PSYC2301 Discussion Loftus\'s TED Talk PDF

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Stephen F. Austin State University
General Psychology
Dr. Drury
Fall 2021...

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PSYC2301.014 Discussion Board – Loftus’s TED Talk November 6, 2021 Please watch the 17:00-clip from famed memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus. She shares the disturbing story of Steve Titus, falsely accused of sexual assault, who suffered a premature death. From there she speaks of false memories as incidental as differing speed estimates when given a prompt by police, to falsely remembering glass when given the higher speed estimate. Even the extreme stress of a torturous investigation produces false memories. She wraps with "rich false memories," borne of whole cloth, that can be implanted by power of suggestion, such as the lost-in-the-mall scenario, or in therapy, as a result of imagery, dream therapy, and hypnosis. In 250 words, please reflect on a few things. 1) How should police and other officials ask questions, given what you saw in the speed-estimate portion of the talk involving estimates of 34 mph and 41 mph? 2) If eyewitness testimony is so unreliable, should juries be given warnings of faulty testimony in trials with potentially long sentences? 3) DO you believe that you would “fall for” being told that you were lost in a mall at a young age or nearly attacked by a viscous animal, as described in her research (which actually was approved by ethical review boards)? About 35-50% of participants believe these suggestions. Notes from the video: Because most people are wrongly accused to due to false memory by others and that our memories are constructive and reconstructive. It’s like a Wikipedia page – you can change what you wrote, and other people can change what you wrote. Set up for public study - How fast were they going when the cars hit each other? Some said that they were going faster than they actually were going. Many chose the faster speed based on what the other people said (people tend to follow other people’s opinions for the hope to be correct). Soldiers interrogated in a hostile and abusive fashion. After 30 minutes, they have to identify who was the perpetrator. When you feed people misinformation about some experience they had, you can distort and change their memory. If we see media coverage we might have experience, this may provide contamination of our memory since people tell stories slightly differently or completely differently as it is passed on. Where do these bizarre memories come from? Most of these come from psychotherapy. Imagination, dream interpretation, hypnosis, exposure to false information exercises – may have led patients to come up with these bizarre memories. One of the first studies – suggestion and planted a false memory in about a quarter of the subjects. Not particularly stressful. We as investigators have planted false memories that were traumatizing like drowning as a child, being attacked by an animal when they were young or being exposed to demonic figures. False memories aren’t necessarily bad or unpleasant. You can plant false memories and have repercussions.

When should we use this mind technology, and should we ever ban its use? Which would you rather have? A kid with obesity, shortened life span or a kid with a little bit of false memory like of Santa Clause? Most people cherish their memories because they represent our identities and where we come from. Just because someone tells you something with confidence, detail and emotion, it does not mean it actually happened. We make daily memory mistakes. Memory is like liberty and is a fragile thing....