We all had that one person in High School we just could not stand, correct? No matter what they did, what they said, or how they acted, you always felt a little annoyed. But if it ever involved you, you made sure to put him/her in their place. I'm sure you all have someone in mind right now for various different reasons. My reason was because ever since high school, this kid would always just bully people whether it be about race, their friends, etc. Anyways, it was the final month of Senior Year and he had just gone on a rampage of bullying. I saw him talking to the girl I was going to Prom with, and decided this would be my chance for revenge. Me and a couple friends were always recording music, and when I arrived at the two of them talking, I heard him trying to impress her with his apparent knowledge about music. I intervened, saying: "Hey ____, did you hear that new Tupac and Biggie and Jay Z and Kanye West song they just remade?". For those who don't know a song like this never existed, but obviously he wasn't aware because after this he said something along the lines of "HELL YEAH. What do I look like? For real girl, you're going to Prom with this dude? I've known about that song for like a month". After that, I simply said "Dude, that song never happened. There is no Kanye, Jay-Z, Tupac, Biggie song".
Now you might be wondering, how does this have to do anything with Psychology? Well, in the previous unit I learned it did! The suggestion of the song by me that ended up making this kid feel really awkard, turned out to be known as the Suggestive Memory Technique. Hey, I might have been a bully for just that instant, but it was worth it. So next time you have someone you dislike: have a "dude, that never happened" story, just please don't use it on me.
Suggestive memory technique...on your high school villain.
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Awesome story! I think you might be right in saying that it's suggestive memory, but I would say that there might also be a possibility that he wasn't actually "remembering" a false memory. He might have instead been pretending as though he really heard the song, when in fact he was just lying to not sound stupid. A friend of mine in high school did a similar thing. There was this kid that acted like he knew everything about music and that he was always at the latest concerts, so my friend asked him if he had been to some concerts of the "latest" (nonexistant) bands. For example: "did you go to the 'Upward Falling' show last weekend?" "Heck yes I did." Thanks for sharing your story.
Very interesting post. I've seen this concept in action, and it's quite amusing. My friends and I will do this to each other from time to time just to joke around, because it is funny when they say they remember something, but it didn't actually happen.
I'm actually guilty for doing the same thing. I used to live by a girl who pretended to know every movie/song, so I made up a movie and asked her if she had seen it. And of course, she said she had seen it. It probably wasn't the nicest thing to do, but her pretending was getting old.
That is interesting and seems like a solid method of putting someone in their place. I am very much enjoying psychology and learning of different techniques like this. It helps when you are put in a situation where you are battling with your wits!