Definition: Familiarity leads us to view things more positively.
Reference: Robert Zajonc - study with students and Chinese characters - the more a character was shown, the more the students believed them to represent positive definitions, and discovered that there was an almost linear relationship between familiarity, how positive people thought something was and how much they liked it.
Insight: Familiarity may be able to reduce race-related biases.
Insight: It could also be said that familiarity makes us fear things less rather than simply liking things more.
Insight: There is a contradiction that was found in Zajonc's studies - we are motivated by novelty when it comes to art, music or new things, but fearful of the unfamiliar.
Insight: The creative curve - we enjoy things like music with more exposure, then reach a level of overexposure at which point each additional listen makes us like it less and less.
Example: Studies with faces, letters, numbers, brands, Chinese characters, the more we like it.
Reference: Robert Zajonc - named the Mere Exposure Effect: the more often we encounter something, the more we like it.
Insight: One explanation for the Effect is that more exposure increases the ease of processing. Ideas that are unfamiliar require more effort to understand.
Insight: More exposure makes things less threatening to us.
Insight: Evidence suggested that liking ideas continues to increase with exposure of around 10 to 20 times, with additional exposure being useful for more complex ideas. New ideas mixed in with old concepts is effective to maintain curiosity.
Principle: With learning or idea sharing it can be effective to begin with novelty (surprise) and add familiarity.
Definition: The tendency of people to develop preferences for people or things because of repeated exposure to them.
Reference: Robert Zajonc - nonsense words. Participants believed words that they were exposed to more often to have more positive meanings.
Insight: New things grab our attention, and we like things that are familiar. There is an optimal level of exposure to things for us to be both engaged and like the thing. This is what most product developers/artists are aiming for.
Insight: The Mere Exposure Effect does not depend of consciously being familiar with the stimulus. In fact it is stronger for stimuli that the individual never consciously observes.
Reference: Robert Zajonc, studied the link between repeated stimuli and liking it. Termed it the Mere Exposure Effect.
Reference: In nature we are biologically wired to react cautiously to new things, often with withdrawal and fear. Zajonc argued that, generally, repeated exposure to a stimulus is followed by nothing bad, and is thus a safety signal.
Definition: People develop a preference for things that are more familiar, by merely being exposed to something makes us view it more positively.
Insight: Loss aversion + mere exposure = status quo bias.
Reference: Robert Zajonc - nonsense words and Chinese style characters - the more people are exposed to the same word or character, the more positively they felt about them.
Definition: [As related to stocks] we view stocks as less risky if we are more familiar (exposed) to them.
Example: The preference for domestic stocks over international ones, regardless of quality [or legislation].
Insight: We tend to think of unfamiliar things as more risky.
Definition: Repeated exposure makes you like things more.
Example: The more often you see a person, the more attractive and intelligent you will find them.
Insight: Familiarity breeds affection.
Definition: The more you are exposed to something, the more you will like it.
Insight: Changes that initially feel unwelcome or foreign will be perceived more favourably as people grow accustomed to them.
Insight: Exposure to potential rivals can increase our liking.
Reference: Robert Zajonc - the idea that when we approach something new, we often fear it, but over time our response to the same thing becomes more positive.
Definition: Repeated exposure makes us like things better
Example: We are more likely to be friends with people that we see more often without making too much effort (classmates, neighbours, workmates etc)
Definition: Exposure to something increases your liking for it.
Insight: Exposure leads to familiarity which can enhance liking more the stimulus.
Key Insights & Principles
Psychology
Exposure to people or things can lead to an increased affection, even when we are not consciously aware of the stimulus.
Overexposure to certain stimuli (music for example) can lead to a decline in affection beyond a certain point.
Mixing novel ideas with familiar concepts can help with engagement and curiousity.
We are naturally fearful of new things in our environment, but repeated exposure followed by nothing bad is a safety signal, and we reduce our fear of that which we have repeated exposure to.
We have a tendency to equate unfamiliarity with increased risk.
