Mere Exposure: The Implicit Route to Attitude Change

Abstract

Attitudes are acquired views towards issues, ideas, objects, a specific behavior or entire social groups. The influence of mere stimulus exposures has demonstrated that attitudes can be formed without an accompanying awareness of the attitude formation process. The effects of mere exposure on attitudes are stronger when the stimuli are presented subliminally compared to when they are consciously perceived. The present study attempted to examine the effect of repeated exposure to positively primed subliminal messages on attitude towards homosexuality amongst young adults. A pre-post quasi-experimental research design has been used to explore the aim of the study. A group of 30 participants (M=15, and F=15) between the age range of 18 to 25 years were selected. The participants were selected as they scored below the cutoff score of 64 in the Homosexuality Attitude Scale (HAS). Their score indicated a negative attitude towards homosexuality.  The participants were then repeatedly exposed to videos masked with positive messages. After that the HAS was administered as a post test measure. The results indicated a significant effect of repeated exposure to positively primed subliminal messages on attitude towards homosexuality.