Elizabeth Loftus
Elizabeth Loftus is an American cognitive psychologist whose work on the misinformation effect showed memory is reconstructive, not a recording.
Why?
In her classic study, asking how fast cars were going when they “smashed” vs “hit” each other changed later estimates and even whether subjects “remembered” broken glass.
- “Lost in the mall” study: entire false childhood memories can be planted through suggestion
- Reshaped how courts treat eyewitness testimony