Illusory Truth Effect

The Illusory Truth effect is the mind's way of saving time. Sometimes the saved time costs more than it buys.

Under the hood it is a trade: the mind exchanges accuracy for speed, or comfort, or belonging. The trade is often worth it. The danger is not the trade but forgetting that a trade was made.

Strip it to the floor and you find an old instruction: look carefully, judge slowly, act decently. The new name exists because the old instruction keeps being forgotten.

In every examination hall there are two kinds of silence: the silence of those who prepared, and the silence of those who are preparing excuses. The room can hear the difference.

Learning is the one wealth that survives every partition of fortune. And when you forget it — you will — the world will remind you. It is a faithful tutor.