The way our brain equates repetition for truth.
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YOU ONLY USE 10 percent of your brain.
Eating carrots improves your eyesight.
Crime in the United States is at an all-time high.
NONE OF THESE STATEMENTS ARE TRUE.
They FEEL TRUE because of repetition.
Crazy, huh?
“Slogans should be persistently repeated until the very last individual has come to grasp the idea that has been put forward.”
—Hitler in Mein Kampf
“But the facts don’t actually matter: People repeat them so often that you believe them. Welcome to the “illusory truth effect,” a glitch in the human psyche that equates repetition with truth. Marketers and politicians are masters of manipulating this particular cognitive bias—which perhaps you have become more familiar with lately.”
Source: Wired.com Article by Emily Dreyfuss
After I read this, I wondered…
What can I do if I notice my brain is on autopilot?
Pinch myself? Snap a rubber band on my wrist?
OR…
Seek more sources to confirm or dispel my TRUTHS?
Let me know if you come up with a trick.
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I hate being manipulated into thinking something is true when it isn’t. I also hate being sceptical about everything. It wears me out!
I hear you, it’s exhausting indeed. However, I believe that possessing more knowledge about how we are frequently manipulated can help us be more in control regarding the constant flood of information.