Most of the participants in the Loftus experiment did not accept the false memory of having been lost in the shopping mall. This is held as support that even under extreme pressure most people do not accept false information. At this point in the chapter Kluft starts to really thrash experimental psychology claiming that much like a tragic Greek character such as Odysseus or Oedipus experimental theorist suffer the tragic flaw of hubris. The hubris of experimentation is manifested through the disregard of information that does not support ones own paradigm and the overstatement of a theorist s own theory. Conclusion Instances of accurately recovered memories have been illustrated in this chapter and that is enough to discredit the polarized view that repressed memories do not exist.
Forgotten memories tend to exert themselves from an unconscious location causing physical symptoms.
Also the illustration that false memories can be reported in therapy discredits the opposite view that all recovered memories are credible. Kluft repeatedly mentions that he feels this line of thinking suggests that at least two memory systems exist, declarative and implicit. In the end, Kluft thrashes theorists for the lack of ecological validity in their research, knowledge of trauma victims and credit they give to specialists who work with this population.