People preferentially form false memories consistent with their political allegiances

Evidence

In 2021, a clever group of researchers examined false memories in the context of the 2016 Brexit referendum. In the experiment, about 1,300 participants from the UK were exposed to six stories, two of which were fake – one involving local election tampering and the other a fabricated WikiLeaks report about illegal campaign donations from foreign entities. Although the stories were identical, there were two versions: one blamed the Leave campaign and the other accused the Remain campaign. Although each participant read six stories, for the two fake stories, participants were randomly assigned to view either the Leave or Remain version. The authors found that each false story was remembered by 22 to 35 per cent of participants, with 44 per cent claiming to have remembered at least one of the false articles. Importantly, Remain voters were more likely to recall fake stories that blamed the Leave campaign of wrongdoing and Leave voters were more likely to remember fake news that implicated the Remain campaign. For example, one fifty-four-year-old Remain voter (in the Leave condition) reported remembering the (fake) WikiLeaks story about foreign donations to the Leave campaign. When asked to elaborate, she said: ‘It confirmed in my mind that outside interference in British politics is now deeply entrenched.’ — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 82

Categorization

• SEED: Strong angle for an essay: memory is not a recording but a self-serving reconstruction—how our brains rewrite the past to confirm present loyalties.
• XREF: Links to my knowledge of confirmation bias and motivated reasoning from trust and social-psych sources in the library. — connects to: Identity-politics labels freeze fluid selves into false shapes for political gain — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 172; Identity politics freezes identity in false shapes for political convenience.; Historical-evolutionary criticism reorders present perception by politicizing thought about the past — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 23 (+10 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 82
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Identity-politics labels freeze fluid selves into false shapes for political gain #complicates (0.80) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 172
• Identity politics freezes identity in false shapes for political convenience. #complicates (0.78)
• Empathizing with others’ stories can implant false autobiographical memories. #exemplifies (0.78) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 146
• Outdated technological metaphors for the brain blind us to its political identity #corroborates (0.75) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 177
• Identical political beliefs can serve different psychological functions #corroborates (0.75)
• Historical-evolutionary criticism reorders present perception by politicizing thought about the past #qualifies (0.70) — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 23