In the 1960s, psychologist Robert Zajonc conducted a series of experiments documenting how even a single exposure to something increased positive feelings about it in later encounters. He found this effect with languages, individual words, and images. Later researchers have observed similar preferences in how financial professionals invest,3 how academic researchers evaluate journals,4 and what flavors we enjoy when we eat.5 In psychology, the term for this is the mere-exposure effect. Simply being exposed to a concept makes it easier for the brain to process that concept and, therefore, feels
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