You may have read 1984 back in high school. When the party repeats the same lies over and over again and over time, the people believe it.

It’s frightening how easily this works. Nefarious actors exploit this constantly with misinformation, “fake news,” etc.

Back in 1977, researchers at Villanova and Temple University found that when thinking about what is true or false, people will tend to rely upon the information hat feels familiar.

They found that repetition makes statements easier to process over newer, unfamiliar statements. This leads us to believe that the repeated information is more accurate.

Later, in 2015, researchers found that familiarity can overpower rationality. Yikes!

On software teams, the Illusory Truth Effect can significantly influence team dynamics and decision-making. Consider a team discussing feature priorities. If a particular feature is repeatedly mentioned as critical by a few vocal stakeholders, the entire team may begin to believe this, even without any evidence. This can lead to focus on the wrong feature a product that does not meet user needs.

In project management, if a misconception about a competitor’s strategy is repeated often, it may be accepted as fact. This could result in misguided strategic decisions, such as overestimating (or underestimating) the threat from a competitor or misaligning the product’s unique value proposition.

For engineers, repeated assertions about the difficulty of using a new technology can dissuade the team from exploring new solutions. If a senior engineer frequently states that a particular framework is unreliable, the team might avoid it, even if it could provide significant benefits.

To combat the Illusory Truth Effect, teams should cultivate a culture that values evidence-based decision-making and critical thinking. Encouraging team members to seek out and verify information, rather than accepting repeated statements at face value, can help prevent this bias from influencing decisions.