The Attribution and Discounting of Perceptual Fluency: Preliminary Tests of a Perceptual Fluency/Attributional Model of the Mere Exposure Effect

Social Cognition, Vol. 12, No. 2, 1994, pp. 103-128

ROBERT F. BORNSTE1N AND PAUL R. D'AGOSTINO

Gettysburg College

Bornstein and D'Agostino (1 990, 1 992) hypothesized that the mere exposure effect

results from a combination of two processes. First, an increase in perceptual fluency

is induced by repeated exposure to a stimulus. Second, subjects attribute percep tual fluency effects to liking for a stimulus based on contextual cues provided by the experimenter. This paper describes two experiments that test predictions

derived from the perceptual fluency/attributional model. In Experiment 1, the availability of information that allowed subjects to attribute perceptual fluency effects to the stimulus familarization procedure resulted in lower evaluative ratings

of stimuli in a typical subliminal mere exposure effect experiment. In Experiment 2, the introduction of information that discouraged subjects from attributing perceptual fluency effects to the stimulus familiarization procedure resulted in more positive evaluative ratings of stimuli in a supraliminal mere exposure effect experiment. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed, and suggestions for future studies in this area are offered.

The idea that repeated, unreinforced exposure to

a stimulus leads to more positive attitudes regarding that stimulus has had a long history

in psychology (see Fechner, 1876; James, 1890; Maslow, 1937; Pepper, 1919). Zajonc (1968) reviewed much of the early evidence supporting this hypothesis, conducted several studies assessing the conditions under

which repeated exposure to a stimulus leads to

more positive evalu

ations of that stimulus, and introduced the term mere exposure effect to

describe this phenomenon. Since the publication of Zajonc's seminal

This research supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH46824-01 Al

to the first author, and by National Science Foundation Grant DBS-9221546 to both authors.

We would like to thank Susan M. Andersen, Eliot Smith and several anonymous reviewers

for helpful comments earlier version of this paper.

Correspondence regarding this paper should be sent to Robert F. Bornstein, PhD,

Department of Psychology, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA, 17325.

103

THE ATTRIBUTION AND DISCOUNTING OF

PERCEPTUAL FLUENCY: PRELIMINARY TESTS OF

A PERCEPTUAL FLUENCY/ATTRIBUTIONAL

MODEL OF THE MERE EXPOSURE EFFECT

104 BORNSTEIN AND D'AGOSTINO

monograph on the mere exposure effect, there have been more than 200

published experiments testing the hypothesis that repeated, unreinfor

ced exposure to a stimulus results...