Back in High School I did a report on False Memory Syndrome, I must say there were stories there I’ll never forget.
Letting kids know (at an appropriate age of course) that there are such things, might be the best way to protect them.
I later did some studies on things like Stockholm Syndrome, brainwashing, and covert hypnosis. They have much in common. They all depend on how the human mind tends to edit memories and behaviors based on new information, rather than questioning the new info based on past experiences. For all of them the best internal defense seems to be an unending line of questions. “Why are they phrasing it that way?” “How do I know that fact they just quoted is real?” “What other possible causes could there be?” “Does this mesh with what’s already known?” “Is it necessarily either-or?” “Do the words match the motive?” etc. Doesn’t matter if you actually say the questions out loud, the key is to hold your mind accountable for the information its absorbing.
Makes me a pain in the butt sometimes, but it works. And yes, there have been occasions where that was tested.
How about when people say they’ve done some unlikely thing? Something they most likely wish they had done?