When people hear a false claim repeated even just once, they are more likely to let it override their prior knowledge on the subject and believe it, according to two studies published together in October 2015 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. Psychologists say this is an example of the “illusory truth effect,” which shows that repeated statements are thought to be more true than statements heard for the first time.
“We think it happens because it is easier to process information the second time you hear it,” says Lisa Fazio, a psychologist and assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University, who was the lead author on the study. “It is also time-consuming and difficult to access our previous knowledge, so we often go with information that is close enough.”
Finally, we fall for B.S. more often when we fail to think analytically. In four studies published together in November 2015 in the journal Judgment and Decision Making, psychologists researched people’s vulnerability to what they call “pseudo-profound bull****.” Subjects completed tests to measure their ability to think analytically and then viewed quotes from people such as poet T.S. Eliot as well as made-up sentences generated by two websites, The Wisdom of Chopra and The New-Age Bull**** Generator. The research showed that people who are more skeptical and analytical were less likely to find the B.S. quotes to be profound yet still likely to find meaning in the real quotes. Follow-up research showed that when the subjects were told ahead of time that some sentences were made up, they become more adept at spotting them, but analytical people still did this better.
“A lot of the problems with B.S. are because people are not bothering to think as much as they perhaps ought to,” says Gordon Pennycook, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University who was the lead researcher on the study when he was a graduate student at the University of Waterloo
Reply With Quote