False Memories of Fabricated Political Events 50% remember and 27% saw it on TV

reply to post by Carreau


Conservatives more likely to distrust another person's intentions. Conservatives less likely to show empathy to someone that looks different or express a different view than theirs.

therefore, I'll go out on a limb and say what you might be thinking:

This is a liberal study and it's skewed because everyone knows liberals are great liars. Conservatives just make an honest mistake. In any case, I don't believe any of it.

Let's face it. This is a propagandist's world. The rest of us just live in it.

reply to post by VitaminQ


Yes, I concurr. There would be too many people who would answer that they remember, even tho they didnt, to save any embarrassment.
We are not told the full story of how the interviews were conducted, how the questions asked.
It someone thrusts a picture of the President shaking someones hand, most people would think, Ok, here is a picture obviously he did......Why would they think the interviewer would be Lying to them??

Super ego driven people would probably say "yes of course I remember" even if they didnt....its their ego.

The list goes on....which means many people would be Lying to save face. But not intentionally to misrepresent.

And what would be classed as a "False Memory" ambiguous answer......"Oh, I think I may remember seeing it, but Im not sure." That is not a false memory, that is undecided, but how did the interviewer record it...as a false memory?...If so that is incorrect (a Lie).

Too many holes in these types of "research"..and not really a useful tool for anything.

In modern society, we are Bombarded with images, information, advice, trivia etc up the ying yang.

It is different to memories/life personally undertaken by someone.
And then there is selective memory, we remember what is important, and dismiss what is not.
Over time, even the important ones are distorted somewhat, I would expect (with age etc).

reply to post by gort51

You sound defensive? Your assumptions as to why the study comes out as it does is not correct. This kind of research has been done a number of times in different countries and always with the same results : our memories are NOT what we think they are.

Basically our memory is not like a video instead it is more like snapshots (and even they can be false!!!) and our brain fills in the gaps. This leads to false memories.

This is why it is ultra important on a site like this to back up any claims with evidence. You may have heard that calling cry many times. But how many times have you seen a response like : You are a shill why don't you believe the evidence (written only!) that many of us are presenting. because false memories and the re-iteration by believers of those false memories is a well known human flaw which physical evidence can either back up or not.

As soon as anybody of any belief on either side does the sloping shoulder routine when asked for evidence its bye bye for me.

reply to post by komp_uk

Human memory and mental makeup is very pliable, you would not believe how many things that people believe actually happened or are true are completely and utterly false. In fact they still regularly argue about them, in fact they still kill each other over them, and it happens all the time. Even the media does it, I mean can anybody remember were all the boogie men went after the show was done and the curtain drooped?

Cognitive dissonance is the rule not the exception in everybody. It has its uses, on mass and as a cohesive whole, you can make great numbers of peoples move to a tune not of there own making, in fact civilizations such as ours run on it. Its not survival of the strongest, because they would be mostly a burden to the heard, its survival of the stupidest, or at least the just smart enough to run the machinery but not smart enough to question anything. Because they are more easily controlled as a whole, and for direct purposes like a great swarm of ants acting in synch in a mindless manner to achieve ends, or a ever growing spreading fungus. However it does have its downfall.

But this to is another case of wizards first rule..."People are stupid"

Joseph Goebbels knew all to well it is too easy to influence people's thoughts and memories. As the nazi Parties "Minister or Propaganda" he knew how to take it to a higher level.

If you repeat a lie enough times as if it were fact, people will begin to accept it.

We are doing the same thing with history right now. There is a constant, yet subtle, push to teach that the Civil War was fought over slavery...it was not. But most people you ask today why we fought the Civil War, they will say it is over slavery. If this is not proof solid that it does work and is being done right here, right now in the Good Ole US of A...I don't know what is.

Some folks will keep listening and drinking the kool-aid and believing whatever they are told...regardless. Change the dialogue slowly over time and eventually change the history books and "voila!"...that "thing" never happened or it happened a completely different way....

SO BASICALY governments have refined social media propaganda to the point that they can pretty much make the majority of the population believe whatever they want.

That is the efficiency of there brainwashing.

