Elizabeth Loftus Hunter Chapman Childhood Sidney Fishman U

Elizabeth Loftus Hunter Chapman

Childhood Sidney Fishman- U. S. Army physician Rebecca Fishman- librarian Elizabeth was born October 16 th, 1944 in Los Angeles Grew up in Bel Air World War II Atomic Bomb Civil Rights Movement

Childhood o Happy-go-luck and boy crazy o Interest in crime o Death of her mother o Interest in math o Fathers remarriage

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Started in 1962 as a mathematics major Wanted to be a high school math teacher Psychology electives Met Geoffrey Loftus Graduated with a double major in mathematics and psychology

Stanford University Graduate program for mathematical psychology Receives her masters degree in mathematical psychology in 1967 Marries Geoffrey Loftus in 1968 Study on semantic memory “what animal begins with the letter Z” “name a bird that is small” PH. D in mathematical psychology in 1970 Only female in her graduating class

Early 1970’s New School University “Why am I working on retrieving canaries and zebras from semantic memory? ”' she recalls. “Do I really deeply care about structure? What do I like to talk about when there's no external reason to be talking about it? ” Living apart from Geoffrey Washington vs. Harvard 24 hours

Automobile Research Previous Research People are inaccurate in reporting details like time, speed, and distance Overestimate the length of events and speeds 10 -50 mph range

Automobile Destruction Study- 1974 The power of a leading question on eyewitness testimonies Method First experiment 45 participants 7 car accident clips 4 of the 7 films were staged crashes Hit, smashed, collided, bumped, or contacted Results The actual speed of the vehicles controlled for minimal variance in reported speed, while the phrasing of the question controlled the majority of the variance Two alternative explanations

Automobile Destruction Study- 1974 The power of a leading question on eyewitness testimonies Method Second experiment 150 participants Film of a 3 car accident Return one week later Questionnaire Answer questions regarding the accident Results The verb smashed lead participants to give the “yes” response for the presence of glass and give higher speed estimates

After the Automobile Destruction Study Wanted to contribute to society Consulting lawyers on cases Psychology Today summary of her work Legal seminars One day, two events Father passed First expert testimony in the courtroom

Courtroom Work Mrs. M’s story Stranger enters home through an open living-room window Attempts to rape her but fleas when others wake up Described him to the police as a Black man, 170 lbs, 5’ 7”-5’ 9”, small braids, and wearing a baseball cap Officers found a man roughly fitting the description in her neighborhood She identified him and he was charged

Courtroom Work Elizabeth’s Testimony and Results 101 st case as an expert witness on criminal cases Fear and stress could have impaired her ability to identify her attacker People have a difficult time identifying someone of a different race than their own He was acquitted “It’s cases like this that mean the most to me, the ones in which I play a role in bringing justice to an innocent person. ”

Famous Cases

Her own false memory- 1988 44 th birthday Dumb Uncle Mother’s death- Who discovered the body? “My own experiment had inadvertently been performed on me!" "I was left with a sense wonder at the inherent credulity of even my skeptical mind. "

Happy Couple? o Walks and leisure activities or friends and wine o Kids? o Amicable divorce o Friendship

Zeitgeist Large spikes in criminal and civil suits Childhood sexual abuse Hypnosis Satanic rituals No medical support No timeline support

Formation of False Memories Previous Research Changing an already existing memory Memories can be disrupted by past and present experiences Retroactive interference effects Trojan horse Chris’s false memory implantation

Lost In A Shopping Mall Study- 1995 The formation of false memories Method 24 participants, 18 -53 years old 3 true events and 1 fabricated 5 elements to each fabricated memory A place where the family usually shopped Relatives that usually accompanied Crying Found aided by an elderly woman Reuniting with a family member

Lost In A Shopping Mall Study- 1995 The formation of false memories Method First interview, 1 -2 weeks afterwards Rankings of clarity of memories, 1 -10 Rankings for more detail with time, 1 -5 Informed to not speak with anyone else about the events Second interview, 1 -2 weeks after first The same attempt at remembering and rankings as in interview one Asked to guess which memory was false

Lost In A Shopping Mall Study- 1995 The formation of false memories Results Successful results for implanting a false memory in participants 29% of participants “remembered” the false event Power of false information and repeated interviews Becca’s story Pet store Elderly lady’s clothing and specific questions Reuniting with her parents

