--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Two other highly vocal FMSF Advisory…" description: "\"“Two other highly vocal FMSF Advisory Board members are Dr Elizabeth Loftus and Professor Richard Ofshe. Loftus is a respected academic psychologist wh..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8a/valerie-sinason-38025_abuse-deniers_two-other-highly-vocal-fmsf-advisory-boa_384581.jpg" --- # Two other highly vocal FMSF Advisory Board members are Dr… ![“Two other highly vocal FMSF Advisory Board members are Dr Elizabeth Loftus and Professor Richard Ofshe. Loftus is a respected academic psychologist whose much quoted laboratory experiment of successfully implanting a fictitious childhood memory of being lost in a shopping mall is frequently used…” quote by Valerie Sinason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8a/valerie-sinason-38025_abuse-deniers_two-other-highly-vocal-fmsf-advisory-boa_384581.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8a/valerie-sinason-38025_abuse-deniers_two-other-highly-vocal-fmsf-advisory-boa_384581.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8a/valerie-sinason-38025_abuse-deniers_two-other-highly-vocal-fmsf-advisory-boa_384581.jpg) > ““Two other highly vocal FMSF Advisory Board members are Dr Elizabeth Loftus and Professor Richard Ofshe. Loftus is a respected academic psychologist whose much quoted laboratory experiment of successfully implanting a fictitious childhood memory of being lost in a shopping mall is frequently used to defend the false memory syndrome argument. In the experiment, older family members persuaded younger ones of the (supposedly) never real event. However, Loftus herself says that being lost, which almost everyone has experienced, is in no way similar to being abused. Jennifer Freyd comments on the shopping mall experiment in Betrayal Trauma (1996): “If this demonstration proves to hold up under replication it suggests both that therapists can induce false memories and, even more directly, that older family members play a powerful role in defining reality for dependent younger family members." (p. 104). Elizabeth Loftus herself was sexually abused as a child by a male babysitter and admits to blacking the perpetrator out of her memory, although she never forgot the incident. In her autobiography, Witness for the Defence, she talks of experiencing flashbacks of this abusive incident on occasion in court in 1985 (Loftus &Ketcham, 1991, p.149) In her teens, having been told by an uncle that she had found her mother's drowned body, she then started to visualize the scene. Her brother later told her that she had not found the body. Dr Loftus's successful academic career has run parallel to her even more high profile career as an expert witness in court, for the defence of those accused of rape, murder, and child abuse. She is described in her own book as the expert who puts memory on trial, sometimes with frightening implications. She used her theories on the unreliability of memory to cast doubt, in 1975, on the testimony of the only eyewitness left alive who could identify Ted Bundy, the all American boy who was one of America's worst serial rapists and killers (Loftus & Ketcham, 1991, pp. 61-91). Not withstanding Dr Loftus's arguments, the judge kept Bundy in prison. Bundy was eventually tried, convicted and executed.”” [Valerie Sinason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valerie-sinason/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Memory can be shaped by suggestion, especially by trusted authority figures, leading to false recollections that may affect legal outcomes. **In simple terms:** Authority can implant false memories, impacting truth in courts. Key Takeaway Question sources of remembered events. Themes memory suggestion authority legal testimony Mood critical analytical Type academic informative When to use this quote - courtroom testimony - family storytelling - therapy sessions Key Concepts psychology false memory syndrome family dynamics Questions to Reflect On - How do you verify the accuracy of a memory? - What safeguards protect against implanted memories? A Different Perspective False memories can be hard to distinguish from genuine ones. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abuse/) [Abuse-deniers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abuse-deniers/) [Child abuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/child-abuse/) [Childhood Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childhood-memory/) [False-accusations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/false-accusations-2/) [False-memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/false-memory/) [False-memory-syndrome-foundation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/false-memory-syndrome-foundation/) [Falsely accused](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/falsely-accused/) [Family members](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/family-members/) [Fmsf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fmsf/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Murder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/murder/) [Rape](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rape/) [Serial killers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/serial-killers/) [Sexual abuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sexual-abuse/) [Sexual assault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sexual-assault/) ## Related quotes > [“Well before she became famous — or infamous, depending on where you cast your vote — Loftus's findings on memory distortion were clearly commodifiable.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/well-before-she-became-famous-or-infamous-depending-on-where-you-cast/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [The psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has shown great courage, in the face of spiteful vested interests, in demonstrating how easy it is for people to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-psychologist-elizabeth-loftus-has-shown-great-courage-in-the-face/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“Blame is a Defense Against Powerlessness Betrayal trauma changes you. You have endured a life-altering shock, and are likely living with PTSD symptoms— hypervigilance,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-lee-dennis/blame-is-a-defense-against-powerlessness-betrayal-trauma-changes-you/) [Sandra Lee Dennis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-lee-dennis/) > [“The development of a working alliance is crucial because it addresses a psychic phobia associated with relationships that is common in complex trauma clients.