Matthew | 45–59 | 50 | 70–75 | 130 |
| Mark | 42–45 | 45 | 65–73 | 80 |
| Luke | 59 | 60 | 80–95 | 110 |
| John | 60–70 | 65 | 80–110 | 140 |
| Acts | 62 | 62 | 80–95 | 130 |
| Romans | winter of 56/57 | 57 | 56–57 | 50 |
| 1 Corinthians | early 56 | 55 | 56 | 50 |
| 2 Corinthians | late 56 | 56 | 56 | 50 |
| Galatians | 47–52 | 56 | 53 | 50 |
| Ephesians | 57–59 | 58 | 57–59 | 100 |
| Philippians | 57–59 | 58 | 57–59 | 50 |
| Colossians | 57–59 | 58 | 57–59 | 80 |
| 1 Thessalonians | 50–52 | 50 | 48–49 | 40 |
| 2 Thessalonians | 50–52 | 50–51 | 48–49 | 120 |
| 1 Timothy—if Pauline | 63 or 64 | 55 | n/a | n/a |
| 1 Timothy—if pseudo | 60–150 | n/a | 90–110 | 140 |
| 2 Timothy—if Pauline | 64–68 | 58 | n/a | n/a |
| 2 Timothy—if pseudo | 60–150 | n/a | 90–110 | 140 |
| Titus—if Pauline | 63 or 64 | 57 | n/a | n/a |
| Titus—if pseudo | 60–175 | n/a | 90–110 | 140 |
| Philemon | 57–59 | 58 | 57–62 | 50 |
| Hebrews | 50–70 | 67 | 81–96 | 110 |
| James | prior to 62 | 47–48 | 70–90 | 130 |
| 1 Peter | 60–69 | 65 | 81–96 | 110 |
| 2 Peter—if Petrine | 60–69 | 61–62 | n/a | n/a |
| 2 Peter—if pseudo | 60–125 | n/a | 110–120 | 150 |
| 1 John | 60–100 | 60–65 | 80–110 | 140 |
| 2 John | 60–100 | 60–65 | 80–110 | 140 |
| 3 John | prior to 100 | 60–65 | 80–110 | 140 |
| Jude | prior to 96 | 61–62 | 100–130 | 130 |
| Revelation | 68–70 | 68 | 93–96 | 150 |
Bernier, Jonathan. Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament: The Evidence for Early Composition, 2022.
Passivism and constructivism
- “A passivist (preservationist or archival) view of memory argues that memory is analogous to a storehouse. The view purports that if one is focused while encoding the memory and archives it correctly, then one can accurately retrieve that memory.” (110–1)
- “a constructivist (or generationist) approach views memory as active “as the combined influences of the world and the person’s own ideas and expectations.” (111)
Examples of the active nature of memory
- “Selection: Only certain incoming stimuli are selected for encoding.
- Abstraction: The meaning of a message is abstracted from the syntactic and lexical features of the message.
- Interpretation: Relevant prior knowledge is invoked.
- Integration: A holistic representation is formed from the products of selection, abstraction, and interpretation processes.
- Reconstruction: During retrieval, whatever information was selected for representation and is still accessible is used, together with general knowledge, (roughly) to generate a representation of what must have happened.” (111)
The Implications of Passivism and Constructivism
- The extent to which the faculty of memory is creative indicates that semantic memory tends to be more passive than constructive. Hence, regarding the creed of 1 Corinthians 15:3–5/7, there are probably fewer constructive factors at work.” (114–5)
- “As for abstraction, the creed of 1 Corinthians 15:3–5/7 is already an abstraction of some underlying series of events by those who originally formulated the creed. That is, no one (or no group) perceived the creed taking place. Instead, the creed is a formulation of a larger narrative. However, there is no reason to think that any further abstraction occurred between Paul receiving the creed and passing it on to the Corinthians.” (115)
John Dean’s Testimony and Memory Distortion
- Dean’s “testimony [of Nixon] was accurate at a level that is neither “semantic” (since he was ostensibly describing particular episodes) nor “episodic” (since his accounts of the episodes were often wrong). The term “repisodic” is coined here to describe such memories: what seems to be a remembered episode actually represents a repeated series of events, and thus reflects a genuinely existing state of affairs.”
