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preference
You prefer things simply because you see them often.
A 1968 study showed that participants rated symbols they had viewed more frequently as having a more positive meaning.
The mere exposure effect describes how repeated contact with a neutral stimulus increases your preference for it over time. The brain processes familiar items with less effort, and this perceived ease is often misinterpreted as an internal feeling of liking or trustworthiness. The effect occurs without you consciously deciding to change your opinion.
Consistency is often mistaken for inherent value.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Robert Zajonc, 1968, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- What the check found
- Robert Zajonc's 1968 paper in JPSP is the canonical source for the mere exposure effect, which is textbook psychology. The claim is accurate, though it simplifies the effect by omitting the role of stimulus valence.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.