The illusory truth effect is the tendency to believe a statement is true after being exposed to it repeatedly, simply because it feels familiar, regardless of whether it is actually accurate. It was first demonstrated in a 1977 study by Lynn Hasher, David Goldstein and Thomas Toppino, in which participants rated repeated statements as more likely to be true than new statements on later exposures, even when the statements were plausible-sounding trivia rather than emotionally charged claims. Subsequent research has shown the effect can occur even when a statement contradicts a person's own prior knowledge, and it is frequently cited as one mechanism by which repeated misinformation can come to be believed.
Facts
Core ClaimPeople judge truth partly by how familiar or easy a statement feels to process, and repetition alone increases that fluency, so a false claim heard several times can come to feel more credible even when it contradicts what a person already knows. 1 First Described Year Classification
Type of Phenomenon Connections
In Branch
Source Wikipedia: Illusory truth effect
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Illusory truth effect
Wikimedia Foundationlead paragraph, definition
The illusory truth effect, also known as the illusion of truth effect, validity effect, truth effect, or the reiteration effect, is the tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure.
lead section, defining sentence
The illusory truth effect, also known as the illusion of truth effect, validity effect, truth effect, or the reiteration effect, is the tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure.
origin/history passage
This phenomenon was first identified in a 1977 study at Villanova University and Temple University.
lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
The illusory truth effect, also known as the illusion of truth effect, validity effect, truth effect, or the reiteration effect, is the tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure.
In Branch: Cognitive Psychology, Categories
Wikipedia article 'Illusory truth effect' is filed under Category:Memory biases.
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