Super fact 83 : Everyone experiences false memories. They are a normal part of how human memory works and are very common. There are also false memories that are shared among large groups of people and that are often socially reinforced. This is called the Mandela effect.
As I mentioned, false memories are very common. However, what may come as a surprise is that some false memories are widespread and socially reinforced. It is important to know this, and we know it is true, so it is a super fact. The effect is named after the former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, who died in 2013. However, a lot of people distinctly remember him dying in prison in the 1980s.
It was paranormal researcher Fiona Broome who named the effect after having a personal experience with the phenomenon. She wrongly recalled Nelson Mandela dying in the 1980s and she could even remember the news coverage of his funeral, and yet it never happened. After talking to other people, she realized that she was far from alone with her false memory.
Another example is that a lot of people remember Darth Vader in Star Wars telling Luke “Luke, I am your father”. What Darth Vader said was “No, I am your father”. Yet another movie example is that Forrest Gump did not say “Life is like a Box of Chocolates”. He said, “Life was like a box of chocolates”. Also, the Monopoly man never had a monocle, Curious George doesn’t have a tail, many remember the “Berenstein Bears” but it’s the “Berenstain Bears”. C-3PO is not all gold, he has a silver leg. You can easily find hundreds of examples of the Mandela effect online.
People have asked me, “do you remember in the 1970’s and 1980’s when scientists were convinced that global cooling was happening”, to which I answer, “no I don’t remember that and neither do you”. In the 1970’s much less was known about the climate, but the possibility of anthropogenic warming dominated the peer-reviewed literature even then. There were a few contrarian climate scientists who claimed there was global cooling and there were some articles in popular media about global cooling, but the statement that scientists were convinced there was global cooling is simply false. You can read more about this in this book. Yet some people “remember” this. I believe this is another example of a socially reinforced Mandela Effect.
False Beliefs and False Memories
The existence of false beliefs is another phenomenon that is very common. There are hundreds of common beliefs that we know are false based on carefully vetted data, large amounts of studies, and scientific experiments. I think we all have some false beliefs. We have all been bamboozled at some point. The way to know is to check and compare the evidence and the data and papers from reputable sources. Find out what the experts in the field say. Some examples of false beliefs are:
- Evolution is a hoax – reality: evolution is a fact.
- Earth is less than 10,000 years old – reality: we know that the Earth is billions of years old.
- Crime in the US keeps going up – reality: US violent crime nearly cut in half since 1990.
- Climate change is a hoax – reality: we know global warming is happening and is caused by us.
- The current global warming is natural – reality: we’ve known for decades that the global warming that is happening now is caused by us.
- The Bermuda Triangle is very dangerous to ships and planes – reality: the dangerous Bermuda Triangle is a myth.
- The Second Law of Thermodynamics contradict evolution – reality: this is a silly misunderstanding.
- Vaccines cause autism – reality: Vaccines do not cause autism.
- Vaccines don’t work and are dangerous – reality: vaccines work, save millions of lives, and are in general safe.
- Wind Power is not really clean energy – reality: wind power is much cleaner (by a lot) than the fossil fuels they replace.
- Astrology works – reality: astrology is not science and lack predictive power.
- Homeopathy works – reality: homeopathy has not been shown to work better than placebos.
We adopt false beliefs because of misinformation, propaganda (politics), social reinforcement, a wish to believe certain things, our own lack of critical thinking, etc. False memories, including collective false memories are due to the fact that memories aren’t perfect recordings, memory reconstruction, social reinforcement (also true for false beliefs), and confusion with similar events.
Both false beliefs, false memories and the Mandela effect distort our understanding of the world. That is BTW one important inspiration for this fact finding blog – superfactful. It is difficult to accept that what you believe to be true may simply be false. We want to believe that we know better than others, not that we have been bamboozled or that we misremember things. But we need to be open to look at and compare evidence, be curious and willing to understand how things work, and be willing to change our beliefs and accept that some of our memories may be false. That is one way to grow as a human.
Super Facts 