Thursday, July 10, 2025

MANDELA EFFECT


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What is it?

The phenomenon of the Mandela Effect is when specific false memories can sometimes be shared by a large group of people.

The term "Mandela Effect" was first coined in 2009 by Fiona Broome when she created a website to detail her observance of the phenomenon. Broome was at a conference talking with other people about how she remembered the tragedy of former South African president Nelson Mandela's death in a South African prison in the 1980s.

However, Nelson Mandela did not die in the 1980s in a prison—he passed away in 2013. As Broome began to talk to other people about her memories, she learned that she was not alone. Others remembered seeing news coverage of his death as well as a speech by his widow.

However, false memories of Mandela's death could be explained as the subject conflating him with Steve Biko, another prominent South African anti-apartheid activist, who died in prison in 1977.
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What are some examples?

One well-documented example of shared false memories comes from a 2010 study that examined people familiar with the clock at Bologna Centrale railway station, which was damaged in a bombing in August 1980. In the study, 92% of respondents falsely remembered the clock had remained stopped since the bombing, when, in fact, the clock was repaired shortly after the attack. Years later, the clock was again stopped and set to the time of the explosion, in observance and commemoration of the bombing.

The Bologna station clock in Italy, subject of a collective false memory

Other examples include:

Memories of the respective title component of the Berenstain Bears children's books being spelled "Berenstein".



The logo of clothing brand Fruit of the Loom featuring a cornucopia:


Darth Vader telling Luke Skywalker, "Luke, I am your father" in the climax of The Empire Strikes Back (he actually says, "No, I am your father" in response to Skywalker's assertion that Vader killed his father).

Mr. Monopoly wearing a monocle.


When Sally Field won an Oscar in 1985, her acceptance speech included the oft-repeated, oft-parodied line "You like me, you really like me!" Except, what she actually said was "I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me."


Children of the '90s probably owe their false memory to Jim Carrey's parody of the line in his film The Mask, when his character utters the line "You love me, you really love me" in clear homage to Field's speech.
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What is the explanation?

From:

Confabulation

Confabulation involves your brain filling in gaps that are missing in your memories to make more sense of them. This isn't lying, but rather remembering details that never happened. Confabulation tends to increase with age.

Misleading Post-Event Information

Information that you learn after an event can change your memory of an event. This includes event subtle information and helps to explain why eyewitness testimony can be unreliable.

Priming

Priming describes the factors leading up to an event that affects our perception of it. Also called suggestibility and presupposition, priming is the difference between asking how short a person is, versus how tall a person is. Saying, "Did you see the black car?" instead of "...a black car?" makes a subtle suggestion that influences response and memory.

In essence, memories are vulnerable bits of information stored in the brain that can be changed over time. While we assume that our memories are accurate, this is not necessarily the case.
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Has the internet had a role?

From the above site:

The role of the internet in influencing the memories of the masses should not be underestimated. It's probably no coincidence that consideration of the Mandela effect has grown in this digital age.

The internet is a powerful way to spread information, and with this spreading of information comes the potential for misconceptions and falsehoods to gain traction. People then begin to create communities based around these falsehoods and what was once in the imagination starts to seem factual.5

In fact, in a large study of over 100,000 news stories discussed across Twitter, conducted over a period of 10 years, showed that hoaxes and rumors won out over the truth every time by about 70%.

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“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

- Incorrectly attributed to Winston Churchill, numerous similar statements from various authors, beginning with Jonathon Swift

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