Exposure and Attention

MAR 3503

January 17, 2012

How do we take in information?

ExposureExposure

External StimuliExternal Stimuli

SightsSights

SoundsSounds

SmellsSmells

TastesTastes

Touch/MovementTouch/Movement Heat, pressure, & motor receptorsHeat, pressure, & motor receptors

TongueTongue

NoseNose

EarsEars

EyesEyes

Sensory ReceptorsSensory

Receptors

AttentionAttention

PerceptionPerception

ComprehensionComprehension

BehaviorBehavior

Exposure

• “The process by which the consumer comes into contact with the stimulus”– “Contact” defined loosely– “Stimulus” defined loosely

• Necessary!• How would you get someone exposed to your

new brand…– Of toothpaste?– Of bake-at-home cinnamon rolls?– Of car?

Exposure: What options are there?

• Obvious ads– Can take many different forms

• Here, the intent to persuade, cajole, convert is clear

• But, consumers may actively avoid obvious ads– VCRs– TiVo and other digital video recorders

Exposure to ads: A vicious cycle

• Advertisers then must try to catch consumers with their guard down– “Unique” ads– Strange formats• Advergaming

– Strange locations (and captive audiences)

Exposure to ads: A vicious cycle

• Disguised ads:– As editorial content• Advertorials, infomercials

– As something else

• But consumers learn to ignore these as well…

Exposure: What options are there?

• Product trial (this can take many forms)– Free samples– Test drives– Other methods of giving people experience with

the product

• In-store (point of purchase) displays, announcements, etc.

Exposure: What options are there?

• Product placement– Movies

– TV shows

– Video games

– Music videos

Mere exposure

• NB: This is correlational data

• To know whether liking is caused by exposure, frequency of exposure must be manipulated

Mere exposure

• Average affective connotation of nonsense words and Chinese ideographs as a function of frequency of exposure

• Manipulated frequency leads to increased liking!

Mere exposure

• Average attitude toward photographs as a function of frequency of exposure

• Manipulated frequency leads to liking!

Mere exposure

Moreland & Beach, 1992

Mere exposure

# of participants who agree with…

Subliminal prime

Mere exposure• 28 participants shown 2

photos of themselves and 2 photos of their lover (1 true print and 1 mirror image print each) and asked which they prefer

• Mere Exposure Hypothesis: Participants will prefer true print of lover, but mirror print of self (because that’s what they have been most exposed to)

Preference for self

Preference for lover

Mere exposure

Music rats were raised on

What is attention?• The processes by which we devote mental activity to a

stimulus

• Some characteristics of attention– Can be voluntary or involuntary– Can be divided (with varying degrees of success)– Is limited, therefore must be selective

• We select one input and “tune out” the rest

• Some estimates say we see 700 commercials a week, maybe even 300 per day—but only ~75 get noticed. What gets through?

The selective nature of attention

• Shadow task– Subject hears one message in their right ear– Subject hears another message in their left ear, at the

same time– Subject is forced to attend to one message by

“shadowing,” or repeating, the message from one ear• We can then stop the sound and quiz the subject

about what they just heard on the unattended channel to see what happens to unattended information

Developed by Cherry, 1953

What gets through?

• Short answer: Not much!– When the unattended channel switched from

coherent English to “gibberish”—only 4 of 30 people noticed

– If the unattended channel is just a 7-word list, repeated 35 times, recognition of those words is no better than chance in a later test

– When the unattended channel switched to backwards speech, only a few could say that something was strange about the message

What gets through?• Longer answer: some specific things get through– People aren’t deaf to the unattended channel. They

can report general properties (music, a tone, a man, a woman, etc)

– If the unattended channel contains names, including the participants’ names, about a third of people will hear that their names were mentioned• Same goes for words that are important to you• Cocktail-party effect

– If a sentence starts in the attended ear, and then finishes in the unattended ear, people may inadvertently switch the ear that they’re shadowing

An informal model of selective attention

• People seemingly select (facilitate) one stimulus, and tune out (inhibit) the others

• And yet, at some level, they must be monitoring the unattended stimuli so that they know when to switch focus– Otherwise, relevant information couldn’t “break through”

• Both individual factors and source factors determine what will “break through” and be selected for attention

Individual factors: Motivation• Sometimes we control what we want to attend to– Ex. “I want to look at car ads”

• Other times, our attention is involuntarily drawn by things that are personally relevant– Cocktail party effect (again)– Perceptual vigilance

• We may also without awareness stay away from things that are troubling– Perceptual defense

Individual factors: Resources

• Arousal– General degree of

alertness– Affects how many

cognitive resources can be devoted to stimulus• (Affects ability to attend)

• Ex. Super Bowl ads

Source factors• Novelty/Expectation violation– Unexpected ad or product format– Unexpected ad placement– Unexpected intrusion– “New” and novel prefixes (“e-” or “i-”)

• Position– Ex. Placement in a magazine

• Back cover• Near front, right of page

– Ex. Placement on store shelves

More source factors• Vividness– Color – Music– Humor– Contrast

• Size– Ex. Magazine ads– Ex. Yellow pages– Ex. Animal crackers

Adaptation• A individual x source factor• We adapt, or habituate, to stimuli• What once was novel and attention-getting may

no longer be• Adaptation leads to inattention

• Advertisers need to keep ad campaign current and fresh (but still maintain consistent brand image)– Ex. Energizer bunny ads

Summary

• There are many ways consumers can be exposed to products

• Increased exposure may lead to liking (the “mere exposure” effect)

• But exposure does not guarantee attention• Attention is selective– Only a limited number of stimuli break through

• Certain characteristics will allow products to break through

Next up…

• What happens once information gets in?

• How is it understood?