Intuition and the Illusory Truth Effect
The truth is muddy and obscured, because we’ve been fed a lie so many times for so many years
The Illusory Truth Effect was discovered in 1977. Since then, it’s been thoroughly researched as to its importance in advertising, politics, and media. Translation: it’s how public opinion is manipulated.
It’s the phenomena of repetition influencing our beliefs. The more we hear a falsehood the more we believe it because it becomes familiar to us. This is not pseudoscience. In fact, a 2021 study illustrates how the effect is logarithmic, meaning that not every repetition is equal. In other words, they discovered that the second time we hear a falsehood has the greatest ability to alter our beliefs. Two times!
Continuing with the thread of a new economic system (L.O.V.E. — Living Our Vital Evolution) there is much of the general line of thinking that breaks down when we apply LOVE to the equation. In 2004 I heard a CEO of a company I was working for at the time say, “Afterall, we’re not a charity.” He said this in the context of explaining why we would need to make “tough” decisions, which is code for layoffs.
But why is “charity” a bad thing? A charity is defined as “an organization set up to provide help and raise money for those in need.” This is deemed bad in a context of a “for-profit.” Just as socialism and communism are regarded as bad and dangerous.
Forbes’ recent global list of billionaires counts China as the number two country by number of billionaires: 539.
539!
Aren’t they supposed to be commies? How is it that they have 539 billionaires? Could it be that China is not actually a communistic system?
Truth be told, they’re not, and the good ole’ U.S. of A. is not a true capitalistic system. Every time we get in our cars and drive to the store, we’re reaping the benefit of smoothly paved roads constructed and maintained by a socialistic system. Or if we call 911 the person answering the call and the police or fire department that responds are paid for by a socialistic system.
We even refer to such things as bridge building and infrastructure as “public works,” which really means socialism in action. Even the military, the SEC, the Federal Reserve, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and let’s not forget the “Social” Security Administration. They’re all socialistic institutions because we collectively pay for them through our taxes.
But let’s go further.
The fossil fuel industry received $5.9 trillion in subsidies globally in 2020. In the U.S., utilities and power generation receive the greatest amount of subsidies. Oil and gas specifically, ranks number six. But small business isn’t even on the list.
If we were a true capitalistic system, we wouldn’t be subsidizing certain industries over others. We wouldn’t be favoring the largest of our for-profit companies. There would be no subsidies at all.
In 2008 we bailed out the largest of our financial institutions along with General Motors and Chrysler. But what about the little guys? Is this really capitalism? And is China really socialism?
The truth is muddy and obscured. Because we’ve been fed a lie so many times for so many years that we have a collective illusory truth effect. We can’t discern the truth because there is so much untruth.
But there is a way through it, and it requires some persistence and courage. Persistence to keep questioning the prevailing wisdom, or rather collective delusion. Which is also courageous because it means we risk being deemed an eccentric or an idealistic fool or any number of things we’d prefer not to be categorized as.
The notion that “charity” is bad for example is a contradiction to the new L.O.V.E. model, because when LOVE is our guiding principle we’re always thinking of how we can do what is most right for the greater good.
It doesn’t mean a company can’t trim its expenses, but how it does it is what is most important. It doesn’t mean that a company can’t let an employee go when it’s best for both the employee and the company. Sometimes being fired can be a blessing. But again, it comes down to how things are done. Reducing people to numbers on a spreadsheet is not a loving act. Reshaping a company to adapt to changing times is.
Laying off hundreds, or even thousands of people because a company didn’t hit its numbers is not a loving act. Providing the option of retraining to transition a company or an industry in a new direction is. Subsidizing the fossil fuel industry while stifling clean energy is not a loving act.
Tying executive pay to the price of a company’s stock is not a loving act. Allowing such things as derivative investing, options, futures, shorts, and swaps are not loving acts. Pooling funds to launch new ventures and birth new ideas is.
Constantly asking ourselves who is it for and applying the principle of L.O.V.E., of living our vital evolution is how we reshape our economic model one step at a time.
But then again . . . how do we overcome the illusory truth effect. Afterall, we are all susceptible to it. I have to ask myself all the time if I’m full of it, or if I’m truly on to something. It’s a healthy process so long as we learn to trust our intuition, which is really the crux of it.
Intuition!
It’s truly the only way out. We have to ask ourselves how the information we’re consuming feels in our bones. You have to ask yourself how these words you’re reading feel in your bones. Does it resonate or not? Does it trigger you? Does it make you think? Or does it make you want to crawl in a hole and forget about the whole thing?
More critical thinking and fact checking yes. But I don’t think that’s enough, because clever people can manipulate the facts so thoroughly that they seem real. Better still to feel into it and ask ourselves if the information brings up fear or joy, confusion or clarity, anger or love.
I find that a clear sign of manipulation is when the provider of information seeks to motivate (or manipulate) through fear. So, if I feel fear from the consumption of information I know to question it by asking deeper questions and sitting with it for a while before making a decision.
Better still, is to remain in a place of not knowing for as long as we can — to choose to hold no opinion one way or another. Communism, socialism, capitalism. They’re just words.
What inspires you? What brings up a feeling of peacefulness within you? What causes you to feel awe? What do you love?
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