Mere Exposure Paradigm

The mere exposure paradigm, established by Robert Zajonc in 1968, shows that simply being repeatedly exposed to a stimulus, with no reinforcement or even conscious recognition, increases liking for it. In the canonical procedure, participants are exposed to novel stimuli -- unfamiliar ideographs, foreign words, faces, or melodies -- different numbers of times, and then rate how much they like each one; liking rises as exposure frequency rises, typically following a positive, decelerating curve. The effect occurs even when stimuli are presented subliminally and participants cannot recognize them, indicating that familiarity breeds liking through an affective rather than cognitive route. Zajonc's demonstration that 'mere' repeated exposure suffices to shape attitudes became foundational for theories of preference formation, the affect-cognition relationship, and applications from advertising to interpersonal attraction.