Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon

[Joel S. Berson]

At 6/2/2011 05:09 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>A former prosecutor on Tru TV describes tot-mom Casey Anthony as exhibiting
>"what I call the Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon."
>
>KS is a central but off-screen character in _The Usual Suspects_ (1995).
>IIRC, everybody describes him inconsistently.
>What's Keyser really like? Who knows! All we know is that it's vitally
>important.
>
>The allusion is to CA's seemingly preternatural ability to change her story
>about what happened to her daughter at the drop of a hat and without a
>blink, while incorporating any details that the detectives happened to
>present her with.

Isn't there a standard term from the psychologists' and/or
criminologists' collection for the latter part of the above -- taking
what's told to you and re-presenting it as your own?  E.g. with CA,
making your confession fit what you've learned. (And I don't mean
"plagiarism".)

Joel

>The impression is that almost everything she says is a
>lie, but she really really expects you to believe it.
>
>JL
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org