Mystery AtlasConfabulation / False-Memory Explanation
The mainstream psychological explanation for the Mandela Effect: memory is reconstructive rather than a fixed recording, and confabulation, source confusion, and social conformity (memories subtly shifting to match a group's retelling) can produce detailed, confidently held, and collectively shared false memories without any deception.
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Concepts & Beliefs
Confabulation / False-Memory Explanation attempts to explain Mandela Effect.
Confabulation / False-Memory Explanation is frequently compared to Conspiracy Theory — Both are psychological accounts of how large numbers of unconnected people can independently arrive at, or come to share, the same false belief.