Episode Details

What happens when a thought gets repeated so often that it stops feeling like a thought and starts feeling like a fact?

In this Think Thursday episode, Molly explores the illusory truth effect, processing fluency, self-schemas, and self-verification to explain why familiar ideas can feel more believable simply because we’ve practiced thinking them over and over.

In this episode:

• Why repetition can make information feel more true
• The difference between familiarity and evidence
• How self-schemas shape what we notice and remember
• Why we tend to collect evidence that supports existing beliefs
• How repeated thoughts can quietly become identity statements
• Why changing your thinking isn’t about forced positive affirmations
• How to question old beliefs with more accuracy and curiosity

A question to take with you:

Is this something I know, or is this something I’ve practiced thinking?

Sometimes behavior change begins not with immediately creating a new belief, but with realizing that an old one may never have been a fact in the first place.

Research Mentioned

• Hasher, Goldstein & Toppino — early research on the illusory truth effect
• Dechêne et al. — meta-analysis on repetition and perceived truth
• Lisa Fazio and colleagues — repetition and prior knowledge
• Hazel Markus — self-schema research
• William Swann — self-verification theory