The “illusory truth effect” is a phenomenon on the rise. So why does it occur? Is it from an overload of information, or time-poor to fully digest information, or simply… ‘a whatever’ attitude?
IMAGE: Etching, c.1650. licensed under CC BY 4.0.
So what is the “Illusory-Truth-Effect”?
The ‘Illusory-Truth-Effect’ is when a supposed reliable fact-checked source quotes statistics, statements etc based on facts, and/or quotes from what a person said – and then the same information is posted around the world by other reputable information sources / organisations / media etc, which reinforces, in the readers’ critical thinking, that it’s true – when in actual fact it was not the truth. It was not researched or fact-checked correctly in the first place.
Recent research “Repetition increases belief in climate-skeptical claims, even for climate science endorsers,” conducted by Yangxueqing (Mary) Jiang, a PhD candidate in psychology at the Australian National University, sought to investigate a critical concern in today’s information environment: the proliferation of misinformation regarding climate change. Supporters of climate science consistently considered climate-science-aligned claims to be more credible than those from climate skeptics. However, when claims were repeated, participants found them more believable, even if those claims contradicted their existing beliefs about climate change.
Editor’s example: I recently read a statistic that 80% of the world’s biodiversity are on Indigenous peoples’ land, who represent about 5% – 6% of the global population.
It set off my my alarm bells of “oh-it-can’t-be-true’! particularly when there is so much biodiversity under threat and becoming extinct, as the case in Australia. More complex. So I followed it up and noted that it had been quoted in many reputable publications – International Institute of Sustainable Development IISD – National Geographic: Here+ WWF: Here+ Statista: Here+ but actually, it was incorrect! Trust your intuition! Yeh! Fact-Check any sources.
My disbelief was confirmed in a Conversation article, of how it had been picked up and replicated many times – 350- and peer-reviewed in scientific journals, in a World Bank report in 2008… from the possible source “ an encyclopedia chapter and a report on poverty” (Conversation,2024).
For more than two decades… treated as fact… it wrong.
Conversation media assembled support to challenge the figure, which took five years to backtrack where it originated.
The claim that Indigenous lands harbor 80% of biodiversity has been criticized for lacking rigorous empirical support, but remains important to recognize the significant role Indigenous peoples play in conservation and sustainable land management.
The “Illusory Truth Effect” through repetition can enhance the perceived truth of a statement. “Can”… being the operative word. Jiang and her colleagues aimed to extend this concept by exploring whether the same effect applies to deeply held beliefs, particularly those related to climate change.
This Study is a great read. It reminds me of the TRUMP-EFFECT in every way. Constantly fabricating the truth and incessantly repeating it… until some reach saturation with ‘whatever- what can I do about it?’. A lot!
The study, “Repetition increases belief in climate-skeptical claims, even for climate science endorsers,” was authored by Yangxueqing Jiang, Norbert Schwarz, Katherine J. Reynolds, and Eryn J. Newman.
Copyright: © 2024 Jiang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited..
