Have you ever listened to a song that you were indifferent to so often that you ended up liking it? Have you ever felt that the more time you spend with a person, the more pleasant they become? In the study of human preferences, the effect of simple exposure is increasingly relevant.
Also known as the principle of familiarity, this effect explains why, when we are exposed several times to a nerve stimulus, our response becomes more positive.
- Simply put.
- This reflects our predilection for these best-known situations.
- People.
- Or objects.
- What factors influence the onset of this phenomenon?Let’s see how it works in more detail below.
Robert Zajonc is one of the authors who has studied this particular psychological effect the most, and since the first research on the subject in 1876, the presence of this preference has been demonstrated in the face of stimuli of different nature.
Words, sounds, images of faces . . . in any case, people seem to have a preference for more familiar choices.
A study was conducted to check the influence of this effect on predilection for certain foods, so a group of students received several previously unknown tropical juices, some have tried it five times, another ten and another 15. preferred, there was a clear tendency to judge those who had most often proven to be more positive.
The same results were obtained in research on interpersonal attraction, the more often we see a person, the more sympathetic their presence becomes and the more we like their presence.
One of the most interesting aspects of this effect is the fact that it is not necessary for the person to perceive familiarity with the stimulus, in addition, the effect seems to improve in ‘subliminal conditions’.
Zajonc conducted a survey in which he showed participants several images of Chinese characters. The exposure time to each symbol was so short that observers didn’t know what they were seeing.
Participants were told that these characteristics represented adjectives and should judge whether they had positive or negative connotations. Invariably, group participants rated better the symbols to which they had already been exposed.
Of course, brands take into account the effect of simple exposure on their advertising campaigns, in fact, knowledge of a logo, slogan or corporate image can make us fall in love with a certain product.
Would this mental way of working explain why, when we travel to new cities for tourism, we are tempted to look for the franchises we know?
Fechner is the author of the first known research on this phenomenon, and the German psychologist, father of current psychophysical theories, offers an explanation for this, people tend to react with some fear or anxiety to new elements.
However, this?Phobia ?, in the face of the new, collapses because we are exposed several times to these stimuli. This natural tendency to fear the unknown even becomes a pleasant sense of familiarity when coming into contact with the element.
In addition, we must keep in mind that if there is repeated exposure to excessive stimulus we can get bored, satiety is a condition that limits the impact of this effect, if we eat the same thing every day we end up feeling bad, or if we watch the same movie every day, it ends up being boring.
Therefore, at the basis of many of our preferences, we find this principle of familiarity, even unconsciously. Whatever our greatest or least taste for adventure or risk, many of the decisions we make on a daily basis are mediated by this effect.
The objects we acquire, the places we go and the people we love may be affected by this principle, so it is convenient, or at least interesting, to be aware of their influence on our minds.