Collective memory

Collective memory is the shared pool of knowledge and information in the memories of two or more members of a social group. The English phrase "collective memory" and the equivalent French phrase "la mémoire collective" appeared in the second half of the nineteenth century. The philosopher and sociologist Maurice Halbwachs analyzed and advanced the concept of the collective memory in the book La mémoire collective (1950). Collective memory can be shared, passed on, and constructed, by large and small social groups. Examples of these groups could include a government or popular culture, among others. Collective memory parallels the memory of a person who is better at recalling images than words; but also exhibits key differences and features, such as cross-cueing.

Groups remember more than individuals, as groups are able to draw on the knowledge and experience (memories) of all individuals present. An example of this is an article written by Norman Brown that incorporated a few experiments testing individual inaccuracies. The first experiment had 15 subjects estimate the month and year of 36 random events some political and non-political. The events ranged from January 1976 to May 1983. They were instructed to think out loud and would be prompted if they fell silent for more than a couple of seconds. One prediction made during the experiment was that participants would frequently justify their responses with reference to one or more auxiliary facts. This experiment yielded that only accurate responses concerning the correct month and year happened 8% of the time. Most of the participants (78%) used auxiliary facts to date events.

The second experiment used 40 different events 20 being political and 20 being non-political. The 24 four year undergraduates from the University of Chicago were asked to tell if the event happened during the Carter or Reagan presidency. Then they were asked if the event happened while they were in high school or college. As a side experiment participants were given a reward for answering each question correctly in less than 10 seconds. This trial was done twice for each person. Obviously the second time answers were more accurate and faster. Participants as a whole were able to answer political events faster when deciding which president was in office and were able to answer non-political events faster with high school or college.

The third experiment consisted of participants using free-association and a knowledge-assessment phase. The 30 students were asked to write down the first current event they could think of related to the shown high-knowledge political event, low-knowledge political event, high-knowledge non-political event, and the low-knowledge non-political event. High-knowledge events had higher same narrative responses (44%) from the participants. Another example would be members of a group planning a tactical strike against another country are likely to come to a better decision when they work together, rather than alone. One member may be knowledgeable about the terrain and morale of the troops in the country where the strike is planned, while another may be knowledgeable about the home country's weaponry, and another may be knowledgeable about the home country's military morale.

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