Determinants of Preference: When do we like What we Know?

Repeated mere or unreinforced exposure positively affects the aesthetic response to various types of stimuli. Studies using artworks in laboratory experiments in which familiarity was experimentally manipulated revealed little or no effects of repeated exposure. The lack of mere exposure effects with artworks might be due to factors such as knowledge, stimulus complexity, or level of liking. In the present article, five studies are reported in which the relationship between familiarity and liking for 54 reproductions of van Gogh paintings was investigated under different conditions of evaluation and information about the paintings. Studies 1 and 2 revealed that positive correlations existed for liking and familiarity ratings even when it was possible that some of the stimuli seen were not original paintings. The correlations were significantly reduced when the beholder was told that all stimuli were fakes of van Gogh paintings (Study 3) and that they were fakes or non-van Goghs (Study 4). In Study 5, the correlation was reduced when inspection time was increased, thus, simple familiarity-liking relations are weakened by knowledge and are greater in spontaneous judgments.