Full Answer Section

People code-switch for a variety of reasons, including:

• To fit in with their surroundings. For example, a person who speaks English as their first language may start speaking Spanish when they are around a group of Spanish speakers. This is because they want to show respect for the other people’s culture and language, and they also want to be able to communicate effectively with them.
• To express themselves more effectively. Sometimes, people code-switch because they can express themselves more easily in one language than another. For example, a person who is bilingual in English and Spanish may choose to speak Spanish when they are talking about a topic that they are passionate about, because they feel like they can express themselves more eloquently in that language.
• To emphasize a point. People may also code-switch to emphasize a point or to make their message more clear. For example, a parent may switch to speaking their child’s native language when they are disciplining them, because they know that their child will understand them better in that language.
• Loftus then presents some of her famous experiments on eyewitness testimony. In one experiment, she showed participants a video of a car accident and then asked them leading questions about the video. For example, some participants were asked how fast the cars were going when they “smashed” into each other, while others were asked how fast the cars were going when they “collided” with each other. Loftus found that participants who were asked the leading questions were more likely to give inaccurate estimates of the speed of the cars.
• In another experiment, Loftus implanted false memories in participants. She showed participants a slideshow of images, including a few images of themselves as children. After the slideshow, Loftus asked participants to write down any memories they had of the images. Some participants were then told that one of the images was actually a photo of them being lost in a shopping mall as a child, even though there was no such photo in the slideshow. Loftus found that many of these participants developed false memories of being lost in the shopping mall.
• Loftus’s research has had a significant impact on our understanding of memory and eyewitness testimony. Her work has shown that our memories are not as reliable as we might think, and that they can be easily distorted by suggestion. This has important implications for the criminal justice system, as eyewitness testimony is often used to convict people of crimes.
• Most Meaningful Concepts Learned:
• The most meaningful concept that I learned from Elizabeth Loftus’s video is that memory is a reconstructive process. This means that our memories are not like video recordings that accurately record everything that happens to us. Instead, we reconstruct our memories each time we recall them. This makes our memories vulnerable to suggestion and distortion.
• This concept is important to understand because it can help us to be more critical of our own memories. When we recall an event, we should be aware that our memory may not be accurate. We should also be aware that other people may try to influence our memories through suggestion.
• Another important concept that I learned from Loftus’s video is that eyewitness testimony can be unreliable. This is because our memories are vulnerable to suggestion and distortion. Eyewitnesses may also be influenced by their own biases and expectations.
• This concept is important to understand because eyewitness testimony is often used in the criminal justice system. It is important to be aware that eyewitness testimony may not be reliable, and that it should not be the only factor used to convict someone of a crime.
• Conclusion:
• Elizabeth Loftus’s research on eyewitness testimony and memory has had a significant impact on our understanding of how memory works. Her work has shown that our memories are not as reliable as we might think, and that they can be easily distorted by suggestion. This has important implications for the criminal justice system, as eyewitness testimony is often used to convict people of crimes.

I am grateful for Loftus’s research, as it has helped me to better understand my own memory and the potential for eyewitness testimony to be unreliable. I believe that everyone should be aware of Loftus’s work, so that we can all be more critical of our own memories and the memories of others.