The more specific phrasing forces the brain to process the sentence more deeply, which can make it seem more likely to be true. 

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Negativity can be created with two methods: concept valence and negation. Negated statements are more likely to be judged as true. 

-Concept valence: "more than vs. less than"

-Negation: "this vs not this" 

Sources of negativity in a statement

Jaffé, M. E., & Greifeneder, R. (2020). Can that be true or is it fake news? New perspec- tives on the negativity bias in judgments of truth. In R. Greifeneder, M. Jaffé, E. J. Newman, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), The psychology of fake news: Accepting, sharing, and cor- recting misinformation (pp. 115–130). London: Routledge. 

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