![]() ![]() However, is it their memory? The answer is not really, because memory is only personal if the person who has the memory is the one who experienced the events in the first place. What exactly is a memory? If you were to tell someone in detail about a memory you had of meeting the Pope when you were younger, so it is now a part of their memories, does that mean it is their memory? If they remember it and can tell it to someone else, it is now in their memory. Reid also brought up another discrepancy with Locke's theory. If that were the case, who was that person who broke their arm as a child? Who are they now? Do they even exist? And if our consciousness is only our memories, what about other things such as character, desires, and beliefs? Do they not have anything to do with who we are? Therefore, Reid said it is impossible for memory to be "who we are" since we cannot possibly remember every single thing from our whole lifetime. He stated that he could not remember everything he had ever done in his lifetime, so how could your memory be your consciousness? How could that be if we have forgotten things in our lives? Continuity Psychology Examplesįor example, if you could not remember that when you were a child you once got into a car accident and broke your arm, does that mean that you are not the same person as the little child who broke their arm years and years ago? Of course not. However, Thomas Reid (1710-1796) disagreed with these theories, using his memory as an example. Locke's memory theory of your memory being your consciousness is similar to Gestalt's theory. Gestalt Theory speaks of vision and creating continuous patterns that are connected to objects uninterrupted, forever. So, who would you be? The person who has your new brain and old body, or would you be the old brain with the new body? Wow, that is a lot to think about, isn't it? Continuity Psychology DefinitionĪccording to psychology experts, continuity in psychology refers to the ability to continue on the same way continuously indefinitely. Would you both remember that you used to have a different body? Or maybe your old body still holds onto your consciousness, and it stays with you to be transferred into this new brain. What would happen if someone took your brain and put it into another person's body? Would you still be you but just in another body? Would your memories and sense of self (consciousness and awareness) now be in this new body? If so, where do the memories and sense of self of the new body's previous brain go? Would they be lost forever if they were not put into another body, or would they just continue indefinitely, without being bound to this earth by a body that would soon be useless? What if they put this other person's brain in your old body? ![]() So, what does all this have to do with continuity psychology? Well, read on, and you may begin to understand. ![]() Others say that when we die, we are gone, and our awareness and consciousness go as well. ![]() Some say that our consciousness can transfer from one body to another, with our identity going along with it. His theory was that our sense of self or identity has nothing to do with the body or soul but is only based on memory and awareness.įor centuries, humans have been trying to answer the question of whether there is life after death. Locke believed that a person's identity is a matter of psychological continuity. Personal identity, according to John Locke (1632-1704), is related to the survival of our awareness or consciousness after we die. ![]()
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