What is it about?
Two experiments show that people who endorse views of climate science find claims of climate skeptics more true when they have read them once before. This finding holds even for people who are strong endorsers of climate science.
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Why is it important?
Although previous research has frequently found that simple repetition can make a claim seem more true, it was unclear whether this effect holds for claims that go directly against people's beliefs and attitudes (counter-attitudinal claims), for which people's attitudes might be used to protect against the influence from repetition. Our results show that the effect of repetition on truth holds for counter-attitudinal claims on the topic of climate change, suggesting that repetition has a strong influence on making a claim seem more true.
Perspectives
More broadly, these findings have implications for balanced reporting in media—a practice that strives to present opposing voices towards a societal topic. While balanced reporting ensures fairness, it does not always paint an accurate or helpful picture, as the current findings suggest that giving climate skeptics a platform in the interest of "balanced reporting" can facilitate the acceptance of misleading claims.
Yangxueqing Jiang
Australian National University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Repetition increases belief in climate-skeptical claims, even for climate science endorsers, PLOS One, August 2024, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0307294.
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