A group of people were asked to read a magazine for 20 minutes while a television was on in a distant corner of the room. On the television was a series of 10 commercials that repeated every five minutes. A week after this happened the same group was asked a series of questions that consisted of picking one product or another. The results of this experiment were that the products that were shown in the commercials were chosen more often than not. What does this example demonstrate?
A) product placement effect
B) just meaningful difference
C) mere exposure effect
D) selective distinction

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This example demonstrates the mere exposure effect, which occurs when people develop a preference for something simply because they are familiar with it or have been exposed to it repeatedly. In this case, the viewers were exposed to the commercials repeatedly without even paying attention to them, but the repetition led to an increased likelihood of choosing the products shown in the commercials.

A Group of People Were Asked to Read a Magazine