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-a-courtois/the-development-of-a-working-alliance-is-crucial-because-it-addresses/) [Christine A. Courtois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-a-courtois/) ## More by Valerie Sinason > [“Those of us who work in the field of trauma and abuse, whether psychologists, psychoanalysts, social workers, doctors, counselors, or psychotherapists, have been provided…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valerie-sinason/those-of-us-who-work-in-the-field-of-trauma-and-abuse-whether/) [Valerie Sinason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valerie-sinason/) > [“Mind control is built on lies and manipulation of attachment needs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valerie-sinason/mind-control-is-built-on-lies-and-manipulation-of-attachment-needs/) [Valerie Sinason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valerie-sinason/) > [“When there is abuse by itself it's scary enough. When there is abuse within a religious setting it is so terrifying to people. Look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valerie-sinason/when-there-is-abuse-by-itself-it-s-scary-enough-when-there-is-abuse/) [Valerie Sinason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valerie-sinason/) > [“When there is abuse by itself it's scary enough. When there is abuse within a religious setting it is so terrifying to people... nobody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valerie-sinason/when-there-is-abuse-by-itself-it-s-scary-enough-when-there-is-abuse-2/) [Valerie Sinason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valerie-sinason/) > [“I find it disturbing that one anthropologist's readings of transcripts are being listened to more seriously than 40 senior health service clinicians. \[Referring to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valerie-sinason/i-find-it-disturbing-that-one-anthropologist-s-readings-of/) [Valerie Sinason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valerie-sinason/) > [“How do we find words for describing levels of betrayal and emotional, physical, sexual and spiritual torture that fragment and destroy a child or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valerie-sinason/how-do-we-find-words-for-describing-levels-of-betrayal-and-emotional/) [Valerie Sinason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valerie-sinason/) > [“I have stated elsewhere (Sinason 1994) that the number of children and adults tortured in the name of mainstream religious and racial orthodoxy outweighs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valerie-sinason/i-have-stated-elsewhere-sinason-1994-that-the-number-of-children-and/) [Valerie sinason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valerie-sinason/) > [“the number of children and adults tortured in the name of mainstream religious orthodoxy historically outweighs onslaught by Satanists”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valerie-sinason/the-number-of-children-and-adults-tortured-in-the-name-of-mainstream/) [Valerie sinason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valerie-sinason/) [Explore all 9 Valerie Sinason quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valerie-sinason/) ## More Abuse quotes > [I wrote when I was a young teen, but I didn't put an eye on the available markets until I was seventeen. 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Be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-byers-ruch/build-a-bridge-over-shame-by-teaching-kids-about-sexual-abuse-give/) [Carolyn Byers Ruch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-byers-ruch/) > [It is sure that those are most desirous of honour or glory who cry out loudest of its abuse and the vanity of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baruch-spinoza/it-is-sure-that-those-are-most-desirous-of-honour-or-glory-who-cry/) [Baruch Spinoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baruch-spinoza/) > [“The sole reason I stand to open it up now is that lots of people who are in pain just like I was, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-dsouza/the-sole-reason-i-stand-to-open-it-up-now-is-that-lots-of-people-who/) [Patricia Dsouza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-dsouza/) > [Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. 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They will mirror your actions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hadinet-tekie/words-are-free-it-does-not-mean-you-should-abuse-them-be-kind-with/) [Hadinet Tekie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hadinet-tekie/) > [My illness is one often characterized by dramatic overspending - in my case through frenzied shopping sprees, credit card abuse, excessive hoarding of unnecessary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-behrman/my-illness-is-one-often-characterized-by-dramatic-overspending-in-my/) [Andy Behrman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-behrman/) [Browse all 3,113 Abuse quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abuse/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Two other highly vocal FMSF Advisory Board members are Dr Elizabeth Loftus and Professor Richard Ofshe. Loftus is a respected academic psychologist whose much quoted laboratory experiment of successfully implanting a fictitious childhood memory of being lost in a shopping mall is frequently used to defend the false memory syndrome argument. In the experiment, older family members persuaded younger ones of the (supposedly) never real event. However, Loftus herself says that being lost, which almost everyone has experienced, is in no way similar to being abused. Jennifer Freyd comments on the shopping mall experiment in Betrayal Trauma (1996): “If this demonstration proves to hold up under replication it suggests both that therapists can induce false memories and, even more directly, that older family members play a powerful role in defining reality for dependent younger family members.\" (p. 104). Elizabeth Loftus herself was sexually abused as a child by a male babysitter and admits to blacking the perpetrator out of her memory, although she never forgot the incident. In her autobiography, Witness for the Defence, she talks of experiencing flashbacks of this abusive incident on occasion in court in 1985 (Loftus &Ketcham, 1991, p.149) In her teens, having been told by an uncle that she had found her mother's drowned body, she then started to visualize the scene. Her brother later told her that she had not found the body. Dr Loftus's successful academic career has run parallel to her even more high profile career as an expert witness in court, for the defence of those accused of rape, murder, and child abuse. She is described in her own book as the expert who puts memory on trial, sometimes with frightening implications. She used her theories on the unreliability of memory to cast doubt, in 1975, on the testimony of the only eyewitness left alive who could identify Ted Bundy, the all American boy who was one of America's worst serial rapists and killers (Loftus & Ketcham, 1991, pp. 61-91). 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