Elizabeth
Loftus
VICTORIA ARMIJO
Early life

Born on October 16, 1944 in Los Angeles, CA

Grew up in Bel Air, CA.

Mother- Rebecca Fishman


Worked as a librarian

Died in a drowning accident when Elizabeth was 14
in 1968.
Father- Sidney Fishman

Worked as a U.S. Army Physician
Schooling


Bachelors of Arts

In Mathematics and
Psychology

Planned on becoming
a math teacher

UCLA

Graduated in 1966
Master of Arts and PhD

Mathematical
Psychology

Stanford

MA in 1967 and PhD in
1970
Grad. School

Colleagues voted her as least likely to succeed as
a psychologist

Proved them wrong and aced all of her first-year
courses

Mentor job as a “big sister” for first-year students

Geoff Loftus

Engaged 3 months later

Married that following June of 1968
Grad. School


Worked with the “Pat Suppes Machine”

Wrote arithmetic problems

No personal interest
1969- things changed and Loftus began working
with Jon Freedman, a social psychologist.

PhD dissertation first based on the Suppes Machine
but her interest shifted to the structure of semantic
memory.
Research with Freedman

Research on semantic memory

Measured how quickly answers could be retrieved
to various questions

Found that answers to category-then-property
questions (Fruit-P) were retrieved 250 milliseconds
quicker than with the reverse ordering of the cues
(P-Fruit)

Results showed that people’s semantic memory is
likely organized around object categories rather
than properties
Work Life

Offered a position by the New School for Social
Research.


Worked as an Assistant Professor and Graduate
Faculty
Summer of 1970- moved to Manhattan and
started work at New School in fall 1970.
Work Life

1972- Geoff joined the faculty at University of
Washington & Elizabeth joined him

Moved to Seattle

Worked at the University of Washington as
Assistant, Associate, and then Full Professor.

Adjunct Professor of Law

Loftus eventually moved up to Affiliate Professor
for the Psychology department and School of
Law at University of Washington
The Misinformation Effect

Loftus theorized that memory is prone to errors
and can easily be altered and molded.

A person’s memory can be changed by what
they are told or how questions are asked.

Witnesses are also easily influenced by
misinformation that is provided by a credible
source.
Misinformation Effect

“Misinformation effects increase with delays
between the witnessed event and exposure to
misinformation, presumably because memory for
the original event becomes weaker over time.”

Loftus and Palmer suggested that two kinds of
information go into a person's memory. The first
information is the perception of the original event
and the second information is what is learned
after the event has taken place.
Car Accident Study

The U.S. Department of Transportation funded
grants to Loftus and Palmer to research motor
vehicle accidents and study memory distortion.

Showed participants a film of a car crash

Asked “Did you see a broken headlight?” or “Did
you see the broken headlight?”

How can post-event information distort memory?

Changing one word in a question could distort
memory recollections
Car Accident Study cont.

Titled “Reconstruction of Automobile Destruction”

Replaced words in questions

“How fast were the cars going when they
(smashed/hit/bumped/collided) each other?”

Participants with “smash or hit” recalled seeing
broken glass when none was present.

The estimated speed was affected by the verb
used in the question
Car Accident cont.

Formed conclusions that
eyewitness testimony
may be biased by the
way questions are
asked.

Loftus and Palmer
formed 2 conclusions
1.
Response-bias factorsmisleading information
influenced answer
given
2.
The memory
representation is
altered- verb changes
a person’s perception
of the accident
Stop v. Yield

Participants witnessed an accident involved at an
intersection with a stop sign

Half the participants received suggestions that
the traffic sign was a yield sign

When asked later what traffic sign they
remembered, those given the suggestion claimed
they remembered seeing a yield sign.

Those who did not receive the suggestion were
much more accurate in remembering a stop sign.
False Memories

Believes there is a high probability that someone
can implant a false memory into another person’s
memory.

This happened to her- she was told that she had
found her mom in the pool after her mom drowned

Began to recall memories and details from that event

It was actually her aunt that found her mom, not her.

Memories for events that had never even taken
place- also known as repressed memories

Videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB2OegI6wvI

4:21-6:43
Lost in the Mall

Participants given a sheet of paper with 3
memories on it (2 real memories, 1 implanted false
memory of being lost in a mall)

The false memory needed to be something mildly
traumatic, but not enough to cause long-term
damage

On a scale of 1-11 how confident they were in
deciding whether or not that event happened.

