How reliable is your memory? | Elizabeth Loftus

who else here for their psychology homework ?

In Scottish Law, witnesses are NOT PERMITTED to hear the testimony of other witnesses to prevent contamination of testimony. This has been the case for HUNDREDS OF YEARS.

When I was in college I did a project for my psychology class, and the results of my project even surprised and shocked me!

With my professor's permission, I did my project during one of our classes. For my project, at approximately halfway through the one hour class, I had a friend of mine suddenly, and quite aggressively, run into the room and "steal" my purse that I had placed on my desk, which was located in the front row of the classroom. And, although my friend didn't say anything as she aggressively grabbed my purse and then quickly turned around and made her escape out of the same door she had just entered, I yelled just one word—"HEY!!!!!"

Well, immediately after my friend grabbed my purse and ran out the door, I handed a short one page questionnaire to every student (approx. 50 students) in the classroom that day. Most of the questions were about the physical description of the "thief". And, the rest of the questions focused on what they felt they saw happen. The answers that pertained to the physical description of my friend varied dramatically! My friend was as follows:
1. Gender--female
2. Height--5'7"
3. Weight--160 pounds
4. Clothes--She was wearing a black "hoodie", and blue jeans
5. She had shoulder length hair that was a very dark brown, and it could be seen quite well, despite the fact that she had pulled the hat of the hoodie up onto her head.

Most of the students said that she was a "he", who was anywhere from 5 feet tall to over 6 feet. She was said to weigh somewhere around 120 pounds to 200 pounds. She was also described as having red, dark blonde and even black color hair. And, with regards to what they described she was wearing, the answers once again were as varied as the answers in all of the previous questions. Oh, and when asked if they heard any sounds or words spoken during this incident, some stated that nothing was said, while others said they had "clearly" heard the "thief yell something to me.

So, after viewing all of the data I had garnered from my "Eyewitness" project, I came to the only conclusion that could be drawn from the overall results of my project--without a doubt, eyewitness accounts were unreliable and should never be accepted as any real type of "evidence" in a criminal trial. And, given those results, I truly have to wonder how many innocent people have been to, or are currently in prison based on any degree of "eyewitness accounts"...

This is why I laugh when people say, "Well, if you didn't do it, then you don't have anything to worry about."  I'm sorry, but there have simply been too many miscarriages of justice for me to believe that for a second. 

Titus' story is so sad... I feel horrible for what happened to him and his family... He was gonna probably have a long and happy life with his wife and family, but the horribly broken justice system tore that life from him and destroyed his life to the point of death... :(

I went to one of those "EST" like events when I was about 20. They had us recall childhood trauma. I recalled my sister almost dying in the hospital when she was an infant. I could even remember waiting in the hospital waiting room crying. Maybe 10 years later was talking about childhood and mentioned this to my father and sister. There was no such event. My sister had only been to the hospital for routine problems. I'd lived with a false memory for 10 years. I have other false memories in my head that I now know are false. And yet they are memories. It's truly bizarre.

I am now haunted by this vague feeling that as a child I saw Elizabeth Loftus in a mall, and she turned into a wolf and chased me until I fell into a fountain and nearly drowned.  Anyone else have this feeling?

This reminds me of a controversy that was just in the media. I wish I could remember what it was...

Such a humanist. This lady is a rare spirit indeed. I hope she stays strong.
Elisabeth I love and admire your work and dedication. And at the same time am appalled and disgusted by the in/justice system. The number of people that have been unjustly incarcerated pales when you think about those that were legally murdered for committing crimes they never did. So it is not an exaggeration to say you are a real saviour to so many. Thank you on their behalf. 

I am 60 years of age. About 10 years ago I started to mistrust my memory. Not things like appointments, when I lost my keys, but experiences that I think happened to me, how my memories changed. I have seen other things like this and am not surprised at all. Years ago, my wife and I both witnessed a motorbike accident. Our memories different in critical matters. We need to be VERY careful. I hear. 'I remember such and such a thing happening vividly'. I am often sceptical

Why would anyone dislike this video? This is what happens to us on a daily basis, if we don't understand that our memeory is susceptible to error, as well as manipulation.

eyewitness testimony shouldn't even be admissible in court. People who claim that they know exactly what they saw beyond a doubt, usually do not know what they saw because someone who actually remembered would have at least a few doubts. And people who have been raped are more prone to creating false memories because false memories serve to defend us from the horror of the unknown. If you can put a face on the abuser, it feels better than not knowing what the abuser looked like.

I love how she is passionate about her line of work and it is very evident in her presentation.

Her "research" also proves then: It is also very easy to convince victims of crime and abuse, that the abuse was consensual, or that it was the fault of the victim. An abuser or criminal has EVERYTHING to lose, if the victim is believed. Every single abuser/criminal ever, benefits from planting DOUBT, shame and blame into their victim's minds. And they attempt to do so.

I have noticed - even just in my own memories - that our memories are built out of pieces. When I think back to memories as a child, when I see my brothers, I see them as they are now, and hear the voices they have now, not that they had as children. Our mind stores bits of memories and when they are called up they are assembled like building a whole new object from a set of blueprints. It is not a perfect replica every time, it is just following a blueprint.
It is not hard to expand this to see that in truth those memories are built with several layers of blueprints. If one detail changes, the other blueprints that depend on that detail will change. Memory becomes easily corruptible if one thing is changed.

I have had dreams where I was back at the house I grew up in; a house I lived in for more then twenty years of my life. But my dream, being a dream, built the house wrong and showed it inaccurately. But yet now, when I try to think of that house, I see the details as they appeared in the dream. I can just barely see enough to understand that the memory is wrong, and if I work very hard I can see specific details that I know were not correct. But my mind still builds the false memory because I can see that one clearer than the true memory.

My experience , growing up in a dysfunctional home, where denial of truth of the environment and feelings was norm. Later as an adult When i confronted my parents about the abuse, they had a tendency to misremember and say it didn't happen... well it did and I'm spending my time healing and relearning and creating a healthy me, regardless if they had the memory...so sometimes people purposely forget but behavior of dysfunction eeks out in relationship and actions regardless of memory..

Once I was looking for my neckless everywhere and couldn’t find it. I went through everything, trying to remember when did I hold it last in my hand, and I was trying to picture the situation when I put it away. Heaps of different ideas crossed my mind, the entire content of my wardrobe was thrown in a pile at the middle of the room... Every corner checked...
Finally, I totally convinced myself, that I took it off on my way back home about a month ago, and put it in the inside packet of a jacket of mine which I gave away to charity the other day. I could literally remember myself doing it... but obviously I didn’t, because it was in the drawer at my workplace....
It is indeed scary what our brains are capable of doing.

We cannot reliably distinguish false memories. We need independent corroboration.

I have memories that are my own, meaning that I know they are mine because I was alone and no one convinced me of the activity or event. Some of my memories are the kind of memories that no one would corroborate because of the embarrassment it would cause them. I also have "memories" of things that were put there by people who told me the story over and over and I would not know about it without the input of others.

This was fascinating! I love learning about memory. I know that my memories change. I've noticed old sparse memories getting filled in when I learn more details, or being sure of a memory only to have it thrown completely into doubt when someone else presents a conflicting memory.