Familiarity Effects (Mere Exposure Effect)

intermediate2 min readmarketing · sociology · psychology

Repeated exposure to a stimulus can increase liking for it, sometimes without conscious awareness. The passage distinguishes that preference from the enjoyment someone experiences when consuming or using it.

THE IDEA

Familiarity Effects

Extensive and diverse evidence shows that familiarity with a stimulus increases affective response to it. Rats raised to Mozart prefer Mozart to Schoenberg (Cross, Holcomb, & Matter, 1967). Chicks raised with matchboxes prefer the company of matchboxes to the company of other chicks (Taylor & Sluckin, 1964). People prefer the number 4 to the number 19 (Zajonc, 1968), prefer the letters in their name to other letters (Nuttin, 1985, 1987), and prefer their mirror image, which they see every day, to their actual image, which they see only in photographs (Mita, Dermer, & Knight, 1997). These “mere exposure” effects have also been found with geometric figures, Chinese and Japanese ideographs, Turkish words, foods, odors, flavors, colors, people, and random sequences of tones (see Zajonc, 1998, for a review).

Many of these examples admit little room for a divergence between liking and enjoyment – it is not clear whether any distinction can be made between how much one “likes” a particular trapezoid and how much one “enjoys” it. In other cases in which there is a temporal separation between choice and consumption, the distinction becomes sharper. For example, although a familiarity-based affective response might cause chicks to prefer a nearby matchbox to another nearby chick, they might actually enjoy the companionship of other chicks more than they enjoy the proximity of matchboxes. Similarly, familiarity could increase the tendency to choose a particular brand of spaghetti sauce without actually improving its taste. Indeed, strong familiarity effects could sustain the selection of the status quo brand in the face of steadily decreasing enjoyment.

When to use it

Advertisers use repeated exposure to increase brand liking and purchase intent.
Political campaigns use repeated slogans and imagery to increase familiarity and favorability.
Comparing whether familiar music is more likely to be selected and whether listeners actually enjoy it more.
Product placement in movies leverages repeated exposure to boost consumer preference.

FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE

In practice

Mozart-loving Rats

Rats raised listening to Mozart later preferred Mozart over Schoenberg (Cross, Holcomb, & Matter, 1967).

Matchbox Preference in Chicks

Chicks raised with matchboxes preferred the company of matchboxes to that of other chicks (Taylor & Sluckin, 1964).

Name Letter Preference

People tend to prefer letters that appear in their own name compared to other letters (Nuttin, 1985, 1987).

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A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Put it to work.

How might familiarity with a brand influence your purchasing decisions even if you no longer enjoy the product?
Can you think of a time when you preferred something simply because you were exposed to it repeatedly?
How does the mere exposure effect operate in advertising and political campaigns?