Repressed Memory Syndrome

We watched a TED Talk with Elizabeth Loftus (see below), a psychologist studying false memories. Memory is mostly repressed following a traumatic (extremely negative) event; nowadays it can be seen in victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse, or survivors of WW2. The event is so negative, that in order to subconsciously limit the consequences, the brain chooses to repress it.

On the other hand, false memories can easily be implanted, although it is highly unethical to do so (and in the work of psychotherapists, illegal, no matter if it would benefit the client). Numerous studies have been performed supporting both the negative consequences of implanting a negative memory and the positive consequences of implanting a positive memory. An instance of the latter was a study where a false memory was implanted into the participant involving the eating of asparagus having positive consequences; in a following outdoor picnic, the participant would tend to eat more of the vegetable. Loftus proposed that positive false memory implantation can be used both in pedagogy and therapy, such as the previous example being used on obese (overweight) children, thus making them eat more healthy, thereby reducing their risk of diabetes, heart failure, etc.

However, examples of the negative consequences of false memories by far outweigh the positives. One of them was how Steve Titus, who was falsely accused of rape. The victim said he looked the most like her rapist out of the lineup, the false evidence was accepted by the judge, and the man was thrown in jail. He lost his job and his fiance. When the real rapist was then caught, Titus was released, however he could not get his previous life back, having lost these things. As it turned out, 300 people have been wrongfully imprisoned, two-thirds of which because of false memories by eye-witnesses. The question posed by Loftus was, what was the thought process of the victim going from "he looks the most like the rapist" to "he was the rapist"?