Australian-led new research shows that repeating false or skeptical claims about climate science can make them appear more credible, even to those who accept the science and are concerned about climate change.
The study, published in Plos One, found that people are more likely to believe a statement is true if they’ve heard it before, a phenomenon known as the “illusory truth effect.”
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The study’s lead author, Mary Jiang, from the Australian National University, said, “The findings show how powerful and insidious repetition is and how it can influence people’s assessment of truth.”
The paper states, “A single repetition is enough to nudge recipients towards acceptance of the repeated claim, even when their attitudes are aligned with climate science, and they can correctly identify the claim as being counter-attitudinal.”
The paper is one of the first to examine how statements about the climate crisis are affected by this effect. The findings underscore the risks of spreading and repeating misinformation.
An example of a science-based claim was that “climate change models can make accurate predictions”, Jiang said. A skeptical claim might challenge the accuracy of climate science or suggest a conspiracy.
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Participants rated the perceived truthfulness of a new set of statements—half of which were new and half previously seen—on a scale from definitely true to definitely false.
On average, they rated science-based statements as more truthful, reflecting their generally pro-climate science views. However, the results also showed that repetition increased the perceived truthfulness of both climate-science-skeptical and pro-climate science claims.
