Sequence redundancy, rating dimensions, and the exposure effect

Abstract

Two experiments investigated Zajonc's (1968) hypo thesis that mere repeated exposure to stimuli is a sufficient condition to enhance individuals' attitudes toward those stimuli, In the first experiment, no significant differences in preference were obtained following exposure to high-and low-redundancy sequences of nonsense syllabies. In the secend study, the effects of repeated exposure were rneasured along several rating dimensions, revealing significant differences between dimensions. These results were discussed in terms of the limiting conditions of the exposure effect.Recently, Zajonc (1968) has presented evidence which indicates that mere repeated exposure of a stimulus to an individual is a sufficient condition to enhance the individual's attitude toward that stimulus. Subsequent experiments (e.g., Zajonc, Shaver, Tavris, & van Krevald, 1972;Zajonc, Swap, Harrison, & Roberts, 1971) which have attempted to determine the limiting conditions of the exposure effect have obtained this positive exposure-affect relationship with a variety of stimuli, exposure frequencies, and experimental conditions. Conversely, Berlyne (1970) found that Ss exposed to a highly redundant exposure sequence preferred novel stimuli to more familiar stimuli. Because Berlyne's (1970) procedure typicaUy involved rating the stimuli du ring the exposure sequence rather than after, Harrison and Crandall (1972) compared the effects of highly heterogeneous and homogeneous exposure sequences on postexposure ratings of stimuli and found a strong positive relationship between exposure and affect for both sequences.In addition to using postexposure ratings, the Harrison-CrandaU study also used complex Chinese characters as stimuli rather than the simple geometrie figures used by Berlyne (1970). Because previous research (e.g., Saegert & Jellison, 1970) has found the degree of stimulus complexity to interact with the effects of exposure, it is difficult to determine the extent to whieh the positive relationship found by Harrison and Crandall (1972) was due to postexposure ratings rather than to stimulus complexity. Experiment I further investigated the relationships between redundancy of the exposure sequence, stimulus complexity, and preference. Ss viewed 31 slides consisting of five different nonsense syllables shown at *Experiment I was conducted while the first author was at Ohio Wesleyan University; Experiment II was conducted at the University of Michigan while the first author was a predoctoral trainee on NIMH Grant 5 TOI MH-06667-14. Thanks to Robert B. Zajonc and Harry P. Bahrick for their critical readings of drafts of this paper.five different frequencies. The stimuli were presented in either a massed (all exposures to each stimulus presented before a new syllable was shown) or spaced (syllables presented randomly) order. EXPERIMENT I Method SubjectsThe Ss were 94 undergraduates enrolled in introductory psychology courses at Ohio Wesleyan University, who participated in the experiment to satisfy a course requirernent. Ss were altem...

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