MERE EXPOSURE 日久生情

Let’s talk about love, again. We all want to know what causes love. I always longed for the lesson on love when studying social psychology in my undergraduate life. According to Robert Sternberg, a psychologist who wrote the book “Psychology of Love” to present the full range of psychological theories on love, mere exposure effect can lead to interpersonal attraction. That means, if you are frequently ‘exposed’ to someone, you will quite possibly be attracted by him/her. This is a scientific proof on the phenomenon that secret lovers always try to stay close to his/her loved one. But, I doubt if a romantic relationship arisen from mere exposure effect can last long, especially when the lovers stop being ‘exposed’ to each other as time goes by. Isn’t it too cruel?

繼續談情，順道說愛。也許我們都想知道，愛情究竟由甚麼構成？在大學唸社會心理學時，最期待的，莫過於那剖析愛情的課堂。心理學家Robert Sternberg在《Psychology of Love》一書提過許多分析愛情的理論，比如單純曝光效應(mere exposure effect)，簡單來說，就是當只要一個人不斷在自己眼前曝光，自己就愈有機會喜歡上這個人。這不正是我們常說的日久生情嗎？難怪好些人總愛在自己暗戀對象附近團團轉，讓他察覺自己的存在，這原來也有科學根據。嘿，不過我又會懷疑，這種因不停相見而萌芽的愛情，會因為不再頻繁相見而凋零啊。