CITY NEWS

Formula

Why are there so many rumors on the Internet now? Why are these rumors so powerful? It turns out that it all comes from the "truth illusion effect" relationship, now, let us understand and break the vicious rumors! Just like the proverb that “words have no feet but can travel thousands of miles”, rumors spread in an instant, and as rumors spread repeatedly, unconfirmed content is often accepted as true.

Illusion Of Truth Effect

Psychologist Nicholas DiFonzo conducted an experiment with students from the Rochester Institute of Technology. The experimental plan was to spread various rumours in various places within six days and to make each rumour heard multiple times. As a result, the trust level when hearing the rumour for the first time was 40%, and after hearing the same rumour six times, the trust level increased to as much as 60%.That is to say, even if you don't believe it at first, after hearing it many times, you will become convinced of the rumours like the idiom "No wind, no waves, no fire, no smoke, three people become tigers". Even if the authenticity is uncertain, it is believed to be true due to the effect of repeated exposure, which is called the "Illusion of truth effect". So, where did the power of unfounded rumours come from? Social psychologists Gordon Allport and Leo Postman's formula for collating rumours is as above.

If this formula is in plain language, it means that the more important the content conveyed by the rumour and the less certain the situation is, the stronger the strength of the rumour becomes. So the more restless we are, the more sensitive we become to rumours, and the more we believe what we want to believe. Therefore, in order to deal with vicious rumours, the most important thing is to refute them quickly.