The Mere Exposure Effect

The mere exposure effect shows how people develop a preference for things simply because we are familiar with them. This means that the more often we are exposed to something, the more likely we are to favor it. One of the earliest studies on the mere exposure effect was conducted by Robert Zionx in 1968. In his study, he showed participants a series of written Chinese characters and measured their emotional reactions to each character. He found those who were exposed to some characters more frequently had more positive emotional reactions to those characters. And this effect isn't only found in Michigan students, it's been demonstrated across different cultures and even different species. It can have a powerful influence on our thoughts, our feelings and our