Illusory Truth Effect

Have you ever heard of the Illusory Truth Effect? As strong digital citizens, it’s a concept we need to understand.

It occurs when we know something is untrue but then start to see and hear that idea a bunch of times and our brain begins to give it credence. Politicians have used this one for a long time. Basically, if you say something enough, people start to believe it’s true.

Unfortunately, the digital world is basically a big ol’ illusory truth effect machine!

We are bombarded with information online, misinformation is shown to spread much faster than factual information and corrections to misinformation, and when we show interest in something all the algorithms are designed to feed us more and more and more of it.

Yikes.

How Do We Combat the Illusory Truth Effect?

So what do we do? We use education and strong digital habits to combat the illusory truth effect! Fact-check those dubious claims the first time you hear them and spend less time online.

Here’s an article with more info:

The team at Psychological Science does a good job of giving you more information about this important subject. Find out more HERE.

These points from this article are kind of incredible when you think about it…

• If repeated enough times, the information may be perceived to be true even if sources are not credible.
• The illusory truth effect is very evident on subject matter people perceive themselves to know about.
• The effect can happen even if someone had previous knowledge that the information was false.

Kermode Education Can Help You Explore This Topic and More!

Contact the Kermode Education team today to see how our eLearning platform can help your kids or your students improve their digital literacy skills.

#socialpsychology #education #digital #algorithms #digcit #medialiteracy