Why groups of people can remember something that didn't happen

[GrandizerII]

"It's not inconceivable that this sort of thing can happen in a group setting," says Wade. "There are many studies showing that when two people witness the same event and discuss it, one person’s memory report can contaminate what the other person subsequently claims to remember. This is called 'memory conformity' in the literature, and it's a very powerful and well-documented effect."

Source:
http://www.sciencealert.com/is-it-possib...n-t-happen
This is just one reason to doubt miracle stories.

[Excited Penguin]

Isn't it possible that it doesn't work as well with everybody, though? I mean, yeah, sure, generally people can be pretty influenced by their peers, even to such an extent that they don't notice it, but what if you've got someone who's rebellious by nature and will rather get in an argument with the whole group than swallow their lies?

[GrandizerII]

Isn't it possible that it doesn't work as well with everybody, though? I mean, yeah, sure, generally people can be pretty influenced by their peers, even to such an extent that they don't notice it, but what if you've got someone who's rebellious by nature and will rather get in an argument with the whole group than swallow their lies?

Sure, that's always a possibility. But even rebels can be be influenced by certain other people's thoughts and ideas (like maybe other fellow rebels?). Rebels don't live in some vacuum on their own.

[Excited Penguin]

Isn't it possible that it doesn't work as well with everybody, though? I mean, yeah, sure, generally people can be pretty influenced by their peers, even to such an extent that they don't notice it, but what if you've got someone who's rebellious by nature and will rather get in an argument with the whole group than swallow their lies?

Sure, that's always a possibility. But even rebels can be be influenced by certain other people's thoughts and ideas (like maybe other fellow rebels?). Rebels don't live in some vacuum on their own.

No, I know that, of course. I did say "it doesn't work as well", not "it doesn't work at all", to be fair.

[robvalue]

It seems people can very easily be convinced to believe what they want to believe, including memories of events.

I've come to the conclusion that this is what faith is: believing what you want to be true, or what you feel must be true, regardless of the availability of reliable evidence.

Memories are terrible evidence. So many times I've been utterly convinced I've remembered something right, to the point where I'd have put lots of money on it, then turned out to have totally misremembered.