The Bunny Effect

Criticisms 1995 - complaints by Lynn Crooks and Jennifer Hoult “Whore” "You're that woman!“ “Aren’t you worried about protecting murders or rapists? ” Security guards

Jane Doe Custody battle and accusations Elizabeth’s investigation No support of abuse Violation of privacy claims Publishing of case- 2002 Taus v. Loftus- 2003 Case eventually settled in 2007

Discussion Questions "Please consider your work to be on the same level as those who deny the existence of the extermination camps during WWII. " Why do you think people were so critical of her work? Do you agree with their criticisms?

“When Blue” o Sappy TV and white wine o Letters of gratitude o “We can’t let the bullies win”

Repercussions of False Memories Previous Research Pickles and hard-boiled eggs Quick survey on food preferences Computer-generated report Informed children they had gotten sick from either pickles or hard-boiled eggs Indicated that they were more likely to avoid pickles or eggs

Strawberry Ice Cream Study- 2005 Repercussions of false memories Method Experiment 1, session 1 131 undergraduates at University of Washington 3 groups- strawberry ice cream, chocolate chip cookie, and control “Food and Personality” 2 sessions- 1 week apart “Felt ill after eating strawberry ice cream” and “Got sick after eating a chocolate chip cookie” Food Preference Party Behavior Questionnaire

Strawberry Ice Cream Study- 2005 Repercussions of false memories Method Experiment 1, session 2 False information- disliked spinach, enjoyed bananas and loved when classmates brought sweets “You felt ill after eating strawberry ice cream” or “You got sick after eating a chocolate chip cookie. ” or no feedback Effect on personality today? Food History Inventory, the Food Preferences Questionnaire, and the Party Behavior Questionnaire

Strawberry Ice Cream Study- 2005 Results For strawberry ice cream- about 20% of people who’d denied an unpleasant experience had now believed it happened Also followed with the intent to now avoid strawberry ice cream in adulthood Not successful for participants in the chocolate chip cookie group Why? Further applications Unhealthy kid or false memories?

Awards and Contributions 2009 – Distinguished Contributions to Psychology and Law Award from the American Psychology-Law Society 2016 - John Maddox Prize: recognizes the work of individuals who promote sound science and evidence on a matter of public interest, facing difficulty or hostility in doing so Expert testimonies on memory are no longer admissible in court Published 23 books and over 500 scientific articles Eyewitness Testimony- won national media award from the American Psychological Foundation 58 th on top 100 most eminent psychologists

Where is she now? o 73 years old o Teaching at the University of California, Irvine o No longer conducting research o Do Justice and Let The Sky Fall

Discussion Questions Do you remember the video I played at the beginning? How does this relate to Elizabeth Loftus work? Any final thoughts on her research?

References https: //www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC 1236554/ https: //www. verywellmind. com/elizabeth-loftus-biography-2795496 http: //www. pnas. org/content/102/39/13721#sec-2 https: //faculty. washington. edu/eloftus/Articles/psytoday. htm https: //www. theguardian. com/science/2016/nov/17/we-cant-let-the-bullies-win-elizabeth-loftus-awarded-2016 -john-maddox -prize-false-memory https: //www. dowellwebtools. com/tools/lp/Bo/psyched/14/Reconstruction-of-Automobile-Destruction http: //www. slate. com/human-interest/2018/04/parenting-advice-for-a-family-with-an-unmotivated-teenager. html https: //www. ted. com/talks/elizabeth_loftus_the_fiction_of_memory#t-1034596 https: //www. nature. com/news/evidence-based-justice-corrupted-memory-1. 13543 http: //www. slate. com/articles/health_and_science/the_memory_doctor/2010/06/the_memory_doctor. html https: //scholar. google. com/scholar? q=Loftus, +E. +F. , +%26+Pickrell, +J. +E. +(1995). +The+formation+of+false+memories. + Psychiatric+Annals, +25, +720725. &hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ved=0 ah. UKEwj. Ch. IG 9 w. MHa. Ah. UKyo. MKHe. Iw. AOIQg. QMIJTAA https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Uszq. Ex. L 7 vo. E https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=e. Zl. Pz. Se. UDDw