Elizabeth Loftus
American psychologist of memory and eyewitness testimony
American psychologist who worked at the University of Washington and then the University of California, Irvine. She is best known for the misinformation effect, research on false memories and work on eyewitness testimony.
Why this person matters
Loftus showed that information given after an event can change what people report remembering. Her findings reached courts through expert testimony, and her views on recovered memory remain disputed.
Main contributions
Loftus and Palmer car crash study (1974)
With John Palmer she showed 45 students car crash videos. Mean speed estimates depended on the verb in the question: 32 mph for collided, 34 for hit each other and 41 for smashed each other. She argued that wording after an event can alter reported memory.
Misinformation effect and false memory
UC Irvine describes the misinformation effect as eyewitnesses' memories being altered by exposure to incorrect information about an event. In the 1990s her undergraduate student Jim Coan developed a technique, often called lost in the mall, to study implanted memories.
Expert testimony
In June 1975 she gave the first expert testimony in Washington State on eyewitness identification. UC Irvine says she has been an expert witness or consultant in hundreds of cases.
Context and limits
Her views on recovered memory are disputed. Loftus argues that repression is not needed to explain the forgetting of trauma, while Bessel van der Kolk, Lenore Terr and Jennifer Freyd argue that documented cases of forgetting and later remembering trauma exist. A 2014 study co-authored by Loftus reported a continuing gap between clinical researchers and practitioners in beliefs about repressed memory. UC Irvine notes that her work and testimony have been controversial.
In your introductory course
Memory.Appears in the memory chapter on reconstruction, eyewitness testimony and false memories, and in the debate over recovered memories.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 8.3. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1973
Joined the University of Washington.
- 1974
Published the car crash study with John Palmer.
- 1975
Gave expert testimony on eyewitness identification in Washington State.
- 2001
Moved to the University of California, Irvine.
Sources
- UC Irvine School of Law, Elizabeth F. Loftus faculty profileUniversity. Institutional biography inspected.
- UC Irvine News, UCI professor awarded 2016 John Maddox Prize for Standing up for ScienceUniversity. Institutional biography inspected.
- University of Portsmouth research portal, Patihis et al. (2014), Are the memory wars over? (Psychological Science)University. Abstract inspected.
- Wikipedia, Elizabeth LoftusReference work. Reference article inspected.