False Memories and Mandela Effects

When people hear about Mandela Effects, in which groups of individuals report remembering events differently from recorded historical records, some suggest as a possible explanation that Mandela Effect reporters are possibly experiencing false memories. The implication of Mandela Effects being “false” is made based on the assumption that whatever events are recorded are defined automatically as being “true,” so therefore people must be mistaken in thinking that they remember specific things that are different from recorded historical facts. No mention is typically made that a presumption to call Mandela Effects “false” memories assumes a bias in favor of a classical physics view of reality–which is a view of reality that has started to look somewhat shakier recently.

The connection between “false memory” and “Mandela Effect” have become so strong in recent articles and in a large number of mainstream media posts that the current definition for “false memory” on Wikipedia currently includes mention of the “Mandela Effect” on its “False Memory” Wikipedia page, with this excerpted passage provided as an example:

In 2010 this phenomenon of collective false memory was dubbed the “Mandela Effect” by self-described “paranormal consultant” Fiona Broome, in reference to a false memory she reports, of the death of South African leader Nelson Mandela in the 1980s (rather than in 2013 when he actually died), which she claims is shared by “perhaps thousands” of other people.^[1] Broome has speculated about alternate realities as an explanation, but most commentators suggest that these are instead examples of false memories shaped by similar factors affecting multiple people,^{[2][3][26][4][29][5][6]} such as social reinforcement of incorrect memories,^[7][8] or false news reports and misleading photographs influencing the formation of memories based on them.^[9][8]

The association between “false memory” and “Mandela Effect” is thus presented as “false memory” now being expanded beyond original usage to presume the same types of causes for false memories (ie: Construction hypothesis for malleability of memory, or Skeleton theory).

For those of us who have experienced shifts in reality, either with others or alone, and either intended (quantum jumps) or unintended (reality shifts and Mandela Effects), we can gain additional information with regard to better understanding what is going on.

1. “Nelson Mandela Died in Prison? – Mandela Effect”. Mandela Effect. 2010-09-09. .

2.  “Collective False Memories: What’s Behind the ‘Mandela Effect’?”. The Crux. 2017-02-16. .

3.  “21 Mandela Effect Examples List To Get You Thinking”. BuzzFyre. 2017-02-16. .

4. “Does this picture look a bit off to you?”. NewsComAu. .

5.  “NZ and the ‘Mandela Effect’: Meet the folks who remember New Zealand being in a different place”. Stuff. .

6.  “On a Grandma’s House and the Unknowability of the Past”. Pacific Standard. 2017-02-09. .

7.  Brown, Adam D.; Kouri, Nicole; Hirst, William (2012-07-23). “Memory’s Malleability: Its Role in Shaping Collective Memory and Social Identity”. Frontiers in Psychology. 3. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 3402138 . PMID 22837750. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00257.

8. ^ ^a b “Can groups of people “remember” something that didn’t happen?”. Hopes&Fears. .

9.  “CogBlog – A Cognitive Psychology Blog » False Memories in the News: Are Pictures Worth MORE Than 1,000 Words?”. web.colby.edu. .

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