The Illusory Truth Effect and how to overcome it.

The Illusory Truth Effect - why we believe lies rather than facts

I have been frustrated with greenwashing in the fashion industry. Especially, how false claims about sustainable fashion have gone mainstream and are celebrated by brands and its customers.

At the end of the day, only the companies win. The customer buys a cat in the bag. (This is of course just a figure of speech, dear vegan Modern Thinkers)

The media can sure do some good things, but in my view it’s been doing much harm to the planet.

Words (like recycling) get misinterpreted by major (i.e. has major responsibility) publications like Vogue & co. that then get misinterpreted by their audience. Words matter.

So in this edition of The Modern Thinker, I want to invite you to together dive into why people believe lies rather than facts. 

I’ve surely been guilty of it sometimes, simply because finding the facts takes more time and effort to find. But no more.

Introducing, the construct that describes this baffling phenomenon:

The Illusory Truth Effect

I always say how knowledge is power. Knowledge of course needs to be derived from learned facts. There’s a difference between facts and truth, as truth is influenced by culture, whereas facts are plain evidence.

Here’s the definition of the illusory truth effect:

The illusory truth effect leads to the spreading of misinformation. In a society where every bit of information can be immediately shared (without critical assessment first), with the whole wide world. The moment that the person sharing this is seen as an authority, it’s only a matter of time before this false piece of information goes mainstream.

We see this clearly in the media.

Why this effect happens

No rational person would take whatever is thrown at them as unverified facts, as a fact. Right?

Well, sadly we human beings are rarely truly rational. According to The Decision Lab, the reason for the illusory truth effect to happen is this : processing fluency. It simply means that when something is easy to process, we label it as accurate.

How to avoid it

Modern Thinkers, are critical thinkers. Not taking everything at face value for truthful, is the best line of defense against falling prey to the illusory truth effect. What you want to do as well is to fact-check. How do you fact-check? It begins with critically assessing your sources. One rule I always keep in mind when it comes to assessing a source is: follow the money.