Types Of Plagiarism

Cryptomnesia or unconscious plagiarism (UP)

This term means that a person thinks they have found a new idea, yet it is actually an old memory. (Bredart, Lampinen & Defeldre, 2003). Brown and Murphy (1989) say it explains plagiarism of songs lyrics and words. For example, artist’s blamed of copying song lyrics may have heard them before but forgotten about it. This means that the brain can recall lots of information yet can forget it just as easily. There is a large amount of research that has examined how these processes take place.

Johnson’s source monitoring framework (JSMF)

JSMF is the main framework that explains this type of plagiarism (Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993). It says that external sources can directly affect how we encode knowledge. This means that different situations can delay our memory processes. JSMF explains how memory makes it difficult for us to generate original ideas.

JSMF explains heuristics; unconscious and fast ways of thinking that make reasoning easier. As heuristics are errors in thinking, these errors are related to poor encoding, as seen in UP. In addition, previous settings can sway how we react to information. JSMF outlines how private factors influence heuristic use more than outside factors. For example, past incidents can physically change the way the brain makes future choices (Chaiken, Liberman, & Eagly, 1989).

Alternative Frameworks

Other scientists have used models to understand UP. These include word-search tasks, elaboration models and age-related experiments. Three experiments are discussed below.

Experiment 1

Overview

Experiment one was a word-search task extending past research by Marsh and Bower (1993). It aimed to test two different concepts. Firstly, to test how rela...

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...UP

There are many factors associated with UP. To date, internal factors are highly correlated with UP. Oral and written tasks and semantic and episodic memory directly effect UP (Brown & Murphy, 1989). Age has a small effect on UP and imagery a significant effect. Older adults are seen to generate new words when asked to recall a list of words. Imagery has been associated with higher levels of UP. Familiar and more commonly used terms have been associated with higher UP, as opposed to more unique and less familiar words (Marsh & Bower, 1993). UP has a large effect on many different situations.

Two techniques to minimise risk

In minimizing risks of cryptomnesia in students there are ways to reduce UP. Firstly, students can be careful the way they note down information. In doing big assignments, writing rewording sentences into own words can also be effective.