The Psychology Book (64 page)

does not work like

the notion of repressed memory.

called “repression” to keep them

a videotape recorder

hidden from awareness. Freud later

1932
Frederic Bartlett claims

or a movie camera.

modified his thinking to a more

that memory is subject to

Elizabeth Loftus

general theory of repressed desires

elaboration, omission, and

and emotions. However, the idea

distortion in
Remembering
.

that the memory of a traumatic

event could be repressed and stored

1947
Gordon Allport and Leo

beyond conscious recall became

Postman conduct experiments

accepted by many psychologists.

that demonstrate various types

The rise of various forms of

of nondeliberate misreporting.

psychotherapy in the 20th century

particular was an attractive area

AFTER

focused attention on repression, and

for research, and repressed and

1988
The self-help book for

the possibility of retrieving repressed

recovered memory was about to

sexual abuse survivors,
The

memories became associated with

become a hot topic, as a number

Courage to Heal,
by Ellen Bass

psychoanalysis so strongly that even

of high-profile child abuse cases

and Laura Davis, is influential

Hollywood dramas began to explore

reached the courts in the 1980s.

in popularizing recovered

the link. Memory in general was a

popular subject among experimental

Suggestible memory

memory therapy in the 1990s.

psychologists too, particularly as

During the course of her research,

2001
In
The Seven Sins of

behaviorism began to wane after

Loftus grew skeptical about the idea

Memory
, Daniel Schacter

World War II, and the “cognitive

of recovering repressed memories.

describes the seven different

revolution” was suggesting new

Previous research by Frederic

ways in which our memories

models for how the brain processed

Bartlett, Gordon Allport, and Leo

can malfunction.

information into memory. By the

Postman had already shown that

time Elizabeth Loftus began her

even in the normal working of the

studies, long-term memory in

human brain, our ability to retrieve

Elizabeth Loftus

Born Elizabeth Fishman in Los

and adjunct professor of law. She

Angeles in 1944, Loftus received

was appointed distinguished

her first degree at the University of

professor at the University of

California with the intention of

California in 2002, and was the

becoming a high school math

highest-ranked woman in a

teacher. While at UCLA, however,

scientifically quantified ranking

she started classes in psychology,

of the 20th century’s most

and in 1970 received a PhD in

important psychologists.

psychology at Stanford University.

It was here that she first became

Key works

interested in the subject of long-

term memory, and met and married

1979
Eyewitness Testimony

fellow psychology student Geoffrey

1991
Witness for the Defense

Loftus, whom she later divorced.

(with Katherine Ketcham)

She taught at the University of

1994
The Myth of Repressed

Washington, Seattle, for 29 years,

Memory
(with Katherine

becoming professor of psychology

Ketcham)

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 205

See also:
Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Bluma Zeigarnik 162 ■ George Armitage Miller 168–73 ■ Endel Tulving 186–91 ■

Gordon H. Bower 194–95 ■ Daniel Schacter 208–09 ■ Roger Brown 237 ■ Frederic Bartlett 335–36

information from memory can be

seen. Loftus found that the phrasing

later versions of the experiment,

unreliable; Loftus believed that this

of questions had a significant

participants were verbally given

must also be true of the recollection

influence on how people reported

false information about some

of events that are so traumatic

events. For example, when asked

details of the accident (such as

that they are repressed—perhaps

to estimate the speed of the cars

road signs around the scene), and

even more so, given the emotive

involved, the answers varied

these appeared as recollections in

nature of the events.

widely, depending on whether

many of the participants’ reports.

Loftus began her research into

the questioner had used the

the fallibility of recollection in the

words “bumped,” “collided,” or

Legal implications

early 1970s, with a series of simple

“smashed,” to describe the

It became clear to Loftus that

experiments designed to test the

collision. They were also asked if

recollection can be distorted by

veracity of eyewitness testimony.

there was any broken glass after

suggestions and leading questions,

Participants were shown film clips

the accident, and the answers

made after the event in question.

of traffic accidents and then asked

again correlated to the wording

Misinformation can be “planted”

questions about what they had

of the question of speed. In

into the recollection of an observer. ❯❯

We believe that our

recollection of a traumatic

event
is accurate, but…

…it may have been

…it may have been

…it may have been

…it may have been

shaped by a

altered by our

suggested
to us by

leading question

altered by
subsequent

current emotions

someone we trust.

experiences.

or
false information.

or ideas
.

But because of its
emotional

importance
we appear to

“remember” it vividly.

What we believe with

all our hearts is not

necessarily the truth.

206 ELIZABETH LOFTUS

false, and had evolved because

Eileen had witnessed her father

commit other cruel actions, and

“one brutal image overlapped

A

another.” Loftus successfully argued

in court that a combination of

suggestion during hypnosis, existing

frightening memories, and Eileen’s

rage and grief had created a

completely false “repressed memory.”

The case of Paul Ingram (which

B

Loftus was not involved in) also

pointed toward the possibility of

implanting false memories. Arrested

in 1988 for sexually abusing his

daughters, Ingram initially denied

the charges, but after several

months of questioning confessed to

C

them along with a number of other

cases of rape and even murder. A

psychologist involved in the case,

In a 1974 experiment
Loftus showed a group of people

Richard Ofshe, grew suspicious

a film of cars colliding, then asked them how fast the cars

and suggested to Ingram he was

“bumped,” “collided,” or “smashed” into each other. Her

guilty of another sexual offence—

choice of verb determined their estimate of car speeds.

but this time, one that was provably

fabricated. Ingram again initially

The title of her 1979 book describing

totally false. Among the many

denied the allegation, but later

her experiments,
Eyewitness

cases in which she was involved,

made a detailed confession.

Testimony
, shows that Loftus was

that of George Franklin perfectly

well aware of the implications of

illustrates the different aspects of

Lost in the mall

this “misinformation effect,” not

what came to be known as “false

The evidence for the implantation of

only for the psychological theory

memory syndrome.” Franklin was

false memories was still anecdotal,

of memory, but also for the legal

convicted in 1990 for the murder

however, and far from conclusive;

process. Anticipating the

of a child who was best friends

Loftus suffered harsh criticism for

controversy that was to follow,

with his daughter, Eileen. Her

what were then considered to be

she wrote that “the unreliability of

eyewitness testimony, 20 years

controversial opinions. So she

eyewitness identification evidence

after the murder, was crucial to the

decided to collect irrefutable

poses one of the most serious

conviction. Loftus found numerous

evidence through an experiment

problems in the administration of

discrepancies in Eileen’s evidence,

that aimed to deliberately implant

criminal justice and civil litigation.”

and proved her memories to be

false memories. This was her 1995

incorrect and unreliable in several

“Lost in the Mall” experiment.

False memory syndrome

respects, but the jury nonetheless

Loftus presented each of the

Loftus was soon to be increasingly

found Franklin guilty.

participants with four stories from

involved in forensic psychology,

In 1995, the conviction was

their own childhood that had

as an expert witness in the spate

overturned because the court had

apparently been remembered

of child abuse cases of the 1980s.

been deprived of “crucial evidence:”

and supplied by members of the

What she realized then was that

the fact that Eileen had “recovered”

participant’s family. In fact, only

memories could not only be

the memory during hypnotherapy.

three of the four stories were true;

distorted by subsequent suggestion

Loftus believed that Eileen’s memory

the fourth, about getting lost in a

and incorrect details introduced by

of seeing her father commit the

shopping mall, was concocted for

misinformation, but may even be

murder was sincerely believed, but

the experiment. Plausible details,