The Mere Exposure Effect.

By Thulani Khumalo - Former President (2024). 

"The mere exposure effect was not mere; it was intentional than mere.”

                                                  Our Volunteers with children during play break.

The Mere Exposure Effect has summarized my volunteer experience with the UNICEF Campus Club at the University of Johannesburg for 2 years, it has revealed what we were supposed to achieve in 2023, and it explains what we have achieved in 2024. Find the link to the 2023 achievements and challenges here: Click Here. I am a second year Psychology student, and the Mere Exposure Effect is a theory I encountered in Social Psychology, and it has been implicated in studies that show how people form friendships, relationships and fall in love. In 2023, I wrote an article reflecting on our impact as volunteers on the children we worked with, and how the Mere Exposure Effect is the correct lenses to view our impact, and reflecting on the year that we have had this year under my leadership, this theory is still the proper lenses to understand our strategy with our “Now I Know My ABCs” Literacy programme. Our exposure to the children we have worked with this year was not mere, it was coupled with literacy-based programmes and due to this, the exposure that both the children and our volunteers had with each other has resulted in bonds being formed, volunteer work satisfaction and the satisfaction of the children. 

The mere exposure effect is a phenomenon in which we develop a liking or a disliking for the things we are exposed to through repetitive exposure, the basic tenet is that we are more likely to like and form relationships with people we regularly have exposure to than to people we rarely have exposure to. In 2023 we did not have programmes as a club that we could offer or do with the children we had access to, and it was during this time that I was able to see this phenomenon at play as the children formed relationships with us, although all we were doing was help them with homework and play with them. My vision for 2024 when I became the President of the club was to have the same impact perpetuated and at a large scale, but intentional than mere. As a result, we had a weekly literacy programme through 4 after-school NGO partners. On the first day we had our volunteers introduce themselves through games with the children and assure them that they will come back and be regular, and on the last day we had farewells to inform the children that they will no longer see the volunteers due to school holidays and the end of their studies. 

Our literacy programme was based on the PIRLS statistic that 81% of grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning, and when you have access to learners like we do this statistic is very real. We knew that we would never beat this challenge, but we could play our part. What we knew we could achieve however, is socioemotional development through literacy. Our programme allowed the children to form relationships with each other and with our volunteers. Our approach was to help learners enjoy learning, and to associate it with the fun activities they enjoy. We have played games many times that had numbers and letters and sums for them to solve in order to win, and we have helped them form teams with each other, and do affirmations after every session. Our volunteers became the teachers they could relate to (because we are all students) and be friends with. Our exposure wasn't just mere, every weekly day was intentional. We had small teams of volunteers within a team focused on cognitive development, maths and English. This purpose is what fulfills our volunteers. 

A letter of appreciation from a child at one of our volunteering centers.

You cannot measure your impact properly with a one-day programme, because a one-day programme lacks social development in it. The mere exposure effect allows social factors to play out, and the more repetitive and prolonged the exposure the more we built rapport and a relationship with the children. The hidden challenges that we could not see on day one appeared as the children and the volunteers warmed up to each other. This is the factor that our other programmes such as mental health and career development have suffered from, they were not regular to allow such socioemotional development with the teens we worked with, which leads to poor and insufficient feedback. The relationship we have built with the children enabled us to run our programme smoothly, to gain their cooperation and their acceptance. It is always sad when we must leave, and they are always happy to see us when we come back. This consistency has also made our working environment a home, our partners have accepted our volunteers as part of their teams. This relationship that our volunteers built with the children made it difficult for our volunteers to be inconsistent, the welfare of the children and the relationship they had with the children was the reason why they kept coming back. During recesses and semester breaks the volunteers would miss the children and the children would miss the volunteers, and reunions would be filled with happiness. 

We have seen the dividends of the mere exposure effect in our literacy programme, our farewells were very emotional. The same socioemotional development we have helped facilitate in the children has also facilitated the same development in the volunteers themselves. This year the children have written so many letters to their favorite teachers thanking them for helping them with homework, playing with them and telling them how much they love them. You can only imagine the satisfaction that the recipient volunteers of these letters have gained, this is the impact they have had in these young lives. This never happened last year. The letters are just proof and documents, more has been said by the children to express their appreciation to our volunteers. I have had conversations with our partners, and they would tell me how much the kids love us and miss us when we are not around, and this has increased their receptivity to every programme we have for the children. 

The mere exposure effect works if all is done right, as a former president I am excited about what we have done in my term. To see this vision as a reality is unbelievable, not so long ago we were planning this. It is my utmost desire to see the UNICEF UJ club of 2025 continuing this, these children have been under UNICEF UJ for 2 years now, the longer the exposure the more positive associations they will form with our blue shirts and caps. It is my belief that some of these children will become UNICEF volunteers when they get to university one day, because of the impact that we at UNICEF UJ have had on them. We cannot begin to measure this impact properly, a long-term impact will take a long time for its fruits to be seen, and we as the 2024 club may not even be there to witness our impact. Impact is impact, whether we witness  it or not, whether we could measure it or not. We can use the mere exposure effect for long term positive impact.