Elizabeth Loftus

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Lore & Background

Elizabeth Loftus was born Elizabeth Fishman on October 16, 1944, in Bel Air, California, to a Jewish family. Her father was a doctor and her mother a librarian; her mother drowned when Loftus was 14. She earned a Bachelors in mathematics and psychology from UCLA in 1966 and a PhD in mathematical psychology from Stanford in 1970. After a brief stint at the New School for Social Research, she joined the University of Washington in 1973, where she shifted from laboratory work to real-world criminal court situations. Her early research, funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, showed that phrasing questions about car crashes (e.g., 'smashed' vs. 'hit') altered participants' speed estimates, supporting the idea that post-event questioning can reconstruct memory. In the 1990s, Loftus became involved in high-profile cases involving recovered memories. She testified in the George Franklin trial, arguing that the daughter's recovered memory of witnessing a murder could be false, based on experiments where viewers mixed up video events with incorrect news reports. However, the prosecutor forced her to admit she had not studied memories of accusing one's own father. Around this time, her undergraduate student Jim Coan developed the 'lost in the mall' technique, where a false story was believed by a subject. Loftus's similar experiments found that 25% of subjects accepted a false memory, though critics noted ethical concerns and overgeneralization. In 1997, Loftus and Melvin Guyer investigated the Jane Doe case, revealing issues with the original research, leading to a 21-month university investigation that cleared her. She later moved to the University of California, Irvine, in 2001.

Reader's Guide

Elizabeth Loftus's significance lies in her foundational contributions to understanding memory's malleability, particularly through the misinformation effect and false memory research. Her work challenged the reliability of eyewitness testimony and recovered memory therapies, influencing both psychology and legal practice. By demonstrating that memory can be altered by post-event information, she provided a scientific basis for skepticism toward certain therapeutic techniques and uncorroborated memories. Her expert testimony in over 300 cases, including those of Ted Bundy and O. J. Simpson, underscores her impact on the justice system. However, her research has also faced criticism, such as from Lynn Crook and Martha Dean regarding ethics, and Kenneth Pope's argument that she overgeneralized findings. The controversy surrounding the Jane Doe case and the New Zealand Psychological Society conference highlight the contentious nature of her work. Despite disputes, her legacy endures in the ongoing debate about memory reliability and the limits of recovered memory evidence.

Did You Know?

• Loftus's first experiment on car crashes showed that mean speed estimates were 32 mph when cars 'collided', 34 mph when they 'hit each other', and 41 mph when they 'smashed each other'.
• In the George Franklin trial, the prosecutor forced Loftus to admit she had never studied memories of accusing one's own father.
• Loftus's undergraduate student Jim Coan developed the 'lost in the mall' technique, where a false story about being lost in a mall was believed by his younger brother.
• After the publication of her 1994 book The Myth of Repressed Memory, Loftus received death threats and armed guards accompanied her at lectures.
• The University of Washington investigated Loftus for 21 months over the Jane Doe case, confiscating her files, before clearing her of breaking research protocols.