The Trajectory of Truth: A Longitudinal Study of the Illusory Truth Effect

Henderson, Emma; Simons, Daniel J.; Barr, Dale J.

doi:10.5334/joc.161

Cited by 28 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…The delay between initial exposure and truth phrases has been found to moderate the illusory truth effect in a meta-analysis: If both sessions are in the same day the effect is smaller than if there is at least a 1-day delay (Dechêne et al, 2010). In a direct test of the effect of delay on illusory truth, however, the effect decreased with delay (Henderson et al, 2021). An interesting avenue for future research would be to examine how exposure to questions affects illusory truth with delays between initial exposure and truth ratings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to headlines as questions reduces illusory truth for subsequent headlines.

Calvillo¹,

Harris²

2023

Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

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The illusory truth effect occurs when exposure to information increases belief in it. This effect highlights one concern about the prevalence of misinformation: that exposure to it increases belief in it. To combat this, social media platforms have employed fact-checkers to label misinformation. These fact-checks are effective in reducing belief in misinformation. Some fact-checkers, however, post headlines without clear truth labels on these platforms. For example, the fact-checker Snopes posted, “Did Mark Zuckerberg Post About Orgies on Little James Island?” Posting questions that do not explicitly state that the information is false may increase belief in that information. Two experiments examined this possibility. In both experiments, exposure to questions did not increase belief. Furthermore, exposure to questions decreased the illusory truth effect in subsequent statements. These findings suggest that posting false headlines as questions is not harmful and could be beneficial because it may focus readers’ attention on accuracy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to headlines as questions reduces illusory truth for subsequent headlines.

Calvillo¹,

Harris²

2023

Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

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“…Other questions ripe for future research include whether the moral repetition effect depends on the medium that depicts the transgression (e.g., text vs. video) or the delay between first encountering a transgression and subsequently judging it. Given that other effects of repetition on judgment emerge after delays of weeks or even months, the moral repetition effect could as well (Bacon, 1979; Brown & Nix, 1996; Henderson et al, 2021; Henkel & Mattson, 2011; Nadarevic & Erdfelder, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The moral repetition effect: Bad deeds seem less unethical when repeatedly encountered.

Effron¹

2022

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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Reports of moral transgressions can "go viral" through gossip, continuous news coverage, and social media. When they do, the same person is likely to hear about the same transgression multiple times. The present research demonstrates that people will judge the same transgression less severely after repeatedly encountering an identical description of it. I present seven experiments (six of which were preregistered; 73,265 observations from 3,301 online participants and urban residents holding 55 nationalities). Participants rated fake-news sharing, real and hypothetical business transgressions, violations of fundamental "moral foundations," and various everyday wrongdoings as less unethical and less deserving of punishment if they had been shown descriptions of these behaviors previously. Results suggest that affect plays an important role in this moral repetition effect. Repeated exposure to a description of a transgression reduced the negative affect that the transgression elicited, and less-negative affect meant less-harsh moral judgments. Moreover, instructing participants to base their moral judgments on reason, rather than emotion, eliminated the moral repetition effect. An alternative explanation based on perceptions of social norms received only mixed support. The results extend understanding of when and how repetition influences judgment, and they reveal a new way in which moral judgments are biased by reliance on affect. The more people who hear about a transgression, the wider moral outrage will spread; but the more times an individual hears about it, the less outraged that person may be.

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“…Repetition of false information increases perceived truth when the repetitions are separated by as little as a few minutes (Fazio & Sherry, 2020) to as long as three weeks (Bacon, 1979) or a month (Brown & Nix, 1996), suggesting that the processes mediating these effects of repetition are robust over a variety of timescales. While early experimental (Gigerenzer, 1984) and meta-analytic (Dechêne et al, 2010) evidence suggested that the timing of the repetitions does not affect this illusory truth effect, recent evidence suggests that these effects do diminish in size from immediate to day-long, week-long, and month-long delays (Henderson, Simons, & Barr, 2021).…”

Section: Delay Between Repetitionsmentioning

confidence: 96%

The effects of repeating false and misleading information on belief

Pillai

Fazio

2021

WIRES Cognitive Science

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False and misleading information is readily accessible in people's environments, oftentimes reaching people repeatedly. This repeated exposure can significantly affect people's beliefs about the world, as has been noted by scholars in political science, communication, and cognitive, developmental, and social psychology. In particular, repetition increases belief in false information, even when the misinformation contradicts prior knowledge. We review work across these disciplines, identifying factors that may heighten, diminish, or have no impact on these adverse effects of repetition on belief. Specifically, we organize our discussion around variations in what information is repeated, to whom the information is repeated, how people interact with this repetition, and how people's beliefs are measured. A key cross-disciplinary theme is that the most influential factor is how carefully or critically people process the false information. However, several open questions remain when comparing findings across different fields and approaches. We conclude by noting a need for more interdisciplinary work to help resolve these questions, as well as a need for more work in naturalistic settings so that we can better understand and combat the effects of repeated circulation of false and misleading information in society.

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The Trajectory of Truth: A Longitudinal Study of the Illusory Truth Effect

Cited by 28 publications

References 52 publications

Exposure to headlines as questions reduces illusory truth for subsequent headlines.

Exposure to headlines as questions reduces illusory truth for subsequent headlines.

The moral repetition effect: Bad deeds seem less unethical when repeatedly encountered.

The effects of repeating false and misleading information on belief

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