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- Newsgroups: sci.skeptic
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!darwin.sura.net!jvnc.net!princeton!phoenix.Princeton.EDU!rdnelson
- From: rdnelson@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Roger D. Nelson)
- Subject: Re: Hypnosis and Repression (was Ritual Abuse Taskforce....)
- Message-ID: <1992Dec22.041726.28019@Princeton.EDU>
- Originator: news@nimaster
- Sender: news@Princeton.EDU (USENET News System)
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- Organization: Princeton University
- References: <DLB.92Dec18143616@fanny.wash.inmet.com> <BzH5Gv.Jqv@cs.uiuc.edu> <DLB.92Dec18172154@fanny.wash.inmet.com>
- Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 04:17:26 GMT
- Lines: 21
-
- In article <DLB.92Dec18172154@fanny.wash.inmet.com> dlb@fanny.wash.inmet.com (David Barton) writes:
- >In article <BzH5Gv.Jqv@cs.uiuc.edu> mcgrath@cs.uiuc.edu (Robert
- >McGrath) writes:
- >
- > What is the basis for this last claim?
- >
- [That memories are fallible in "normal" states; hypnotic regression is
- only a special case]
- >
- >I actually don't think there has been a comparative study. Enhanced
- >suggestibility is certainly a characteristic of hypnosis; however, it
- >is certainly NOT unique to hypnosis.
- >
- Elisabeth Loftus has done the best known work on memory lability. I
- don't have references to hand, but it is largely her work that has made
- waves in the legal testimony domain. I think she published a book on
- the topic a few years ago. But she hasn't done comparative studies of
- hypnosis versus situational influences as far as I know. Nevertheless,
- her studies are persuasive on the general issue: our memories are not
- only fragile, but we do not have much in the way of monitoring ability
- to distinguish veridical from constructed memories.
-