Awesome.

Originally posted by Ghost375
I've read quite a bit about the false memory studies, one of my degrees being in psych.
I'm interested in the political part of this particular study. Haven't read anything like that(hehe, guess I'm not susceptible to false memories).
It's an interesting topic. There was one study(it's a little different, but involves wrong memories) that followed people's experiences on 9/11. They asked them the day after it happened, where they were when they heard about it....then a few years later they asked them again. I forget the exact percentage, but many people's recounting of the tales differed significantly.
It's pretty scary when you think about it.

The same is true for people with "photographic" memories. Their accounts are not any more accurate, just more vivid. I too have a degree in psych and researched this. There's some research based on the assassination of JFK. Recalling a memory may alter the memory, and then that alteration becomes "imprinted" on the memory. So for 5 years the coffee cup a person was holding was blue, then all of a sudden it becomes red. The next time the memory is recalled the vivid image contains the red cup thereafter.

At first most would think that this study does not indicate much other than forgetfulness and maybe that someone is a liar, but I think the study is a clear indicator as to why people as a whole have difficulties building and sustaining a civil society. I also believe that severe disconnection with our deep subconscious is to blame for these false realities we live.

All decisions, small or large, stem from either the trust of that deep seeded guide "gut instinct" in all of us or from some unnamed physical world influence. It seems the gut instinct isn't so tough to physical world standards as the subconscious disconnections progress. Suddenly, fitting in, power moves, and holding the histories held near and dear to us all influence more and more decisions in our life. It is why there was and is endless debates over endless amounts of human progression theories... it's what decides our favorite baseball team. The search for answers that are deep within ourselves is sub contracted to false guides: government, religion, or whatever it may be that we strive for in the physical world.

Being how much information humans process, I would add that the brains storage of data capabilities add to the struggles of decision making. And, I would hope that my computers decision making would alter some into the future as the information in the hard drives expand and adapt. I imagine I'd be in a coma if my brain were to start disregarding new data for future enlightenment. All this leads back to the fact that realities change as time changes and that realities are made for those that choose to not create their own realities.

I simply have no care for how I am viewed or integrated into the physical world... it seems to keep me honest you could say. Additionally, I strive to make decisions through the eyes of the struggle itself and who that struggle affects. This process helps learn the true realities that people can't hide. I don't want to say that I am 100% accurate all of the time, but good luck trying to get a lie past me. I simply gave up the childish act of lying once I learned that it is as readable as this post is hard to keep up with.

I never posted to the site before, but look forward to many more as I practice being a philosopher. I'd value input as to writing improvements I can make as well. Please don't flag me for being off topic... thoughts occur much quicker than action it seems! Just being honest!

Originally posted by Ghost375
There was one study(it's a little different, but involves wrong memories) that followed people's experiences on 9/11. They asked them the day after it happened, where they were when they heard about it....then a few years later they asked them again.

I actually took part in a UK study doing exactly this. It was for a friend's girlfriend who was doing a psychology PhD.

And yes, my memories of that day got more twisted as time went on (we were followed up 3 times), though apparently nowhere near as bad as some, who remembered all sorts of impossible stuff.

Which is why I always laugh at those "loose change" type videos which grab witnesses 8 years later (or whatever) and start asking them which direction a plane was flying, or what the pattern was on plane's tail. There isn't a chance of them remembering such details accurately.

Originally posted by FatherLukeDuke

Originally posted by Ghost375
There was one study(it's a little different, but involves wrong memories) that followed people's experiences on 9/11. They asked them the day after it happened, where they were when they heard about it....then a few years later they asked them again.

I actually took part in a UK study doing exactly this. It was for a friend's girlfriend who was doing a psychology PhD.

And yes, my memories of that day got more twisted as time went on (we were followed up 3 times), though apparently nowhere near as bad as some, who remembered all sorts of impossible stuff.

Which is why I always laugh at those "loose change" type videos which grab witnesses 8 years later (or whatever) and start asking them which direction a plane was flying, or what the pattern was on plane's tail. There isn't a chance of them remembering such details accurately.

You should do a thread on it, would love to read it.