As every politician, advertising executive, and blogosphere denizen knows. Repetition of an opinion adds to its persuasiveness, as well as the perception that the opinion is widely held. The “echo chamber” does have an impact, squeaky wheels are seen as needing grease, and small, organized phone and letter campaigns can have an effect far beyond their real numbers.
Whether people are making financial decisions in the stock market or worrying about terrorism, they are likely to be influenced by what others think. And, according to a new study in this month’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA), repeated exposure to one person’s viewpoint can have almost as much influence as exposure to shared opinions from multiple people. This finding shows that hearing an opinion multiple times increases the recipient’s sense of familiarity and in some cases gives a listener a false sense that an opinion is more widespread then it actually is.
[…] The studies found that an opinion is more likely to be assumed to be the majority opinion when multiple group members express their opinion. However, the study also showed that hearing one person express the same opinion multiple times had nearly the same effect on listener’s perception of the opinion being popular as hearing multiple people state his/her opinion.
(via kottke)
Not a bad rationale for blogging, if one has opinions on issues that matter.