Illusory Truth Effect

Day 256 / 365

These days it is pretty hard to differentiate information from misinformation. If enough people say something, everyone assumes it to be the truth. This is actually a psychological phenomenon that was first identified in 1977, known as “Illusory Truth Effect”. It basically states that people tend to believe something after repeated exposure.

How it works

When you come across something and you need to classify it as a fact or a lie, you look at two factors

• Is the new information in line with what you already know?
• Does it sound familiar?

The first factor is you accessing something logically, and in an ideal world, this should be how everyone should operate. But a lot of time the second factor becomes more relevant. If you have heard something a lot, it becomes easier to perceive it as the truth.

There have been studies to verify this theory. In these, the participant knew the correct answers to some questions, but they were made to believe in the wrong answer by being told false information repeatedly.

This effect is just one of many similar effects that prove how easy we are to manipulate, and sadly these are used a lot in media, advertisements, and politics.

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — Behold the fowls of the air