17 September Today's term from psychology is Rhyme-As-Reason Effect.

17 September

Today's term from psychology is Rhyme-As-Reason Effect.

Simply put, the Rhyme-As-Reason Effect, also known as the Eaton-Rosen Phenomenon, means we tend to believe that a statement is more believable if it rhymes. This seems to happen because rhymes can be more easily remembered, and processed by the brain.

The most famous example of the Rhyme-As-Reason Effect comes from the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial in which Johnnie Cochran, one of Simpson's defense attorneys, told the jury, "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit." Cochran was referring to a pair of gloves, one of which was found with blood on it at the murder scene, and the other of which was found in Simpson's house.

When Simpson tried on the gloves in court, they appeared to be too small for him, which allowed Cochran to subliminally reinforce the idea that Simpson must be innocent of the crime with his now famous rhyme.

The take away from this is that if you need to convince people of something, make your idea rhyme.