Illusory Truth Effect

  Illusory Truth Effect

Usually, a theory can be described as ideas people try to explain to others that they trust. People react differently to theories, but an important factor of a theory to remember is that it is just a hypothesis and needs to be proved to be able to be called the truth. Over the years, due to media and twisting, the truth theories can be manipulated, especially when it comes to politics.
One aspect that comes to mind when thinking of manipulation of information is the Illusory Truth Effect. This effect is the positive feeling we experience when we hear something that sounds good and is repeated enough. The important factor to know about the Illusory Truth Effect is that everything that you hear may not be true.

For instance, in politics, if certain information is repeated enough about a candidate, we start to believe it is true. The Illusory Truth Effect is used when public opinion matters and can manipulate information to sway people's minds. One example of this was a headline that circled around Facebook, conveniently leading up to the 2020 election. "Trump Is Now Trying To Get Mike Pence Impeached." Type this in your Google search and see all the media outlets that published this false claim. Even though this statement is false, having it be repeated may make people question. Even though the Illusory Truth Effect is used in politics, this effect has been widely used to persuade people to believe in numerous lies.
One of the most shocking attributes of the illusory truth effect is that it can occur regardless of prior knowledge that a statement is false. The term known as Fake News is prevalent when it comes to the illusory truth effect. Stories that we know as being falsified entirely can still make an impact and make us question the truth if the false fact has been spread around enough. Our knowledge doesn't even protect against the Illusory Truth Effect because repeating a certain statement is easier to process. This effect is most commonly used in today's age due to the wide range of media outlets.
Even though there are problems associated with the illusory truth effect, I believe the most frightening aspect behind it is the uncertainty element. If there are too many lies spread around, then people start to become unaware of what the truth is.

"If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer… And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please."
—Hannah Arendt
Overall the Illusory Truth Effect has more downsides and can make a person think a statement is true though it is false through repeated exposure of a story.
https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/illusory-truth-effect/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/202001/illusory-truth-lies-and-political-propaganda-part-1
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/342988/fake-news-runs-rampant-on-facebook-as-2020-electio.html