An enquiry into the effect of exposure to advertisements on subsequent perception of similar advertisements

Abstract

TESTED THE HYPOTHESIS THAT FORCED EXPOSURE TO ADVERTISING LOWERS THE THRESHOLD FOR PERCEIVING THE ADVERTISEMENTS. THE INQUIRY GAINS ITS IMPORT IN ITS RELEVANCE TO THE BASIC QUESTION: WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF CONTINUED EXPOSURE? USING 2 GROUPS, CONTROL AND EXPERIMENTAL, OF LATE-TEEN-AGE GIRLS, A STRAIGHTFORWARD "BEFORE-AFTER" EXPERIMENT WAS DESIGNED WHEREIN THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WAS EXPOSED TO A CERTAIN FORM OF ADVERTISING. PHASE 1 INVOLVED THE DETERMINATION OF A "PERCEPTUAL SENSITIVITY" BASE SCORE, PHASE 2 INVOLVED EXPOSING THE EXPERIMENTAL SS TO THE FORM OF ADVERTISING UNDER STUDY, AND PHASE 3 CONSISTED OF REMEASURING THE PERCEPTUAL SENSITIVITY OF BOTH GROUPS. IT WAS DEMONSTRATED THAT FORCED EXPOSURE DOES INCREASE PERCEPTIVITY. EXPERIMENTAL SS SHOWED SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTUAL LEVEL FROM CONTROLS WHEN REMEASURED IN PHASE 3. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)