Blog Post #8 EOTO 2

 EOTO 2: Illusory Truth Effect

The illusory truth effect is a theory that says that something that is repeated a lot will be remembered and believed as the truth because the same thing is seen so much. The actual truth may be hidden and forgotten because a false statement is repeated multiple times across many places. There have been experiments done that prove this theory where groups of people would hear a certain false phrase and then have to rate different phrases on how true they are. A lot of the people in the experiments would believe afterwards that the false statements were true. This is a theory that could be used to easily spread misinformation and other  kinds of false statements to mass audiences. "repeated information is processed more fluently" (ScienceDirect) If you see a lot of sources repeating the exact same information more people will think it is correct. This could be a major downside to the public if this theory is used in mainstream media because those who watch the channels that spread it would be starting to believe the misinformation more every time they watch it. "The deliberate spread of misinformation by individuals or groups, especially by way of the Internet, is known as dark participation. There is much evidence that it is being used by bad actors to foment discord and doubt about policies, leadership, and other important matters in populations approaching important decisions." (Psychology Today) This quote shows one example of how this theory can be used by the wrong people for very bad effects on others and that some people might even intentionally spreading their misinformation just to try and trick people of a certain thing by making it show up in many places. This is probably the biggest example of  how the theory can be used for a bad reason and an even worse and larger impact on the people affected. It is hard to say how this could be used for good because either way the information is being used in a certain way to trick viewers into believing a certain viewpoint and lying to them about what the truth really is. The bad parts of this theory definitely outweigh the good parts because it is harder to use the ideas in this theory without intention because of the necessary repetition and repeated information. This could affect society as a whole depending on its use and how many people it is spread to. If the person in charge decides to try and manipulate a whole country or more people they could probably do it if they had the power to control/bribe certain groups of people in the media or even online. This could affect different groups of people in many types of classes, ages, and location depending on the demographic that is targeted by the repetitive information and who the information is trying to manipulate. If the data being presented is targeted towards a younger group of people in a certain city the rest of the audience might not be affected the same way or even at all as the group that is being directly targeted by this information.

Sources: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/illusory-truth-effect

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X23001811