Lynn Hasher

And yes, encountering it repeatedly can just mean that we've actually just practiced it over and over and over again.

One of the classic studies that was done on this was published all the way back in 1977 by researchers Lynn Hasher, David Goldstein, and Thomas Topino.

They asked people to rate whether a series of statements were true.

And over several sessions, some of those statements were repeated while others were new.

A statement can begin feeling more believable merely because it has been encountered before.

In nineteen seventy-seven, Lynn Hasher, David Goldstein, and Thomas Toppino presented participants with plausible statements across three sessions separated by two weeks.

Some statements returned while others appeared only once.

Participants gradually gave higher truth ratings to the repeated statements even though repetition had supplied no additional evidence.