R. V. Montana Case Summary

Part One is very informational and contains the bulk of the book’s research. The information was presented in a thesis format; Loftus stated a claim and then supported her ideas with research and quotations from experts in the field of law and memory. Part One is helpful for psychologists, attorneys, and interested law people. The major principles concerning the errors in eyewitness testimony are supported by research and are accepted by psychologists (Kassin, Ellsworth, & Smith, 1989). Part One will contribute to the future of psychology by showcasing how the memory works and the different ways it is manipulated and changed: this will allow jurors and lawyers to become more wary when dealing with a traumatized

Ethics are moral priciples that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting of an activity.

(Psychology, n.d., pg.274 para.1) When repressed memories surfaces, I think that a surge of emotion from the memories that suddenly remembered may over power the person. These repressed memories must be so terrifying those people that have them must have an emotional breakdown. I can only imagine how it would affect them. However, I’m still a bit skeptical about any truth to it. With the story of the case of Mr. Paul Shanley, the accuser did not receive any hypnosis therapy or did he get any guided imagery techniques. He merely got a phone call and heard about the sexual abuse case against the priest. The money that could be won from the high-profile lawsuit such as Mr Shanley’s could be a major motivation to confessing false memories. According to Curtin, E, 30% of research psychologists believe in the validity of repressed memories, however, in court, most of repressed memory cases almost always win. Personally, I had any memories that may be too painful, I would most likely cope with it by making a lot of good memories so that I don’t think about those painful times of my life or I may just have to deal with it by coming into peace with it and realize that I am in a better place now compared to those painful memories. Though if it were true that repressed memories occur, it must be very difficult for the victims that have repressed memories to cope with sudden

“Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn,” ( Gandhi).

Her earliest studies of eyewitness testimony addressed several issues: when someone sees a crime or accident, how accurate is his or her memory? These studies led Loftus to ask what happens when witness are questioned by police officers, and what if those questions are suggestive (Loftus, 2003). For instance, when Loftus began showing people films of traffic accidents, she found that a question such as “How fast were the cars going when the smashed into each other?” led to higher estimates of speed than a more neutral question that used the verb “hit”. Moreover, the “smashed” question led more people to falsely remember seeing broken glass when there was none. Her early papers concluded that leading questions could contaminate or distort a witness’s memory (Loftus,

On October 14, 2015, I went to the Arizona Superior Court at Downtown Phoenix. I went to the room 503 in the Central Court Building, which is a family court. The judge that was in the room is Paul J McMurdie. He begin hearing at 1:30 P.M. and there are a 5 hearing during the day that I visited. One of the case that he hearing is FC2010-006759, Hall vs. Gollins. It is a case about child support, which one side of the parent owe the money and did not pay for the child support. But, by the time that he call out for hearing, Sandra Alicia Michelle Gollins did not present. So the judge issue an child support arrest warrant to her. The hearing end around 2:17 P.M. and me and my friend have a chance to talk with judge McMurdie. We ask him to explain about the case and the process

Hypnosis is a topic widely discussed throughout society. There are many different points of view on it, whether it’s a battle between its existence, or a debate on the pros and cons associated with it. One can say it’s amazing; the fact that one can potentially read the lives of others. One may differ and find the idea disgusting, taking into consideration the privacy invasion. There is an interesting book written exactly on the consequences of hypnosis, called “A Stir of Echoes,” by Richard Matheson. A young man named Tom suffers an act of hypnosis which leads him onto hallucinating a young woman and feeling excruciating pain. A movie is also based off of it, but it drastically differs from the original book. The plot holds a large difference,

In addition to educating jurors about the uncertainties surrounding eyewitness testimony, adhering to specific rules for the process of identifying suspects can make that testimony more accurate. The uncritical acceptance of eyewitness accounts may stem from a popular misconception of how memory works. Many people believe that human memory works like a video recorder: the mind records events and then, on cue, plays back an exact replica of them. On the contrary, psychologists have found that memories are reconstructed rather than played back each time we recall them. The act of remembering, says eminent memory researcher and psychologist Elizabeth F. Loftus of the University of California, Irvine, is “more akin to putting puzzle pieces together than retrieving a video recording.” Even questioning by a lawyer can alter the witness’s testimony because fragments of the memory may unknowingly be combined with information provided by the questioner, leading to inaccurate

Can false memory lead people to false confessions? In the current criminal justice system, if suspects admit to committing the crime, it is often used as evidence against them. However, during the interrogation process, the police may present false evidence and use suggestive questions to make the suspect willing to confess. There are three types of false confession: voluntary, coerced-compliant, and coerced internalized. Voluntary is when the suspect confesses based on his or her own decisions without outside pressure. Coerced-compliant is when the suspect confesses for his or her own benefit. Coerced internalized is when the suspect believes they actually committed the crime. A number of cases have shown that suspects believed they have committed crimes because of suggestions made to them through the interrogation process. Whether

The question of free will and external causes comes to our point of view of human nature and the way we deal with universal laws of nature on the one hand, while the other side involves a transcendental component such as a deity. In this case, we must distinguish the external and internal causes of the action. Probable internal causes can involve one's emotions, habits, traits and other unconscious tendencies of action. Wegner states that whenever we become aware of one of these unconscious tendencies, we may lose some of the feelings of will, despite having timely thoughts before action. On the other hand, there are probable external causes for action involving other people or external forces that strike us even when we carefully contemplate

There are a significant number of people tried for crimes that they did not commit based off of another’s repressed memory. Elizabeth Loftus made it her goal to find justice for those wrongfully accused. It is hard to say whether or not those accused are truly innocent or not, but what we can say is that too many people are being locked away without all the right evidence; just another’s memory of what might have happened. Loftus found it unlikely that any one person could forget such a traumatic experience, than remember is years later. Plenty of cases have these memory based convictions has their primary source of evidence, however, a repressed memory should not be a legit piece of evidence when attempting to convict another.

Several individuals have been wrongly prosecuted due to false eyewitness memories due to factors such as the how the human brain remembers things, emotions and the new scientific evidence on eyewitness memory.

A hypnotic interview is conducted by a trained clinical specialist and places the subject into a relaxed, almost sedative state which theory says allows the subject to access more of a subconscious level of memory not normally recalled while completely alert or awake. A cognitive interview is similar to hypnosis as neither one is recommended over the standard police interview; but hypnotic interviews face strict guidelines in order to be conducted and admissible in

For example, a child can develop a false memory of being abused by their father when told about situations which their father abused him or her by their mother, siblings, other trusted family member, or even their therapist. Another example used in this article is how through hypnosis, a patient is more susceptible to creating a false memory such as being abducted by an UFO. This is because under hypnosis the patient is more motivated to reconstruct a memory at the request of the therapist, regardless of lacking sufficient information to recall the events accurately. As Todd Stark explains in his article, “Vividly imagined images under hypnosis can be difficult or impossible to distinguish from real life.” With the line between imagination and reality blurred, it is easier for a person to whole-heartedly believe in their false

In order to more fully understand this myth, it is important to consider which demographics believe in it and what exactly they believe. 70% of introductory psychology students (92 surveyed) believed that hypnosis would be useful in helping witnesses to recall details of crimes (Lilienfeld et al. 70). Approximately 90% of college students say that hypnosis helps with memory retrieval (Lilienfeld et al. 70). 84% of psychologists believe that memories are stored in the mind