Post-Truth

The Effects of Illusory Truth

The Effects of Illusory Truth

Despite prominent news media and fact-check outlets demonstrating that Trump lied much more frequently than Clinton, pre-election polls showed that most voters perceived Clinton as less honest than Trump. This perception came from the Trump campaign’s successful manipulations through the illusory truth effect. This thinking error happens when false statements are repeated many times, and as a result we begin to see these lies as true. Trump used the illusory truth effect throughout his campaign. Examples of his frequently-repeated false claims, which most of his base eventually grew to believe, include him always opposing the war in Iraq and depicting NAFTA as the “worst trade deal ever.” The “Vote Leave” campaign in Brexit used similar tactics. Prominent advocates such as Nigel Farage and Priti Patel stated time and time again that Britain sends the EU £350 million a week, a lie denounced by the UK Statistics Authority and other venues, but still believed by the public. The illusory truth effect has been used in other contexts and settings to lead to false impressions of reality.