Knowledge does not protect against illusory truth

In daily life, we frequently encounter false claims in the form of consumer advertisements, political propaganda, and rumors. Repetition may be one way that insidious misconceptions, such as the belief that vitamin C prevents the common cold, enter our knowledge base. Research on the illusory truth...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental psychology. General Vol. 144; no. 5; p. 993
Main Authors: Fazio, Lisa K, Brashier, Nadia M, Payne, B Keith, Marsh, Elizabeth J
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 01.10.2015
Subjects:
Adult
Deception
Female
Humans
Illusions - psychology
Knowledge
Male
Perception
Students - psychology
ISSN:1939-2222, 1939-2222
Online Access:Get more information
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In daily life, we frequently encounter false claims in the form of consumer advertisements, political propaganda, and rumors. Repetition may be one way that insidious misconceptions, such as the belief that vitamin C prevents the common cold, enter our knowledge base. Research on the illusory truth effect demonstrates that repeated statements are easier to process, and subsequently perceived to be more truthful, than new statements. The prevailing assumption in the literature has been that knowledge constrains this effect (i.e., repeating the statement "The Atlantic Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth" will not make you believe it). We tested this assumption using both normed estimates of knowledge and individuals' demonstrated knowledge on a postexperimental knowledge check (Experiment 1). Contrary to prior suppositions, illusory truth effects occurred even when participants knew better. Multinomial modeling demonstrated that participants sometimes rely on fluency even if knowledge is also available to them (Experiment 2). Thus, participants demonstrated knowledge neglect, or the failure to rely on stored knowledge, in the face of fluent processing experiences.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1939-2222
1939-2222
DOI:10.1037/xge0000098