Illusory Truth Effect

 

    The illusory truth effect describes how, when we hear false information repeated again and again, we believe it to be true. This can be through many things word of mouth, social media, the internet, and everything else you can get information from. This is typically used in spreading most common misconceptions that we have about certain things about our society. Some of these misconceptions include that vitamin C can prevent you from getting sick. Another one is that the buying a diamond ring has been around since the beginning of time, and that diamonds are super rare and expensive. Finally, the one that I see the most is that vaccinations cause disorders such as autism. Which is not true at all. But, when people see it all over the place the come to believe that it is the truth. This affects our society because this leads people into believing things that are not true, defending the false truth, and keeping the myth going for a long period of time. Sometimes even for generations at a time. Why is this so prominent in today's society more than in the past. That is because of the integration of social media has sped up the passage of information spreading that is a hundred times more effective than through the process of the mouth or by newspapers in the past.

    The most prominent example of this is when a influencer with a lot of followers says something and because the followers believe that the influencer is trustworthy they believe anything that comes out of their mouth. If that is the case then how do we get around this? It is easier than it looks what you have to do to not fall into this trap of band-wagoning is to look stuff up yourself before you take a side. Do research and make sure the info that your getting has been proven, or that it is totally made up, or even better if the info has been taken from a source and re-worded to fit the persons needs. The example I like to give on that is the believe that videogames cause violence. That is just not the case, but it has been used by the government so many times because they use it as a scapegoat instead on focusing on what needs to be changed. So remember DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH! Make sure you are getting the right information, and never fall for the illusory truth effect.

Illusory truth effect - Biases & Heuristics | The Decision Lab

APA reaffirms position on violent video games and violent behavior