Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Monograph Supplement, 9(2), 1-27.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
I'm here, you're here, why not?
I dated a girl over the summer, and i'm pretty sure it's safe to say that the entire basis for our relationship was the mere exposure effect. The mere exposure effect (Zajonc, 1968) implies that simply being around someone will eventually improve your opinions of them, so long as their initial impression was at least not terrible. This girl Victoria and I had met before during my senior year of high school when she was dating one of my good friends. She seemed cool enough, but all of our interactions were contingent on my being around my friend, and right around that time is where he and I had a bit of a falling out. However, this past summer she showed up to my friend's high school graduation, then started hanging out with my friends and I on a regular basis. Basically all i knew about her at that point was that she dated Cameron my senior year, but as we hung out more and more, one thing lead to another and we started dating. It worked fine over the summer, but basically as soon as we both went to out respective schools, it fell apart and we broke up. In retrospect, our breaking up had a lot to do with the fact that we weren't seeing each other basically every day. This has a lot of different effects on relationships, but in ours it took away the basis of the mere exposure effect. Exposure.
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well put, derek. the mere exposure effect explains the end of many of my relationships. sad to think that a whirlwind romance can so easily be trumped by a few measly miles. it reminds me of what my mother said of a previous relationship of mine-- it was out of convenience, not love. but maybe the whole point of Zajonc's mere exposure effect is that convenience facilitates love? haha. goodness. interesting to think about, for sure.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone has had a similar experience at one point or another. I broke up with the last guy I dated before coming to Southwestern for just that reason. It's interesting how some relationships are completely dependent on proximity while others don't seem to be affected quite as much. I mean I'm sure they're all affected somewhat, but I think it would be interesting to research the different factors that play into relationships most affected by the mere exposure effect.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both previous comments. My boyfriend and i pretty much starting dating due to mere exposure (which i blogged about) but it has surprisingly lasted over a year despite our complete lack of exposure much of the time (he lives in new orleans). I think many more factors go into making relationships pass the mere exposure phase. Many couples i know who met the way my bf and i did, working at our summer camp, break up after the summer because they are just not around each other anymore. Good post!
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