In this article, we will discuss the psychology of the simple contact effect.
It has been proven by various researches that when we repeat some stimuli, we feel more positive about it.
This is also known as the simple contact effect, which means that we feel more positive about a stimulus that is repeated several times at intervals than a stimulus that we receive only once.
If you think about it, we are exposed to this kind of stimulation in various situations, and it is one of the reasons for social problems such as gambling and social networking.This is one of the reasons for social problems such as gambling and social networking.
Is this stimulus similarly altered in aging? Here are some of the studies that have been conducted to find out.
Study 1
In Experiment 1, we investigated whether repeating a specific word would produce a simple contact effect in elderly people.
Participants rated their preferences for a series of words on a 9-point scale and then rated them.It was found that participants rated words that were repeated at intervals compared to words that were presented only once.
Can we say the same thing with words we don't like? The results suggest that spaced-repeated preferred words are particularly likely to be retained in memory.
Study 2
Experiment 2 differs from 1) in that 27 young adults and 27 older adults participated in the study, none of whom participated in Experiment 1.
The young adults will be undergraduates from Chieti University and the elderly people will be local residents of central Italy.
The same method was used as in Experiment 1, but without the use of the preferred language and using human faces, and the results were similar.
Simple contact effect
Experiments (1) and (2) showed that repeated exposure to a preferred language or face at intervals was more likely to stick in memory and produce positive emotions.
Between language and faces, faces seemed to be more responsive.
As for the difference by age, we found that the elderly were more easily stimulated by language and responded better to both stimuli.
This suggests that older people are more likely to have positive emotions due to the simple contact effect.
This may be the reason why they are more likely to have a favorable feeling toward a celebrity they have never met or talked to, and to have a favorable feeling when they actually meet them.
Palumbo R, Di Domenico A, Fairfield B, Mammarella N. When twice is better than once: increased liking of repeated items influences memory in younger and older adults. BMC Psychol. 2021;9(1):25. published 2021 Feb 6. doi:10.1186/s40359-021-00531-8
Conclusion
The simple contact effect is one of the ways to achieve the desire to make a good impression on others, and the results of this study show that different ages may sway our emotions more and be influenced by our preferences.
Unlike the "Docozo" seminar, I'm not going to say irresponsibly that if you meet people over and over again, you will always be liked! and I don't mean to be irresponsible, but whether you are liked or not may depend on the preferences of the other person.
If you're too much like them, you might feel like you're not like them. So, rather than the desire to be liked by many people! It is probably better to be happy if someone likes you rather than wanting to be liked by many people.
