Research Catalog

Title

Eyewitness testimony / Elizabeth F. Loftus ; with a new preface by the author.

Author

Loftus, Elizabeth F., 1944-

Publication

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1996.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xv, 253 p. : ill.; 24 cm.

Summary

"As pertinent today as when it was first published more than a decade ago, this engaging and highly praised study makes the psychological case against the reliability of the eyewitness." "By shedding light on the many factors that can intervene and create inaccurate testimony, Elizabeth Loftus illustrates how memory can be radically altered by the way an eyewitness is questioned, and how new memories can be implanted and old ones altered in subtle ways. She thus calls into question today's widely held assumption of eyewitness authority over the details of a crime or other events." "Eyewitness Testimony provides a sobering counterpoint to today's theatrical reliance on eyewitness accounts in the media, and should be required reading for trial lawyers, psychologists, jurors, and anyone who considers the chilling prospect of confronting an eyewitness accusation in a court of law."--Jacket.

Subject

• Eyewitness identification > United States
• Eyewitness identification > Psychological aspects
• Forensic psychology
• Forensic Psychology [MESH]
• Visual Perception [MESH]

Note

• Originally published: Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1979.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-247) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Mistaken identity -- Impact of eyewitness testimony -- Perceiving events -- Retaining information in memory -- Retrieving information from memory -- Theoretical issues in the study of memory -- Recognizing people -- Individual differences in eyewitness ability -- Common beliefs about eyewitness accounts -- The Eyewitness and the legal system -- An Actual case of murder: people v. Garcia.

ISBN

0674287770

LCCN

^^^95051176^

OCLC

• 33898646
• SCSB-10436904

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library