Why do we prefer things that we are familiar with?

The 

Mere Exposure Effect

, explained.
Bias

What is the Mere Exposure Effect?

The mere exposure effect describes our tendency to develop preferences for things simply because we are familiar with them. For this reason, it is also known as the familiarity principle.

A Venn diagram labeled 'Mere Exposure Effect,' showing overlap between circles labeled 'Familiar Things' and 'Unfamiliar Things,' with the overlap representing 'Things I Like.'

Where this bias occurs

Consider the following hypothetical situation: one day, Jane and her family visit an area called “Little Portugal” to eat lunch at a restaurant. Jane has never eaten Portuguese food before. As a result, when Jane looks at the menu, she doesn’t recognize any of the dishes; some of the ingredients are entirely foreign to her.

Jane doesn’t know what to order. Then, on the back side of the menu, she noticed that they also offer pizza and burgers. Finally, some familiar food! Jane loves pizza—she eats it all the time. So naturally, this is what she decides to order. 

We prefer things we have been exposed to in the past, and our preference increases as our exposure does—a phenomenon known as the mere exposure effect. The more familiar something feels, the safer and more appealing it seems, which is why Jane instinctively gravitates toward pizza, even in a restaurant full of new and potentially exciting options.

Related Biases

Sources

  1. Sleeth-Keppler, D. (n.d.). Featured: Familiarity as an Obstacle: SBI. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/about/featured/2011/2011-05-familiarityobstacle.shtml
  2. Zebrowitz, L. A., White, B., & Wieneke, K. (2008). Mere Exposure and Racial Prejudice: Exposure to Other-Race Faces Increases Liking for Strangers of that Race. Social Cognition, 26(3), 259-275. doi:10.1521/soco.2008.26.3.259
  3. Andy. (2016, March 05). The Mere Exposure Effect. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://socialpsychonline.com/2016/03/the-mere-exposure-effect/
  4. Hopper, E. (n.d.). What Is the Mere Exposure Effect in Psychology? Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://www.thoughtco.com/mere-exposure-effect-4777824
  5. Bornstein, R. F., Kale, A. R., & Cornell, K. R. (1990). Boredom as a limiting condition on the mere exposure effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(5), 791–800. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.5.791
  6. Andy. (2016, March 05). The Mere Exposure Effect. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://socialpsychonline.com/2016/03/the-mere-exposure-effect/
  7. Huberman, G. (2015). Familiarity Breeds Investment. The Review of Financial Studies. doi:10.1093/rfs/14.3.659
  8. Serenko, A., & Bontis, N. (2011). What's familiar is excellent: The impact of exposure effect on perceived journal quality. J. Informetrics, 5, 219-223.
  9. Delplanque, S., Coppin, G., Bloesch, L., Cayeux, I., & Sander, D. (2015). The mere exposure effect depends on an odor’s initial pleasantness. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 139897. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00920 
  10. Palumbo, R., Di Domenico, A., Fairfield, B., et al. (2021). When twice is better than once: Increased liking of repeated items influences memory in younger and older adults. BMC Psychology, 9(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-021-00531-8 
  11. Newcomb, T. M. (1956). The prediction of interpersonal attraction. American Psychologist, 11(11), 575–586. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0046141 
  12. Langer, E., Russel, T., & Eisenkraft, N. (2009). Orchestral performance and the footprint of mindfulness. Psychology of Music, 37(2), 125-136. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735607086053 
  13. Kwan, L. Y. Y., Yap, S., & Chiu, C. (2015). Mere exposure affects perceived descriptive norms: Implications for personal preferences and trust. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 129, 48-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2014.12.002 
  14. Nanay, B. (2024, May 7). The mere exposure effect in politics: How mere exposure works in the current political climate. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psychology-tomorrow/202405/the-mere-exposure-effect-in-politics 
  15. Montoya, R. M., Horton, R. S., Vevea, J. L., Citkowicz, M., & Lauber, E. A. (2017). A re-examination of the mere exposure effect: The influence of repeated exposure on recognition, familiarity, and liking. Psychological Bulletin, 143(5), 459–498. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000085 
  16. Bornstein, R. F. (1989). Exposure and affect: Overview and meta-analysis of research, 1968–1987. Psychological Bulletin, 106(2), 265–289. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.106.2.265 
  17. Ladd, S. L., & Gabrieli, J. D. (2015). Trait and state anxiety reduce the mere exposure effect. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 701. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00701 
  18. Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9(2, Pt.2), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0025848

About the Authors

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Dan Pilat

Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.

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Dr. Sekoul Krastev

Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.

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