Concept · Cognitive Bias: Memory biases and distortions
Suggestibility
Origin: Schacter, 1999/2001
Biological Parallel
Young chimpanzees adopt foraging techniques from elders without independent verification—cultural transmission trades costly trial-and-error for group knowledge. Memory evolved to be socially permeable: when others' accounts conflict with yours, updating based on collective intelligence beats defending individual recall. Suggestibility isn't gullibility; it's bet-hedging that ten witnesses might see patterns one observer missed.