Examining the mere exposure effect in a marketing context

The mere exposure effect (MEE) was first identified by Zajonc (1968:1) who observed that, “the mere repeated exposure of the individual to a stimulus is a sufficient condition for the enhancement of his attitude towards it. By ‘mere exposure’ is meant a condition which just makes the given stimulus accessible to the individual's perception.” Since then, this robust experimental phenomenon has been demonstrated in over 300 studies in the psychology literature; most often in relation to changes in affective response to abstract, novel stimuli (for  reviews see Harrison, 1977; Bornstein, 1989; Bornstein and Craver-Lemley, 2004). Given that it provides a  theoretical and empirical framework within which to explore and explain the attitudinal effects of repeated,  fleeting communication that receives minimal attention and elaboration, it has been deemed to be most  important to the fields of marketing and consumer behaviour (Bornstein and Craver-Lemley, 2004). Indeed, it may be considered to be particularly relevant in the context of a contemporary consumption environment that is  largely characterised by a proliferation of brands, media and messages, the fragmentation of traditional  channels and audiences, and thus low levels of consumer attention, engagement and involvement. Under such conditions, it may be argued that the MEE constitutes a potentially important means by which to study,  understand and shape the effects of simple, repeated brand communication.However, it is important to acknowledge that the nature of marketing stimuli, consumption-based evaluation and decision-making, and the context in which this occurs is often quite different from the laboratory conditions in  which the MEE has been demonstrated in psychological research. As such, there is a need to robustly test the assumptions that may be drawn from four decades of experimental research in psychology before they can be  confidently applied in the specific domain of marketing. At the same time, however, it is important to stress that  the MEE represents just one of an array of potential influences on real-world consumer processing and  decisionmaking. Furthermore, and within the constraints of current methodological alternatives, it is arguably  impossible to isolate, identify and examine this phenomenon alone in such a complex natural environment. As  such, it is necessary to take an incremental approach to the extension of abstract psychological research in the  marketing domain; to carefully bridge the gap between pure psychological understanding and that which relates specifically to consumer behaviour. A relatively small body of experimental marketing research has endeavoured  to begin this process; although (it will be argued) current findings regarding the occurrence and   nature of the marketing-based MEE are somewhat limited, often equivocal and subject to some important   limitations.The purpose of this thesis, therefore, is to underpin and extend the incremental development of first-principles mere exposure research in the marketing domain. To this end, it provides a comprehensive review of both the state of current psychological understanding and the degree to which it has been applied in the marketing literature, prior to a robust examination of the existence, size and nature of this phenomenon in a marketing context. This is achieved by marrying the highly controlled experimental methods of psychological mere exposure research with the use of typical marketing stimuli, brand-related evaluation and a relatively large sample (as is common in the broader field of marketing research but not, as yet, with regard to the MEE in particular).The results of this empirical work are somewhat surprising and challenge previous assumptions regarding the influence of recognition memory and the direction of the exposure-induced affect-bias. Taken together, they support a ‘dual-processing’ model of mere exposure, incorporating two forms of the MEE that are underpinned by the processes of implicit and explicit memory respectively. This model has potentially significant implications for theory, practice and further research in the fields of both psychology and marketing; all of which are  discussed in the final part of the thesis

Memory enhances the mere exposure effect

The fact of having already encountered something encourages future preference, a phenomenon known as the mere exposure effect (MEE). There is a widely accepted view that recognition inhibits the MEE. Here this view is contested and the generality of the findings upon which it is based questioned. New evidence is presented from a systematic investigation of the moderating influence of recognition memory on the MEE, using brand logo stimuli and methods that make the results directly applicable to marketing practice. It is shown that recognition, whether correct or mistaken, enhances, rather than inhibits, the likelihood of preference

Identity refusal: distancing from non-drinking in a drinking culture

Following Scott’s (2018) sociology of nothing, we focus on the process of non-identification, wherein young adults seek to manage the risk of being marked by their non-participation in an important cultural practice. Drawing on qualitative interviews with undergraduate students we develop two overall identity refusal positions (resistance and othering), through which informants seek to disengage with the collective identity of the non-drinker. These positions are underlined by four categories of identity talk: denial and temporal talk (distancing through resistance), and disconnect and concealment talk (distancing through othering), which are used to repudiate non-drinking as culturally and personally meaningful respectively. We contribute understandings of how identities can be performed through active omission, developing Scott’s conceptualization and demonstrating how this can be a potentially planful process, depending on the extent to which individuals credit a particular object or activity with being a ‘something’

Impact bias in student evaluations of higher education

In the context of higher education, this study examines the extent to which affective evaluations of the student experience are influenced by the point at which they are made (i.e. before the experience begins, whilst it is happening and after it has ended). It adopts a between-groups quantitative analysis of the affective evaluations made by 360 future, current and past postgraduate students of a UK business school. The study validates the proposition that affective forecasts and memories of the student experience are considerably inflated in prospect and retrospect; a finding that implies a significant impact bias. It is concluded that the impact bias may have important implications for influencing the effectiveness of student decision-making, the timing and comparability of student course evaluations, and understanding the nature and effects of word-of-mouth communication regarding the student experience

