There are a few exceptions of the mere exposure effect. First, the mere exposure effect is be limited to stimulus subjects that are inherently positive or at least neutral. It means that greater exposure to negative objects does not bring out favorable attitude toward them. Perlman and Oskamp (1971) find that increased exposure to positive objects (e.g., pictures of scientists or clergymen) or neutral objects (e.g., pictures of man who dressed in a sports shirt or suit) increased liking, but not to negative objects (e.g., pictures of a janitor or in a police lineup).

Second, the mere exposure effect does not occur when people have conflicting interests, needs, or personalities. "As long as they see little of each other, the conflicts are minimized. They may not particularly like each other, but they have little reason to dislike each other. When contacts in increased, the conflicts are exaggerated and aggravated. Under these circumstances, they may sometimes dislike each other more as a result of closer contact" (Freedman, Sears and Carlsmith, 1978, p.168).

Third, the mere exposure effect is not found after overexposure stimulus. Bornstein (1989) shows that the attitude enhancement due to repeated mere exposure to stimuli does not tend to increase after ten to twenty stimulus presentations. He concludes that the mere exposure effect is (1) larger with complex (vs. simple) stimuli, (2) with brief (vs. long) stimulus-exposure durations, (3) with longer (vs. shorter) delays between stimulus exposures and attitudes ratings, (4) and when exposure stimuli are presented with many other stimuli. He also suggests mere exposure effects are smaller when stimuli are presented in the supraliminal manner than in the subliminal manner.