Stopping False Beliefs

[EddieC]

The people from Princeton Election Consortium wrote an interesting article about false beliefs and how to stop them.

The human brain…does not save information permanently, as do computer drives and printed pages. Recent research suggests that every time the brain recalls a piece of information, it is “written” down again and often modified in the process. Along the way, the fact is gradually separated from its original context. For example, most people don’t remember how they know that the capital of Massachusetts is Boston.

This phenomenon, known as source amnesia, leads people to forget over time where they heard a statement - and whether it is true. A statement that is initially not believed can gain credibility during the months that it takes to reprocess memories from short-term to longer-term storage. As the source is forgotten, the message and its implications may gain strength.

Enjoy

[Monkey Angst]

I've experienced this with memories as well -- I must have had a particularly visceral reaction to hearing about another child's abuse (including being burned with cigarettes) at the hands of a babysitter) when I was a kid... so much so that, as an older child, I believed that it had occurred to me. It wasn't until I was an adult that I discussed it with my parents and learned that it had never happened, at least not to me.