Elizabeth Loftus Quotes

• Memory, like liberty, is a fragile thing.

  Elizabeth Loftus

  Memories, Liberty, Fragile Things

  "Memory's Future". Interview with William Calvin, www.psychologytoday.com. March 1, 2001.

  64 Copy quote

• Just because someone thinks they remember something in detail, with confidence and with emotion, does not mean that it actually happened, .. False memories have these characteristics too.

  Elizabeth Loftus

  Memories, Mean, Thinking

  83 Copy quote

• In real life, as well as in experiments, people can come to believe things that never really happened.

  Elizabeth Loftus

  Real, Believe, People

  "Eyewitness Testimony". Book by Elizabeth Loftus, 1979.

  57 Copy quote

• When we remember something, we're taking bits and pieces of experience - sometimes from different times and places - and bringing it all together to construct what might feel like a recollection but is actually a construction.

  Elizabeth Loftus

  Together, Remember Something, Different

  "I Could Have Sworn". Interview with Alison George, www.slate.com. September 8, 2013.

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• We all have memories that are malleable and susceptible to being contaminated or supplemented in some way.

  Elizabeth Loftus

  Memories, Way, Susceptible

  "I Could Have Sworn …". Interview with Alison George, www.slate.com. September 8, 2013.

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• You can go in there and change it, but so can other people.

  Elizabeth Loftus

  People

  "To Enhance Justice: The Risk and Reward of Studying Memory". thehumanist.com. October 25, 2016.

  31 Copy quote

• To be cautious, one should not take high confidence as any absolute guarantee of anything.

  Elizabeth Loftus

  Guarantees, Should, Cautious

  "Eyewitness Testimony". Book by Elizabeth Loftus, 1979.

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• We can't reliably distinguish true memories from false memories.

  Elizabeth Loftus

  Memories

  "How reliable is your memory?". TED Talk, www.ted.com. June 2013.

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• My work has made me tolerant of memory mistakes by family and friends. You don't have to call them lies. I think we could be generous and say maybe this is a false memory.

  Elizabeth Loftus

  Memories, Mistake, Lying

  "I Could Have Sworn". Interview with Alison George, www.slate.com. September 8, 2013.

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• Without independent corroboration, little can be done to tell a false memory from a true one.

  Elizabeth Loftus

  Memories, Independent, Done

  "I Could Have Sworn". Interview with Alison George, www.slate.com. September 8, 2013.

  32 Copy quote

• When we remember something, we're taking bits and pieces of experience - sometimes from different times and places - and bringing it all together to construct what might feel like a recollection but is actually a construction. The process of calling it into conscious awareness can change it, and now you're storing something that's different. We all do this, for example, by inadvertently adopting a story we've heard.

  Elizabeth Loftus

  Together, Pieces, Might

  "Loftus on False and Implanted Memories". Interview with Alison George, www.patheos.com. September 13, 2013.

  30 Copy quote

• If we make people believe that before the age of 16 they got sick drinking vodka, they don't want to drink as much vodka.

  Elizabeth Loftus

  Drinking, Believe, People

  "Loftus on False and Implanted Memories". Interview with Alison George, www.patheos.com. September 13, 2013.

  12 Copy quote

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