The Mandela Effect: What It Is And How It Affects Us

The Mandela Effect is a phenomenon that occurs when a large group of people share a false memory. The name was coined by Fiona Broome who had a false memory of the death of South African leader Nelson Mandela; thousands of people expressed that they recall Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s, when in fact, he had passed away in 2013. In addition to this, there are many other incidents where hundreds of people have inconsistent memories of something that did not happen, or they have misconceptions about an event, a product or a person, which is something we will look at in further detail and see how it affects us.

There are some people who believe that the Mandela Effect is caused by alternate realities, that people may have drifted from one universe to another; it is believed that memories can become mixed up with different realities to the current reality. However, scientists and doctors have come up with a different answer to what the Mandela Effect is and how it is caused. Multiple research projects, testing and evidence have shown and proven that human’s memory limits shows an unreliability, which explains why the Mandela Effect could be caused. According to ‘BranchOut Vel’, “False memories are common, and they are a reasonable cause of the Mandela Effect. They are when a person recalls something different from what actually happened, or sometimes an event that never happened at all. We always will have incorrect memories, but we won’t even notice them. That’s the takeaway of false memories: they’re purposely hard to detect because, well, we think our memory is correct.”

If you are interested in finding out more on what the Mandela Effect actually is, the psychology side of it, and the examples or theories that come with it, then watch the YouTube video below for further information.

What Is The Mandela Effect? | Psychology, Theories, & Examples: