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Hey everyone, and welcome back 
to the Easy English Podcast, the

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best place for improving your 
listening and learning skills 

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with English. 
And today I am very excited. 

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Why? 
Because this episode is going to

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be special. 
It's going to be a little bit 

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different. 
So in all of my episodes, so 

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everyone apart from this one, I 
speak at a level which is aims 

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and designed for lower and mid 
intermediate levels. 

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So around that A2 up to about 
higher B1 to B2 the level. 

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But as I've mentioned before on 
the Patreon, I have more 

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advanced episodes, so aimed to 
bring you up to B2 Plus with 

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your listening and vocabulary. 
And today I am going to give you

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one of those episodes completely
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So this episode is a sample of 
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level episodes. 
So there we dive into more 

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deeper, more thought provoking 
topics. 

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Thought provoking means 
something that makes you think 

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more deeply and question things 
all in natural fluent English. 

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So if you love more complicated 
topics about language, 

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psychology and culture and you 
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more complex vocabulary and 
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over there. 
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below. 
If you like this episode to go 

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and subscribe and support the 
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learning to the next level. 
But let's get started with 

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today's episode. 
I'm going to be talking faster 

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and using more complicated 
vocabulary than usual. 

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So if you're new, don't worry, 
just listen to another episode 

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and I will speak a little bit 
slower and with easier words. 

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OK, so let's get started. 
Remember, I'm going to be 

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talking faster. 
So in today's episode we're 

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talking about the Mandela 
Effect. 

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And this is a strange 
phenomenon. 

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That's a hard word to say, even 
for me, phenomenon. 

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And a phenomenon means something
that happens in the world, 

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especially something unusual or 
difficult to explain. 

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And this Mandela Effect is what 
it's called, and it is where 

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large groups of people 
misremember events, words and 

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facts in the same way. 
It's almost as if our collective

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memory. 
So the way that we as a group of

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people remember something has 
changed, but how and why is very

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fascinating. 
So we're going to get into it. 

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So what is the Mandela Effect? 
Have you ever been absolutely 

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certain, 100% sure that 
something has happened, only to 

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find out that you were 
completely wrong? 

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Maybe you misremembered it so 
you remembered it incorrectly, 

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like a famous movie quote or 
something historical that 

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happened. 
Maybe that you thought that a 

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logo of a company looked a 
certain way and then you saw the

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real version. 
Or perhaps you and all of your 

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friends remember the same false,
incorrect memory. 

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That's the Mandela Effect, and 
this Mandela Effect title comes 

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from Nelson Mandela. 
So people term it because many 

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people distinctly so that means 
very clearly remember that he 

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died in prison in the 1980s, but
he didn't. 

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He was actually released from 
prison in 1990 and became 

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president. 
The strangest part? 

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Thousands of people who had 
never met all share the same 

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memory. 
And it's not just one case, 

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there are dozens. 
So dozens means a large number, 

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usually more than 12. 
There are dozens of examples of 

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people misremembering these 
things in this exact same way, 

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so I'm going to give you a 
couple of famous examples. 

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The 1st is a famous quote from 
Star Wars, and a lot of people 

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remember this quote as Luke. 
I am your father. 

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So it's what Darth Vader says to
Luke Skywalker. 

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So many people remember this 
quote as Luke I am your father, 

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but the real quote is no, I am 
your father. 

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So why didn't so many millions 
of people remember it the wrong 

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way? 
And if we go to Monopoly, the 

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game Monopoly, many people are 
sure that the Monopoly board 

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game mascot so that the 
character of the game wears a 

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monocle. 
A monocle is like a small piece 

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of glass, a round piece of glass
that some rich people used to 

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wear over one eye to help them 
see. 

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But he doesn't. 
We associate these monocles with

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rich old fashioned characters. 
So perhaps our brain fills the 

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gap with something that wasn't 
actually there. 

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So why does this happen? 
Why do millions of people 

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misremember these same details? 
And there are a few 

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psychological explanations for 
this, psychological means 

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related to the mind and how it 
works. 

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And the first of these is very 
interesting. 

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It's called the power of 
association. 

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Our brains love patterns, and 
patterns are repeated designs or

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structures. 
This is when something fits into

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an expected pattern. 
We believe that it's true even 

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if it's not. 
For example, with the Star Wars 

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quote, Look, I am your father 
sounds more dramatic than no, I 

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am your father. 
So our brain possibly changes 

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it. 
It changes it to make it sound 

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better or what we expect. 
The second theory for why this 

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happens is called memory 
reconstruction, or recreation. 

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We could say memories are not 
like video recordings. 

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Every time you remember 
something, your brain rebuilds, 

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so it recreates it, puts it 
together again. 

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This memory. 
And during this process, all of 

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these little details can change,
especially if you've heard a 

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changed version of it before, 
like that Star Wars quote. 

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If you've heard someone else say
it before incorrectly, your 

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brain might remember the 
incorrect version, the wrong 

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version. 
The next is the misinformation 

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effect. 
And this ties into that last 

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point. 
When we hear incorrect 

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information repeatedly, our 
brain will start to believe that

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it's true. 
And this can happen with all 

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sorts of stuff like propaganda 
and even simple things like 

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these movie quotes. 
If people keep saying the same 

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incorrect thing, we start to 
think about it as the correct 

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thing. 
I believe there's a quote, you 

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know, if you say something 
enough or as many times or many 

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times, it becomes true or people
start to believe it. 

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The final theory is a little bit
crazy. 

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And the one which is quite 
associated with this Mandela 

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Effect, and this is parallel 
universe theories. 

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And some people believe that the
Mandela Effect is proof of 

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alternate realities. 
The idea is that we remember 

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details from a different version
of reality. 

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And while this sounds like 
science fiction, so science 

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fiction is a type of story about
the future or imaginary science.

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So while this sounds like 
science fiction, the concept of 

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multiple realities does exist in
theoretical physics. 

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So maybe there is some possible 
truth in this. 

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So what does this all mean? 
Are our memories unreliable? 

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So unreliable means not always 
correct or trustworthy. 

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Well, sometimes, yes. 
The Mandela Effect teaches us 

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that memory is flexible, it can 
change, and cultural memory is 

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shaped, It's changed by 
storytelling. 

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And this is the the way a group 
of people remember history. 

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And if we're all telling the 
incorrect version of the story, 

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it starts to become our 
collective memory. 

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What we all remember, the way 
that we remember words or sorry.

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The final point is, the way that
we remember words, phrases, and 

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events is also often based on 
how we expect them to be. 

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So the next time you're sure 
about something, ask yourself, 

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is it real? 
Or is it just what I've always 

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believed? 
If you enjoyed this episode and 

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you want more advanced 
discussions, check out our 

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Patreon exclusive podcast 
series. 

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And there I am, covering on 
Patreon deeper language 

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insights, some fascinating 
psychological, political and 

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scientific topics, and more real
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level. 
This main podcast will always 

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stay free and accessible for 
everyone, and I will continue to

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make podcasts at a level that 
are inclusive for lots of 

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different language learners. 
But if you want to take the next

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step and take your English up to
that more advanced listening and

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understanding, go to the Patreon
link that's in the description. 

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And of course, this helps 
support this project and it lets

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me make more content for you 
guys. 

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I really appreciate it. 
I couldn't do this show and I 

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couldn't do this project without
you. 

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So thank you so much for 
listening. 

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I hope you check it out and I 
will see you in the next episode

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of the Easy English Podcast. 
Have an amazing rest of your 

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day, goodbye.