1. The False Fame-Effect The study of Jacoby et al. (1989):Jacoby et al. (1989): How do people become famous? Research into mechanisms of implicit memory (see Claparède, 1911) suggest that mere exposure to names of people may render them famous. These names become familiar, and if we can not attribute this familiarity to having read the name of a nonfamous person, we may attribute familiarity to fame. Claparède, 1911 Contributor© POSbase 2003

2. In an exposure phase, only unfamous names were presented, such as: Sebastian Weisdorf Valerie Marsh Adrian Marr These names were presented once or four times. Jacoby et al.examined this false fame-effect. The False Fame-Effect © POSbase 2003

3. The participants had to judge whether a name is famous or not.judge One group got the test immediately after the exposure phase Another group got the test one day after the exposure phase The participants got the information that names presented during the exposure phase were not famous. The False Fame-Effect During test, participants were shown famous and nonfamous names. The nonfamous names were shown never (new names), once or four times; famous names were always new. © POSbase 2003

4. If the test is immediately after the exposure phase, participants remember the presented names relatively well. Therefore, they judge new names to be more famous than old names that are known to be nonfamous. If the test is one day after the exposure phase, participants remember the presented names badly, but they seem familiar in comparison to new names; moreover, names presented once are remembered worse than names presented four times. Therefore, they judge names presented once as being more famous than names never presented or names presented four times. The False Fame-Effect If fame judgments are due to misattribution of familiarity, the following findings are predicted: © POSbase 2003

5. Not famous } The False Fame-Effect © POSbase 2003

6. Conclusion: If participants could not consciously remember the name of a person, they attributed familiarity from exposure of the names to judged fame. This was the case when names were presented once and test was delayed. The False Fame-Effect The false fame-effect is related to other phenomena, such as:  Illusions of familiarity (Jacoby & Whitehouse, 1989; Whittlesea, 1993)  Affective preference (Kunst-Wilson & Zajonc, 1980)Kunst-Wilson & Zajonc, 1980  False truth (Brown & Nix, 1996; Hasher et al., 1977)Brown & Nix, 1996Hasher et al., 1977  Performance judgments (Kelley & Jacoby, 1996)Kelley & Jacoby, 1996  Metacognitive judgments (Begg et al., 1989)  Judgments of time (Witherspoon & Allan, 1985)Witherspoon & Allan, 1985  Unintended plagiarism (Brown & Murphy, 1989; Marsh et al., 1997)Marsh et al., 1997 © POSbase 2003