Groundbreaking research was met with hostility
OPINION conflicting evidence of eyewitnesses.
Her performance so impressed other lawyers that they sought her expertise in similar trials. Subsequently, Loftus has been an expert witness in more than 200 trials, including those of O J Simpson, Michael Jackson, Oliver North, Martha Stewart, the Bosnian War Trials and the Oklahoma City bombing,
In the 1980s, Loftus researched the accuracy of so-called ‘‘recovered memories’’ and found that 25 per cent of subjects could recall entire events that had never happened.
She found that false memories could be implanted in people’s heads by asking them slanted questions.
In the same decade, child sexabuse hysteria swept the United States.
Many men were imprisoned on the basis of children’s recovered memories.
In several cases Loftus challenged the evidence of fellow psychologists, councillors and therapists and showed how they coached children to fabricate incriminating stories. Many of Loftus’ fellow psychologists badmouthed her, a prosecutor insulted her, she was attacked by an airline passenger who recognised her and received hate mail and death threats for challenging the accepted wisdom of the day.
Child sex-abuse hysteria reached New Zealand in the 1990s when Peter Ellis was charged with bizarre offences at a Christchurch daycare centre. Although he claimed to be innocent, he was jailed for 10 years.
In 2000, the New Zealand Psychological Society invited Loftus to its annual conference in Hamilton. She walked into a maelstrom. Ellis’ case was in all the headlines that year as the Governor-general had just dismissed Ellis’ third bid for a pardon. The public was evenly divided on the issue.
So too were the psychologists at the conference. Some thought Loftus had done a great job in blowing the whistle on questionable psychological practices, others that her experiments were ill-founded and implausible.
Before the Hamilton conference, one of its directors distributed criticism of Loftus’ work and then resigned in protest against her attendance. Knowing that she had to face a potentially hostile audience, Loftus thought to wear a flak jacket in case tomatoes were thrown at her.
Wherever Loftus went in New Zealand she was harassed by childtherapist fanatics, one of them accusing her of satanic ritual abuse.
Loftus’ views have prevailed in the psychological world. A few allegations of ritual child abuse have surfaced in New Zealand since her visit but none corroborated.
Loftus now teaches social ecology and the law at the University of California in Irvine. She has been awarded honorary doctorates from universities in Israel, Norway, Holland, Britain and the US, and this month won the prestigious Maddox Prize and £2000 ‘‘for individuals who promote sound science but face difficulties or hostilities for doing so’’.