The Fact
Yes. Experiments on the “illusion of consensus” found that people do not always distinguish true consensus from multiple people repeating a claim that originated with one source, especially when source independence is unclear.
What This Means
Apparent agreement is strongest evidence when the agreeing sources reached their conclusions independently. Repetition of one origin can look like broader corroboration than it really is.
Sources
- Connor Desai, S., Xie, B., & Hayes, B. K. (2022). “Getting to the source of the illusion of consensus.” Cognition 223:105023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105023