A Spatial Model of the Mere Exposure Effect

Abstract

The mere exposure effect has been central to our understanding of the role of cognition in attitude change. Using a spatial model, an experiment is reported that examines the relationship between exposure, cognition, and affect. Subjects (N = 153) viewed a geometric figure either high or low in complexity within a 64-frame film clip, with each frame appearing for 28 msec. Because of exposure, the simpler stimulus and the term for affect are found to move almost directly toward each other in the multidimensional space, whereas no evidence for any cognitive change for this stimulus is found. No form of processing is found for the more complex stimulus. Results indicate that the spatial model is useful for evaluating the mere exposure effect and that affective change does not seem to require cognitive change.