If it did happen, asked to write down as many
details they remember
Lost in the Mall

Results showed that 25% of participants could
remember details about being lost in a shopping
mall.

Participants failed to believe that this memory was
actually false when given the debriefing.

Videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQr_IJvYzbA
Bugs Bunny Study

Participants were told they were going to
evaluate advertisements

Divided into 4 groups- asked to read a printed ad
for Disneyland

Group 1- ad with no cartoons

Group 2- same ad but had a cardboard cut out of
Bugs Bunny in the room

Group 3- fake Disneyland ad featuring Bugs Bunny

Group 4- both the fake ad and the cardboard cut
out
Bugs Bunny Study

Participants were then asked if they have ever
met Bugs Bunny at Disneyland before and if they
shook his hand

Participants who read fake ad- 62% said they
shook his hand, 46% remembered hugging him.

However, this isn’t even possible because Bugs
Bunny isn’t a Disney character, he’s a Warner
Bros. character.
Common Cents

http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/common_
cents/
Eyewitness Testimony

Loftus testified in court about her studies and the
nature of eyewitness memory.

It all began in 1974 when she assisted a public
defender in a murder trial explaining how her
studies on memory distortion could be applied to
this case- defendant was acquitted.

She has since testified in over 250 cases and
consulted on many more
Steve Titus

17 year old girl raped after hitch hiking and taking
a ride from a stranger

Described her rapist as 25-30 years old, 6 ft. tall, full
beard, and shoulder-length, light-brown hair.


He wore a 3 piece cream-colored suit and drove a
royal blue compact model car with temporary
plates in rear view mirror
Police spotted a light-blue Chevette with
temporary plates outside a restaurant and waited
to pull him over after he left the restaurant
Steve Titus

Police pulled steve over asking what he did all
day and took a photo of Steve then he was free
to go

Showed victim pictures of men with the
description and Steve’s picture- “This one is the
closest”

Arrested Steve and went ahead with the case
Steve Titus


Facts
Couldn’t have fit into his schedule

Long-distance phone call to prove

Tire marks didn’t match his car

No physical evidence besides eyewitness
identification
Results
Ted Bundy

Young girl kidnapped at Sears by “fake” police
officer

9 months later- Bundy arrested on a traffic charge
for having ski mask, ice pick, handcuffs, and
crowbar in car

Facts
25-30 years old, medium mustache (Bundy didn’t
have a mustache)

Light blue or white Volkswagen

No physical evidence only eyewitness identification
Ted Bundy

Police showed victim a line up of pictures with
Bundy’s picture- “I guess it looks like him”

Then shown an ID picture of Bundy and she has a
stronger identification

Loftus called to testify


Unconscious Transference

Stress on memory
Results
Tyrone Briggs

Multiple cases of robbery of young professional
women.

One case- offender hit victim in head & brought
her to a vacant apartment and attempted to
rape her until a man (Karl Vance) stopped him

Police and victim makes a sketch and lady
identifies as her neighbor, Tyrone.

Tyrone is arrested on outstanding warrant
Tyrone Briggs

Victim’s description

Tyrone Briggs

Afro

Jeri curls

25-30 years old

19 years old

Never said anything
about a mole

Mole

Really bad stutter

White-straight teeth

Large nose

Never said anything
about a stutter

Yellow-crooked teeth

Ski jump nose
Tyrone Briggs

All 5 victims and Karl Vance identify Tyrone as the
offender from pictures

In person line up- process of elimination

Picture line up #2- put mole on all pictures- this
plants a memory into victim’s mind that the
offender really did have a mole.

In person line up #2- positively ID Tryone
Tyrone Briggs

1st trial- 11 to 1 on one point and 10 to 2 for
acquittal = mistrial

2nd trial- guilty

New information of new attacker based on sketch
and bloody shoe print from the vacant apartment

3rd trial- 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal = case
dismissed
Present Life

Loftus currently teaches at the University of
California- Irvine

1991- Elizabeth and Geoff divorce

Never had kids

Facts (innocence project)

329 post-conviction DNA exonerations

Between 2.3% and 5% of all prisoners in the U.S. are
innocent
Discussion

Based on Elizabeth’s expert testimony, what is
your opinion on eyewitness testimony? Do you
think eyewitness testimony is successful in helping
determine innocence or guilt?

Do you think our society is so reliant on the CSI
effect (exaggeration on the need for physical
evidence to charge offenders based on crime TV
shows) as members of the jury?