Definition

Noun: - A psychological condition or phenomenon: Selective amnesia refers to the inability or failure to recall specific, often inconvenient or unpleasant, memories or events, while other memories remain intact. This "forgetting" is typically subconscious and serves a protective or self-serving function for the individual.

Usage

• This term is most commonly used in psychology, journalism, and everyday critical commentary to describe a perceived convenient forgetting, especially regarding one's own faults, mistakes, or responsibilities.
• It often implies skepticism about the genuineness of the memory loss, suggesting it is motivated by a desire to avoid blame, discomfort, or accountability.

Examples

Advanced Usage

• In legal and political contexts: The term is frequently used rhetorically to challenge the credibility of a person's testimony or statements.
  • The defendant's selective amnesia regarding the night of the incident did not convince the jury.
• In clinical psychology: While used informally to describe motivated forgetting, it is not a formal diagnostic category like dissociative amnesia. Clinically, it might relate to repression or other defense mechanisms.

Variants and Related Words

• Amnesia (n): A general loss of memory, often due to brain injury, shock, or illness.
• Repression (n): A psychological defense mechanism whereby distressing thoughts are pushed into the unconscious.
• Convenient forgetfulness (n phrase): A more informal synonym for selective amnesia.

Synonyms

• Motivated forgetting
• Convenient memory loss
• Self-serving amnesia

Related Idioms and Phrases

• To have a convenient memory: To remember only what is advantageous to oneself.
  • He has a very convenient memory when it comes to his own errors.
• To suffer from political amnesia: A specific variant implying politicians forget their past statements or policies.
  • The minister appears to be suffering from a severe case of political amnesia.

Noun

1. amnesia about particular events that is very convenient for the person who cannot remember
   • why do politicians always develop selective amnesia when questioned about their transgressions?