The simple exposure effect in psychology shows that people prefer familiar things, even if they are not the best choice. This affects human behavior, relationships, and advertising campaigns. The brain’s preference for familiarity can be positive but also dangerous.
The simple exposure effect is a phenomenon in psychology where people tend to prefer something or someone that looks familiar. The more familiar something is, the more pleasant or reliable it will seem to the subject. This has a number of interesting ramifications for human behavior and plays an important role in developing advertising campaigns and other measures aimed at gaining customer trust or preference.
Research on the simple effect of exposure shows that the more subjects are exposed to something, the more comfortable they will feel around it. Repeated exposures can lead to a situation where a subject will prefer the familiar alternative to an unfamiliar alternative. This is true even if the unfamiliar is actually a better choice. Consumers, for example, often look for the branded product on the store shelf even though the generic product may be functionally identical and less expensive.
Awareness of the simple effect of exposure can play an important role in understanding human attraction and relationships. A patient will feel more comfortable with a well-known doctor, for example, and may not be as receptive to information and suggestions from a different doctor, even with a referral from their original doctor. Similarly, as people grow up attracted to each other, the aspect of the object of their attractions is rated higher if they see that person on a regular basis. In school settings, children often distrust and disobey a teacher at the beginning of the semester only to like him after many lessons together because he is familiar.
The advertising industry is well aware of the role that the mere effect of exposure plays in product preference and selection. Advertisers use campaigns to repeatedly expose consumers to their products in a way that looks familiar and sticks in consumers’ minds. While a consumer might not decide to buy a product based on a specific ad, seeing the same brand and products over and over again can influence her choice when she goes to the store to select something. The sheer effect of exposure may also explain why sales can decline after customers release a new package, which is why many companies advertise a change in packaging to familiarize consumers before they make the switch.
This phenomenon plays an important role in human cognition. There could be a number of reasons behind the brain’s tendency to prefer things it knows and recognizes over strangers, and it could be a positive adaptation to help humans process information and make decisions quickly. It can also be dangerous, however. A commuter may regard a fellow traveler he sees on the train every morning as more trustworthy than another random stranger, for example, even if he has no real information to rely on.
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