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psychology
You like things more simply because you saw them before.
In a 1968 study, participants rated random shapes and words as more appealing the more frequently they were exposed to them.
This is the mere exposure effect. Your brain processes familiar stimuli faster and with less effort, a fluency that it misinterprets as a positive aesthetic preference.
Your favorite songs and brands are often just the ones you have encountered the most.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Robert Zajonc, 1968, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- What the check found
- Zajonc's 1968 study is the widely accepted source for the mere exposure effect involving random shapes and ideographs. The claim accurately reflects this seminal finding.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.