False memories of political events

False Memories of political events

January 16, 2013

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 49, 2013
UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2013-87

Abstract:     
In the largest false memory study to date, 5,269 participants were asked about their memories for three true and one of five fabricated political events. Each fabricated event was accompanied by a photographic image purportedly depicting that event. Approximately half the participants falsely remembered that the false event happened, with 27% remembering that they saw the events happen on the news. Political orientation appeared to influence the formation of false memories, with conservatives more likely to falsely remember seeing Barack Obama shaking hands with the president of Iran, and liberals more likely to remember George W. Bush vacationing with a baseball celebrity during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. A follow-up study supported the explanation that events are more easily implanted in memory when they are congruent with a person's preexisting attitudes and evaluations, in part because attitude-congruent false events promote feelings of recognition and familiarity, which in turn interfere with source attributions.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm ... id=2201941

Remember it as if it were yesterday? Don't be so sure.

I saw the American Hockey Team beat the Russians in the 1980 Olympics at Lake Placid on live TV.

Only, I didn't see it live on TV, as I thought, since only Canada TV broadcast it and only those Americans close to the Canadian border got the signal. I saw it on a delayed broadcast.

The Soviets practiced photoshopping and altering history a long time ago. Political leaders who became unpopular disappeared from group photos. Incoming US congresswomen a few months ago couldn't all get together for a group shot at the capital so the missing ones were added digitally.

And crowds were created at Romney rallies, that didn't exist .

It can be fun to compare shared memories with family members, so often everyone will remember the event totally differently.

Dumblonde wrote: It can be fun to compare shared memories with family members, so often everyone will remember the event totally differently.

Totally agree :thumbsup: My wife and her sisters have totally different versions of growing up together. And how about implanted memories?

http://factualfacts.com/science-facts/w ... nt-itself/

Here is another interesting article on memory.

Have them relate them to you on a recorded medium SC. I would give nearly anything I own to be able to watch my Pa, who passed in '97, relate a few of the stories he loved to tell instead of relying on my own memory of the events.

My mom (95) has kept a daily "diary" for decades (not every day lately, but several times a week)........she won't let us read them now, but says we can read them after her death. I'm thinking that reading them will refresh many long forgotten memories. I can't think of a greater gift to give to one's children, unfortunately I am not disciplined enough to do that. I tried when my kids were little, but never carried it through for very long.