Mere Exposure Effect

After repeated exposure to something it becomes familiar, and even if it’s false or bad, it can come to be viewed as true or acceptable – even favorable, simply because it feels familiar.

Choose wisely what you expose yourself to.

Drawing in watercolor of 4 polaroid instant camera prints and from left to right they are labeled Mere Exposure Effect exclamation point. In the photos, it’s a poo emoji that gradually morphs into a heart emoji. An owl is sitting nearby looking concerned with his one wing bent up to his beak like a hand. The caption reads, After repeated exposure to something it becomes familiar, and even if it’s false or bad, it can come to be viewed as true or acceptable - even favorable, simply because it feels familiar. reiteration effect, illusion of truth effect, validity effect, illusory truth effect, and the truth effect. Those in the know regularly capitalize on this influential advertising trick to promote products, services, people, actions, agendas, politics, beliefs, ideas & attitudes — you name it. Signed by Chloe 2022, watermelonpunch.com
Drawing in watercolor of 4 polaroid instant camera prints and from left to right they are labeled Mere Exposure Effect exclamation point. In the photos, it’s a poo emoji that gradually morphs into a heart emoji. An owl is sitting nearby looking concerned with his one wing bent up to his beak like a hand. The caption reads, After repeated exposure to something it becomes familiar, and even if it’s false or bad, it can come to be viewed as true or acceptable – even favorable, simply because it feels familiar. reiteration effect, illusion of truth effect, validity effect, illusory truth effect, and the truth effect. Those in the know regularly capitalize on this influential advertising trick to promote products, services, people, actions, agendas, politics, beliefs, ideas & attitudes — you name it. Signed by Chloe 2022, watermelonpunch.com

When we know this is what happens, we have a decision to make.


Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University: Echo Chamber Why Is It So Convincing To Repeat A Claim Again And Again — Even If It’s Patently Untrue? by By Jennifer (Jennie) Latson

The marketing term “effective frequency” refers to the idea that a consumer has to see or hear an ad a number of times before its message hits home. Essentially, the more you say something, the more it sticks in — and possibly on — people’s heads. It doesn’t even have to be true — and that’s the problem. What advertisers call “effective frequency,” psychologists call the “illusory truth effect”: the more you hear something, the easier it is for your brain to process, which makes it feel true, regardless of its basis in fact. “Each time, it takes fewer resources to understand,” says Lisa Fazio, a psychology professor at Vanderbilt University. “That ease of processing gives it the weight of a gut feeling.” That feeling of truth allows misconceptions to sneak into our knowledge base, where they masquerade as facts, Fazio and her colleagues write in a 2015 journal article.


The Decision Lab: Why do we prefer things that we are familiar with?

The mere exposure effect can result in suboptimal decision-making. Good decisions are made by evaluating all possible courses of actions based on their effectiveness, not their familiarity. When deciding between alternatives, we shouldn’t be choosing the familiar option, we should be choosing the best option. This is because sometimes the best option is not the most familiar one. Sometimes the most effective course of action is the one that is unfamiliar to us. Moreover, sticking with what we know limits our exposure to new things, ideas, and viewpoints. This limits the range of choices we are able and willing to consider when making future decisions, and narrows the perspective from which we make them.


Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior: Frequency and the conference of referential validity – by Hasher, Lynn; Goldstein, David; Toppino, Thomas (1977)

The present research has demonstrated that the repetition of a plausible statement increases a person’s belief in the referential validity or truth of that statement. Other research has demonstrated the sensitivity of the information processing system to the frequency variable (cf., Estes, 1976; Underwood, 1971).


Mere Exposure Effect, by Katja Falkenbach, Gleb Schaab, Oliver Pfau, Magdalena Ryfa, Bahadir Birkan

The mere exposure effect is a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things or people that are more familiar to them than others. Repeated exposure increases familiarity. This effect is therefore also known as the familiarity effect. The earliest known research on the effect was conducted by Gustav Fechner in 1876. The effect was also documented by Edward Titchener and described as the glow of warmth one feels in the presence of something familiar.


Illusory truth effect, Wikipedia

The illusory truth effect (also known as the illusion of truth effect, validity effect, truth effect, or the reiteration effect) is the tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure. This phenomenon was first identified in a 1977 study at Villanova University and Temple University. When truth is assessed, people rely on whether the information is in line with their understanding or if it feels familiar. The first condition is logical, as people compare new information with what they already know to be true. Repetition makes statements easier to process relative to new, unrepeated statements, leading people to believe that the repeated conclusion is more truthful.


Australian Army Occasional Paper No. 8 The Effectiveness of Influence Activities in Information Warfare by CASSANDRA BROOKER This propaganda feedback loop demonstrates the power of inundation, repetition, emotional/social contagions, and personality bias confirmations, as well as demonstrating behaviours of people preferring to access entertaining content that does not require ‘System 2’ critical thought. Audiences encountered multiple versions of the same story, propagated over months, through their favoured media sources, to the point where both recall and credibility were enhanced, fact-checkers were overwhelmed and a ‘majority illusion’ was created.
Australian Army Occasional Paper No. 8 The Effectiveness of Influence Activities in Information Warfare by CASSANDRA BROOKER This propaganda feedback loop demonstrates the power of inundation, repetition, emotional/social contagions, and personality bias confirmations, as well as demonstrating behaviours of people preferring to access entertaining content that does not require ‘System 2’ critical thought. Audiences encountered multiple versions of the same story, propagated over months, through their favoured media sources, to the point where both recall and credibility were enhanced, fact-checkers were overwhelmed and a ‘majority illusion’ was created.