Mere-exposure effect

The Mere exposure effect or effect of the mere contact, discovered in 1968 by Robert Zajonc, is the fact that only by the multiple presentation of people, situations or things, that is solely on the basis of familiarity, the setting of a people to these things can be positively influenced. For example, does mere familiarity with a person these attractive and likeable. However, a prerequisite is that the evaluation was negative for the first performance; in this case the aversion becomes stronger through repeated presentation.

The effect also occurs in subliminal perception, that is, it does not matter whether the person is aware of the contact or not.

Examples

• The more contact people have (even accidentally ), the more likely they will become friends. This was demonstrated by a study by Leon Festinger, Stanley Schachter and Kurt Back ( 1950) at MIT, which could show a relationship between the spatial arrangement of dormitory rooms and the friendship relations of its inhabitants.
• In the experiment of Moreland and Beach ( 1992) confidants took ( inaugurated assistants of the experimenter ) at 0 (control group ) participated to 15 dates a college seminar. Then, the attractiveness of her personality was rated by the other seminar participants. There was a linear relationship between the number of participants and sympathy.
• Are chicken eggs regularly sonicated with a certain tone, this tone leads the hatched chicks to a reduction of stress.

Theoretical background

Zajonc ' own explanation of the effect is psychological evolution. He writes: "The consequences of repeated performance advantage to the organism in its relations with the immediate animate and inanimate environment. They allow the organism to distinguish between safe and dangerous things and habitats, and they form the most primitive foundations of social bonds. Therefore, they form the basis for social organization and cohesion - the basic sources of psychological and social stability, " In this sense, the effect is based at least in part on the learning of a security stimulus in the sense of classical conditioning. .

In addition, familiarity leads to increased stimulus processing liquid " Fluency ", ie the processing is faster, easier and more efficient. Fluids processing is associated with positive affect, so an easy good feeling, which appears to lead to a more positive assessment of the frequently processed stimulus.

Moreover, it seems that does not generate the stimulus to be the Mere exposure effect, but the motor representations that are activated as the stimulus.

Mere exposure effects are influenced by the type of presentation of the stimuli. Thus, for example increases the number of presentations of the stimulus, the duration and sequence to effect or positivity of the evaluation.

Application in marketing

In marketing, this effect leads to the realization that, for example, short, repeated iterations of a product advertising medium lead to the fact that an advertised product or service is perceived positively by consumers (even unconsciously).

Applications in theories of mate choice

The theory that repeated encounters with a person of the preferred gender increases the likelihood that you will find these attractive, complemented approaches on the influence of spatial proximity and the influence of general similarity of interests. Both proximity and similarity in interests, leads to more encounters.