Illusory implications: incidental exposure to ideas can induce beliefs

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• The illusory truth effect demonstrates that repeated exposure to statements increases their perceived truthfulness.
• This effect is often attributed to increased processing fluency, a metacognitive experience of ease.
• However, genuine beliefs influence more than just individual statements, affecting related beliefs and decisions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether exposure to 'premise' statements influences truth ratings of novel 'implied' statements.
• To explore the 'illusory implication' effect as evidence for genuine belief change from incidental exposure.
• To determine the extent to which illusory implication effects operate, including for distant implications.

Main Methods:

• Conducted three preregistered experiments.
• Participants were exposed to 'premise' statements.
• Assessed truth ratings for novel 'implied' statements derived from the premises.

Main Results:

• Found evidence that exposure to premise statements affected truth ratings for novel implied statements.
• Demonstrated illusory implication effects for implications more distant than previously studied.
• Suggests that incidental exposure has broader cognitive consequences than previously understood.

Conclusions:

• Incidental exposure to information can lead to changes in belief, extending to implied information.
• The illusory implication effect indicates that repeated exposure can foster genuine, albeit unconscious, belief shifts.
• Findings have significant implications for understanding the impact of misinformation and disinformation campaigns.