The Implications of John Dean’s Testimony and Memory Distortion
- “The narratives underlying Paul’s traditions could be affected by this memory principle (concerning gist and tenor). Hypothetically, it would mean that even if there were confusions, for example, about when the tomb was found, or which women were present, one could still have accurate information, and perhaps that core is the creed of 1 Corinthians 15:3–5/7.” (154)
Deese-Roediger- McDermott (DRM) lists and False Memories
- “The DRM task presents participants “with lists of semantically associated words (e.g., bed, rest, awake). In subsequent free recall and recognition tests, participants often erroneously recall and recognize non-presented critical lures (e.g., sleep) as having been presented as part of the earlier lists.” (155–6)
- “A false memory can be defined as a distorted recollection of an event or, most severely, recollection of an event that never actually happened. False memories are errors of commission, because details, facts, or events come to mind, often vividly, but the remembrances fail to correspond to prior events.”
The Implications of DRM lists and False Memories
- “DRM associations based on first-century Jewish cultural beliefs about the afterlife would have expected an ascension to heaven, awaiting the general resurrection. The predictions of Jesus’ resurrection (cf. Mark 8:31//Matt 16:21// Luke 9:22; Mark 9:31//Matt 17:23; Mark 10:34//Matt 20:19//Luke 18:33; Mark 14:58//Matt 26:61; Mark 15:29//Matt 27:40; Mark 14:28; Matt 12:40; 27:63–64; Luke 24:6–7, 46; John 2:19–22; Mark 16:7//Matt 28:6//Luke 24:6–8) could prime the disciples for a more imminent resurrection; however, it is doubtful that this could generate a false memory of such a magnitude. The disciples also knew that Jesus was crucified and did not believe that individuals were bodily resurrected in advance of others.” (157)
Personal Event Memory and Flashbulb Memory
- Flashbulb memories “are memories for the circumstances in which one first learned of a very surprising and consequential (or emotionally arousing) event.”
The Implications of Personal Event Memory and Flashbulb Memory
- “The original eyewitnesses would have had a flashbulb memory of their experiences due to both the shocking nature of Jesus’ death and the surprising nature of his resurrection. The creed itself was succinct, memorable, and contained remarkable content. The creed of 1 Corinthians 15:3–5/7, containing surprising and consequential content, would likely (at least for first-century believers) create a flashbulb memory upon its initial hearing. Furthermore, the appearance of Jesus to Paul (cf. 1 Cor 15:8) would have formed a flashbulb memory for him. Although Paul does not mention further details of the memory (cf. Acts 9:3–5, 22:6–11, and 26:12–15), the likelihood that Paul would have misremembered “that Jesus appeared to him” is highly improbable.” (171)
Suggestibility
- Refers to “memories that are implanted as a result of leading questions, comments or suggestions.”
The Implications of Suggestibility
- “The creed of 1 Corinthians 15:3–5/7 is unlikely to have been influenced by suggestibility due to its memorability and brevity. However, the creed was formulated at some point. If one assumes that a narrative similar to those found in the Gospels underlies it,326 then there are several ways in which suggestibility could have impacted the tradition. Unfortunately, this is speculative. For instance, one could imagine one of the Gospel authors speaking with an eyewitness about the tomb where Jesus was buried. Even asking an innocent question such as, “Was it still dark when you found the tomb?” has the potential to implant false memories, whereas asking an open-ended question such as, “At what time did you find the tomb?” would not induce suggestion.” (159)
Memory and Age
- “Studies have found that younger people generally have better memory function.” (172)
The Implications of Memory and Age
- Paul was probably born ca. AD 5–10, during the reign of the Emperor Augustus. He is described in Acts 7:58 as a young man at the stoning of Stephen, and in Phlm 9 (written after AD 55) as an “old man.”
- “This data would mean Paul was roughly between 22 and 32 years old when he received the creed and about 43 and 52 years old when it was passed on in First Corinthians. While life expectancy in the first century was lower than in twenty-first-century Western cultures, based on Paul’s likely age, there is no reason to think that his memory recall would have been unreliable simply because of his age.” (172–3)
Conclusion
- There are many factors to consider, and not all of them are clear-cut. Still, the best explanation of what gave rise to the surviving memories is that Jesus rose from the dead.
Further Reading
David Graieg, Resurrection Remembered, Routledge, 2024.