A Salience Theory of Three Exposure Effects

We propose and support a salience theory of exposure effects which posits that repeated exposure influences evaluations by increasing salience, the relative quality of standing out in relation to other stimuli in the environment. Across four experiments, we demonstrate that exposure effects previously attributed to absolute (mere) exposure are actually explained by heightened relative salience. Additionally, we demonstrate that exposure, in addition to increasing liking (Zajonc 1968), increases affective intensity and makes evaluations more extreme.