TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigating the Robustness of the Illusory Truth Effect Across Individual Differences in Cognitive Ability, Need for Cognitive Closure, and Cognitive Style
AU - De keersmaecker, Jonas
AU - Dunning, David
AU - Pennycook, Gordon
AU - Rand, David G.
AU - Sanchez, Carmen
AU - Unkelbach, Christian
AU - Roets, Arne
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
PY - 2020/2/1
Y1 - 2020/2/1
N2 - People are more inclined to believe that information is true if they have encountered it before. Little is known about whether this illusory truth effect is influenced by individual differences in cognition. In seven studies (combined N = 2,196), using both trivia statements (Studies 1-6) and partisan news headlines (Study 7), we investigate moderation by three factors that have been shown to play a critical role in epistemic processes: cognitive ability (Studies 1, 2, 5), need for cognitive closure (Study 1), and cognitive style, that is, reliance on intuitive versus analytic thinking (Studies 1, 3-7). All studies showed a significant illusory truth effect, but there was no evidence for moderation by any of the cognitive measures across studies. These results indicate that the illusory truth effect is robust to individual differences in cognitive ability, need for cognitive closure, and cognitive style.
AB - People are more inclined to believe that information is true if they have encountered it before. Little is known about whether this illusory truth effect is influenced by individual differences in cognition. In seven studies (combined N = 2,196), using both trivia statements (Studies 1-6) and partisan news headlines (Study 7), we investigate moderation by three factors that have been shown to play a critical role in epistemic processes: cognitive ability (Studies 1, 2, 5), need for cognitive closure (Study 1), and cognitive style, that is, reliance on intuitive versus analytic thinking (Studies 1, 3-7). All studies showed a significant illusory truth effect, but there was no evidence for moderation by any of the cognitive measures across studies. These results indicate that the illusory truth effect is robust to individual differences in cognitive ability, need for cognitive closure, and cognitive style.
KW - analytic thinking
KW - cognitive ability
KW - illusory truth effect
KW - intuition
KW - need for cognitive closure
KW - reasoning
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U2 - 10.1177/0146167219853844
DO - 10.1177/0146167219853844
M3 - Article
C2 - 31179863
AN - SCOPUS:85064528070
SN - 0146-1672
VL - 46
SP - 204
EP - 215
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
IS - 2
ER -