How Lies Become the Truth

Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt wrote an interesting piece in The New York Times on how our brain lies to us. They introduce the topic by stating that 18% of Americans believe the sun revolves around the earth. Thus, it should not be surprising that 1 in 10 Americans believe Obama is a Muslim when in fact he is Christian.
They go on to explain how those lies become statements that render themselves “true” for some reason.

Wang and Aamodt claim, “A false statement from a noncredible source that is at first not believed can gain credibility during the months it takes to reprocess memories from short-term hippocampal storage to longer-term cortical storage. As the source is forgotten, the message and its implications gain strength.”

Repetition of a half-truth becomes the truth after a while because one forgets the original reason and context of the information learned. Think of commercials and their jingles or slogans . . . after a while their claims seem credible.

Obama recently set up a website to counteract any rumors that may surface during his presidential bid. Wang and Aamodt warn that “by repeating a false rumor, they may inadvertently make it stronger.” A better approach they claim is to counter the rumor by dispelling the information at hand with a claim that emphasizes the truth. So, for example if Obama is labeled a Muslim, he should claim that he is a Christian. In other words, Obama and any other candidates facing similar dilemmas must take a proactive approach in the matter but should not repeat the false information at the same time. It becomes tricky in the world of politics when candidates have a limited time frame to fight off any attacks. A rumor during the final stretch of the race may be detrimental to Obama if his campaign does not prepare itself.

This is a great short read on how the brain processes information and can end up lying to itself over time. Candidates and publicist may want to look into this topic a bit more in order to better market and represent themselves or clients.