Mere+Exposure+Effect

.............................. By: Jacob Winterman

**Mere Bystander Effect**

 People prefer things that they are familiar with (People, items, brands) simply because they have seen them more often than anything else. A person out of a random group of people would choose to work with someone they have seen more often than the people before.  This theory is commonly known as the Exposure effect or the familiarity theory.

**Research related to Theory:**

**Zajonc (1968)**  Two groups of people, he showed them various different chinese characters, then told them that they mean various different adjectives. Showing some characters more than the other, when he asked the people to tell whether the adjective was good or bad, and the characters that were seen more tended to be assumed to be good characters. ===**Goetzinger (1968)**  Placed a man in a black plastic bag and sat him in the back of a classroom, and using the mere exposure theory, the students reacted just the way he predicted, the students entering started with hostility towards the bag, but after time of seeming the bag developed friendship. ===

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKUiCXR4ITw

**Pop Culture References:**

In the show Seinfeld the character, Kramer, constantly barged into Seinfeld’s apartment, taking food and answering his phone calls. Normally someone would be pissed if this happened, but after a while Jerry got used to it, and through the Mere Exposure Effect Jerry began to like Kramer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5CdqV0WDac
 The most obvious application of the mere-exposure effect is found in advertising, but research has been mixed as to its effectiveness at enhancing consumer attitudes toward particular companies and products. One study tested the mere-exposure effect with banner ads seen on a computer screen. The study was conducted on college-aged students who were asked to read an article on the computer while banner ads flashed at the top of the screen. The results showed that each group exposed to the "test" banner rated the ad more favorably than other ads shown less frequently or not at all. This research bolsters the evidence for the mere-exposure effect. (Wiki)

 In Needham High School people tend to be friends with people in their classes because they see them a significant amount in their high school career. This is the effect of the exposure effect in Needham High School.

Bibliography:

[|__http://psychcentral.com/encyclopedia/2009/mere-exposure-effect/__]

[|__http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/mere_exposure.htm__]

[|__http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere-exposure_effect__]