Abstract

Collective memories are often formed through the conversations community members have with each other. The effectiveness of these conversations to transmit a memory across a community and to produce a shared and stable mnemonic representation is constrained by psychological factors. This essay examines the effects of speakers' retellings of past events on listeners' memories and on their own memories. The first topic involves research investigating social contagion, resistance to influence, and induced forgetting. The second focuses on the saying-is-believing effect and the creation of a shared reality. By illuminating these processes underlying transmission and convergence of individual memories, the essay provides new insights into the formation of their collective counterpart