The Mandela Effect is a term that was coined after a large number of people recalled sharing a similar memory that Nelson Mandela passed away in 2013, when he actually did in 1980. The official definition is a psychological phenomenon where a large group of people misremember a specific detail or event.
One of the most notable examples of the Mandela Effect are people claiming that Mister Rogers’ famous line is “it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood” when the actual lyric is “it’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood.” Also, the monopoly man is widely remembered to have a monocle, when in reality, he has never been depicted that way. In Star Wars, the iconic line “Luke, I am your father” was never stated, but is actually “No, I am your father.” The popular children’s book the “Berenstein” Bears, is actually spelled like “Berenstain”, and Jif peanut butter has been widely known as Jiffy by many people. Although lies and rumors are 70% more likely to win out over factual information, there are many possible causes of this phenomenon.
The most accurate explanations are backed in psychology, using findings like Asch conformity, false memories, misinformation effect, priming, and confabulations to explain this effect. Many doctors and psychologists have weighed in on the matter, and agree that although some people believe that we experience these false memories because of parallel universes, while some think we are simply misremembering, it only further emphasizes the sheer amount of the human mind that has yet to be explored.
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