The generalizability of subliminal mere exposure effects: Influence of stimuli perceived without awareness on social behavior.

Abstract

This article describes three experiments investigating the extent to which subliminal mere exposure effects arc obtainable not only with simple stimuli but also with complex human stimuli in social situations. In the first experiment, undergraduate subjects were exposed to slides of abstract geometric figures at both subliminal (i.e., 4 ms) and supraliminal exposure durations. Subjects1 attitudes toward the subliminally presented stimuli became significantly more positive with repeated exposures, even when subjects were unaware that exposures had occurred. Experiment 2 demonstrated that similar attitude changes are produced by subliminal exposure to photographs of actual persons. The results of Experiment 3 indicate that attitudes toward persons encountered in the natural environment of the psychology experiment are also enhanced by subliminal exposure to a photograph of that person. These findings are discussed in the context of prevailing models of mere exposure effects as well as an alternative psychodynamic model. Implications for research on attitudes, social cognition, and interpersonal object choice are also discussed. The investigation of subliminal and marginal phenomena represents an interface among the fields of personality, social, and cognitive psychology. Although the empirical study of these phenomena dates from early in this century (Poetzl, 1917) and

Cites (5)

1. Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes.
   Nisbett, Richard E., Wilson, Timothy D. · 1977 · Psychological Review
2. Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences.
   Zajonc, R. B. · 1980 · American Psychologist
3. Attitudinal Effects of Mere Exposure
   Zajonc, Robert B. · 1968 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
4. Exposure and affect: Overview and meta-analysis of research, 1968–1987.
   Bornstein, Robert F. · 1989 · Psychological Bulletin
5. On the primacy of cognition
   Lazarus, Richard S. · 1984 · American Psychologist

Show all 5 references

Cited by (13)

1. Exposure and affect: Overview and meta-analysis of research, 1968–1987.
   Bornstein, Robert F. · 1989 · Psychological Bulletin
2. Characteristics of dissociable human learning systems
   Shanks, David R., St. John, Mark F. · 1994 · Behavioral and Brain Sciences
3. Mere Exposure: A Gateway to the Subliminal
   Zajonc, Robert B. · 2006 · The Construction of Preference
4. The Attribution and Discounting of Perceptual Fluency: Preliminary Tests of a Perceptual Fluency/Attributional Model of the Mere Exposure Effect
   Bornstein, Robert F., D'Agostino, Paul R. · 1994 · Social Cognition
5. Effects of Brand Logo Complexity, Repetition, and Spacing on Processing Fluency and Judgment
   Janiszewski, Chris, Meyvis, Tom · 2001 · Journal of Consumer Research

See all 227