Rory McCann PS 101 False Memories Elizabeth F. Loftus is a professor at the University at California, Irvine.

Her fields of study include psychology, social behavior, criminology, and law- enabling her to be well versed on the subject of false memories in the realms of both psychiatry and criminal behavior. She begins her chapter, Crimes of Memory: False Memory and Social Justice, by dispelling a common conception of memories. We often think of memories as concrete facts, lodged in our minds because of their significance, or by seemingly random selection. We view our memories like we would a movie. The movie plays the same way with each viewing; yet, we sometimes pick up on special details or connotations that had previously gone undetected. We do not consider the reality of watching a movie, just as most individuals take their memories at face value and accept them as truth. Loftus challenges that way of thinking by proposing that memories can often be false, and even the very essence of what we believe about the concrete nature of memories is false. She states that memories are malleable, selective, and changing. Later in the chapter, she goes on to explain how memories can be shaped by certain methods utilized by psychiatrists and even interrogators. Our memories can also be selective in the details they choose (or choose not to) reveal. Lastly, our memories can change over time. Certain details can be forgotten, and even be replaced with new ones, either factual or false. For instance, there are numerous accounts of prisoners being wrongfully accused of a crime they were innocent of because an eye-witness remembered them, only to be freed after their innocence being proved and the witness rescinding their memory. Two specific ways a memory is changed is in a changed circumstance or a changed person (in some cases both). The aforementioned example is a case of a changed person. A changed circumstance can be setting details that do not correspond with reality. Certain questions can even cause a changed circumstance. A lead question often has a detail (color, number, size) that may not be necessarily true, but is an optional answer. An augmented question leans in the direction of a certain answer without necessarily mentioning the specific word. Lastly, and usually more reliable, is an open-ended question that allows the individual answering to pull an answer from authentic memories that have not been altered or manipulated by providing only neutral wording. In addition to criminal investigations, psychiatry often is charged with planting false memories. Some ways that therapists have been known to plant false memories are through dream interpretation, guided imagination, hypnosis, and feeding false information. These methods have been known to cause serious and often long-term consequences. People have been known to sever once-strong family ties because they believe they remember abuse or neglect. In some cases, charges have been pressed, and the victims of false memories make victims of loved ones. In less serious cases, people have also been convinced of memories that include them made ill by a certain food. These people often show a lack of interest, or even a negative response, to this food in the future, despite the false nature of their memory. In conclusion, Loftus reiterates that memories are fragile and easy to compromise. Therefore, those with the knowledge of planting or instigating false memories are charged with the responsibility to honor the truth of natural memories.