A typology of consumers based on money attitudes after major recession

Since the Great Recession, not all US consumers have felt the financial benefits of the sustained period of macroeconomic expansion. While some research demonstrates renewed consumer confidence and financial security among households, other studies highlight economic vulnerability and higher levels of distress relative to before the 2007/09 crisis. This study examines empirically the heterogeneity of consumers’ money attitudes in the post-recession economy. Based on a nationally representative sample of US consumers (n=1202), we identify four post-recession consumer types, distinguished by important attitudinal and behavioral differences: “Flourishing Frugal”; “Comfortable Cautious”; “Financial Middle”; and, “Financially Distressed”. While the prior studies offer broad strategic advice, this study indicates that marketers need differentiated strategies to target most effectively and deliver value to different consumer clusters

The importance of context in understanding football fans’ reactions to corporate stadia naming rights sponsorships

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore fans’ reactions to corporate naming rights sponsorship of football club stadia and identify a range of contextual factors impacting these reactions. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative, quasi-ethnographic research design is adopted, focusing on three football clubs in North West England. Data are gathered through online message board discussions, focus groups and auto-ethnographic approaches. Findings – Geographic, image and functional dimensions of sponsorship fit are noted as contextual factors in determining fans’ reactions to corporate stadium names. It is also proposed that some forms of fit (in particular geographic fit) are more important than others in this regard. Beyond issues of fit, three additional contextual factors are identified that potentially influence fans’ reactions to corporate stadium names: prior involvement with the club by the sponsor; fans’ perceived impact of the sponsorship investment; and whether the stadium is new or long-established. Research limitations/implications – Future research might examine the relative importance and implications of the identified contextual factors, alongside seeking other potential areas of contextual framing. Practical implications – Sponsorship naming rights negotiations need to be sensitive to a variety of contextual factors. Furthermore, sponsors would do well to have a good awareness of their own brand image and its congruency with the identity of the club and fan base. Originality/value – This nuanced, qualitative analysis extends existing, quantitative-based research by identifying a range of contextual factors which shape fans’ reactions to corporate stadium namin

Identity Refusal and the Non-Drinking Self

We examine the identity refusal work of non-drinking university students who contest the collective 'non-drinker' identity by employing a range of identity refusal positions. We outline these positions and contribute to theoretical development in the CCT identity projects stream. This identity refusal risks providing support for the stigmatized non-drinker identity

Speed and symmetry: Developing effective organisational responses to social media criticism of CSR

This study examines how organisations can respond effectively to negative user-generated content (NUGC) about their corporate social responsibility (CSR) on social media. Specifically, it investigates the role of speed and symmetry of response in mitigating the impact of NUGC on perceptions of the company’s CSR and legitimacy. It was motivated by the fact that, despite the increasing importance of social media as a CSR communication channel, most companies appear unwilling or unable to respond effectively to NUGC, compromising the efficacy of their CSR communication on social media. Using a between-groups experimental design (n=660), the study finds that: i) NUGC about a company’s CSR post negatively impacts stakeholder perceptions of organisations’ CSR and legitimacy; ii) NUGC’s impact can be partially mitigated by company responses that are either fast or highly symmetrical; iii) NUGC’s impact is only fully mitigated when company responses are fast and highly symmetrical. The findings establish speed and symmetry, in combination, as necessary conditions for effectively responding to NUGC about company CSR posts on social media. The authors recommend, to maximise the effectiveness of social media communication of CSR, managers should establish processes to identify, read, and respond to NUGC rapidly and with a high degree of symmetry

Coherent laser-millimeter-wave interactions en route to coherent population transfer

We demonstrate coherent two-photon population transfer to Rydberg states of barium atoms using a combination of a pulsed dye laser and a chirped-pulse millimeter-wave spectrometer. Numerical calculations, using a density matrix formalism, reproduce our experimental results and explain the factors responsible for the observed fractional population transferred, optimal experimental conditions, and possibilities for future improvements. The long coherence times associated with the millimeter-wave radiation aid in creating coherence between the ground state and Rydberg states, but higher-coherence laser sources are required to achieve stimulated Raman adiabatic passage and for applications to molecules.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant 1122374

The role of oxygen in avascular tumor growth

The oxygen status of a tumor has significant clinical implications for treatment prognosis, with well-oxygenated subvolumes responding markedly better to radiotherapy than poorly supplied regions. Oxygen is essential for tumor growth, yet estimation of local oxygen distribution can be difficult to ascertain in situ, due to chaotic patterns of vasculature. It is possible to avoid this confounding influence by using avascular tumor models, such as tumor spheroids, a much better approximation of realistic tumor dynamics than monolayers, where oxygen supply can be described by diffusion alone. Similar to in situ tumours, spheroids exhibit an approximately sigmoidal growth curve, often approximated and fitted by logistic and Gompertzian sigmoid functions. These describe the basic rate of growth well, but do not offer an explicitly mechanistic explanation. This work examines the oxygen dynamics of spheroids and demonstrates that this growth can be derived mechanistically with cellular doubling time and oxygen consumption rate (OCR) being key parameters. The model is fitted to growth curves for a range of cell lines and derived values of OCR are validated using clinical measurement. Finally, we illustrate how changes in OCR due to gemcitabine treatment can be directly inferred using this model