The Generalizability of Subliminal Mere Exposure Effects: Influence of Stimuli Perceived Without Awareness on Social Behavior

This article describes three experiments investigating the extent to which subliminal mere exposure effects are obtainable not only with simple stimuli but also with complex human stimuli in social situations. In the first experiment, undergraduate subjects were exposed to slides of abstract geometric figures at both subliminal (i.e., 4 ms) and supraliminal exposure durations. Subjects' attitudes toward the subliminally presented stimuli became significantly more positive with repeated exposures, even when subjects were unaware that exposures had occurred. Experiment 2 demonstrated that similar attitude changes are produced by subliminal exposure to photographs of actual persons. The results of Experiment 3 indicate that attitudes toward persons encountered in the natural environment of the psychology experiment are also enhanced by subliminal exposure to a photograph of that person. These findings are discussed in the context of prevailing models of mere exposure effects as well as an alternative psychodynamic model. Implications for research on attitudes, social cognition, and interpersonal object choice are also discussed.