Social Transmission of False Memory in Small Groups and Large Networks

Abstract

Sharing information and memories is a key feature of social interactions, making social contexts important for developing and transmitting accurate memories and also false memories. False memory transmission can have wide-ranging effects, including shaping personal memories of individuals as well as collective memories of a network of people. This paper reviews a collection of key findings and explanations in cognitive research on the transmission of false memories in small groups. It also reviews the emerging experimental work on larger networks and collective false memories. Given the reconstructive nature of memory, the abundance of misinformation in everyday life, and the variety of social structures in which people interact, an understanding of transmission of false memories has both scientific and societal implications.

Storytelling as Adaptive Collective Sensemaking

“…Small group interactions are typically embedded in larger networks (see Maswood & Rajaram, ). Storytelling facilitates the creation of an overarching identity and thus the definition of an ingroup and an outgroup.…”

“…Memory conformity occurs when one person's memory report about an event can influence what another person subsequently claims to remember about the same event (Gabbert, Memon, & Wright, ) and may lead to mixing of individual episodic memories (based on first‐hand experience) with vicarious episodic memories (recollections of events that happened to other people; Pillemer, Steiner, Kuwabara, Thomsen, & Svob, ). Social memory biases in the transmission of information include memory conformity (Gabbert, Memon, & Allan, ; Hope & Gabbert, ; Jaeger, Lauris, Slemeczy, & Dobbins, ; Meade & Roediger, ; Roediger & McDermott, ), socially shared‐induced forgetting—increased forgetting of non‐mentioned information related to what is mentioned in conversation relative to unrelated information that is not mentioned in conversation (Cuc, Koppel, & Hirst, ; Stone, Barnier, Sutton, & Hirst, , ; Stone & Wang, ) — or the preferential retention of stereotype‐consistent information over repeated transmission (Allport & Postman, ; Bangerter, ; Lyons & Kashima, , ; Maswood & Rajaram, ). Social memory biases may lead to the emergence of collective memories (Hirst, Yamashiro, & Coman, ).…”

Editors’ Introduction: Remembering With Others: Conversational Dynamics and Mnemonic Outcomes

“…Conversational remembering may lead to the creation of false memories in listeners (Roediger, Meade, & Bergman, ). An extension of Loftus, Miller, and Burns's () seminal work demonstrating the ability to implant false memories in individuals through the presentation of misinformation, social contagion occurs when speakers implant false memories in listeners (Meade & Roediger, ; Roediger et al., ; see also Maswood & Rajaram, ; Hope & Gabbert, for reviews in this topic). For example, Roediger et al.…”

Storytelling as adaptive collective sensemaking

“…Memory conformity occurs when one person's memory report about an event can influence what another person subsequently claims to remember about the same event (Gabbert, Memon, & Wright, 2006) and may lead to mixing of individual episodic memories (based on first-hand experience) with vicarious episodic memories (recollections of events that happened to other people; Pillemer, Steiner, Kuwabara, Thomsen, & Svob, 2015). Social memory biases in the transmission of information include memory conformity (Gabbert, Memon, & Allan, 2003;Hope & Gabbert, 2018;Jaeger, Lauris, Slemeczy, & Dobbins, 2012;Meade & Roediger, 2002;Roediger & McDermott, 2011), socially shared-induced forgetting-increased forgetting of non-mentioned information related to what is mentioned in conversation relative to unrelated information that is not mentioned in conversation (Cuc, Koppel, & Hirst, 2007;Stone, Barnier, Sutton, & Hirst, 2010, 2013Stone & Wang, 2018) -or the preferential retention of stereotype-consistent information over repeated transmission (Allport & Postman, 1947;Bangerter, 2000b;Lyons & Kashima, 2003, 2006Maswood & Rajaram, 2018). Social memory biases may lead to the emergence of collective memories (Hirst, Yamashiro, & Coman, 2018).…”

“…Small group interactions are typically embedded in larger networks (see Maswood & Rajaram, 2018). Storytelling facilitates the creation of an overarching identity and thus the definition of an ingroup and an outgroup.…”