False Memory
We mistake imagination for actual memories.
A false memory is a psychological phenomenon where a person recalls something that did not happen or recalls it differently from the way it actually happened. Memory is not a recording device; it is reconstructive. Each act of recall is an act of reconstruction, and that reconstruction can be influenced by subsequent information, suggestion, or imagination. Elizabeth Loftus's research on eyewitness testimony revolutionized understanding of how malleable memory is.
What it looks like in the wild.
- Everyday life Childhood Memory Implanting Studies show that up to 25% of adults can be made to believe they were lost in a shopping mall as children, by a researcher simply asking them about it.
Recognising a definition is not the same skill as spotting it.
Two scenarios from the app, with distractors drawn from the same family of biases — which is what makes them hard.
During a project review, Kim claims she completed a specific task last week. The project log shows it was done by another team member, and Kim has no emails about it.
During a debate, Jess quotes a statistic from a study. When asked for the source, she can't find it because she only imagined reading it in a news summary.
Biases rarely arrive alone.
Understand more. Assume less.
188 biases, 18,869 scenarios, and a record of how you actually decide.
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