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The Comfort of Familiarity
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by Anastasija Šļapina In psychology, our preference for familiar things can be described by the mere-exposure effect or familiarity principle. The mere-exposure effect is when we develop a preference for familiar people, words, music, shapes and more, merely through exposure to them. The liking develops with repeated interaction, even if the first reaction is neutral. The mere-exposure effect works differently on things that we dislike - familiarity does not breed liking in this case. The familiarity principle was first described by Zajonc in the 1970s. He studied how living beings fear or resist something new. With repeated exposure this fear reduced and the
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G-YOU MAGAZINE// SEPTEMBER 2021// 4
In times full of uncertainty and unease, we always come back to familiarity. We try to grasp everything that gives us some sense of control and comfort, and familiarity is a source of it. You feel at home somewhere because it’s familiar to you. Your favourites stem from familiarity - you prefer certain music, cuisine, clothes, even a way of taking notes. You are most comfortable speaking a specific language if you have used it more than any other. You even build relationships based on familiarity; repeatedly meeting somebody increases your closeness to that person. Studies have shown that we are more attracted to people who we consider familiar. And, if a person has familiar features or behaviour, we feel more at ease around them as well. At the same time, we find unfamiliarity alarming things that are different from what we know seem disturbing or just not right.
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