Images Sway Attitude and Choice

A picture paints a thousand words...

Why is it that pictures express ideas so well? "Images in contemporary consumer culture are an emergent form of writing," according to Linda Scott (Oxford University) and Patric Vargas (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign). Scott and Vargas suggest that "mass communications technology has created a cultural classroom in which the world's first democratic pictography has developed." Have you wondered why graphics grab your mind and influence your thoughts?

We're living in exciting times... we have many choices to express ideas. Consider million dollar visually oriented Super Bowl ads... Check these "winners" out and see how images without words affect you...


See how the NIKE commercial makes you feel...


Interestingly both commercials evoked an emotional response for me... you? It's because more of your brain is engaged than with words alone. Researchers discovered that images influence attitudinal judgments. Specifically, an ad containing a picture of a product stimulates vivid visual imagery processing more effectively.

Pictures favorably influence attitude toward an ad and brand more than ads with impressionistic images or one without an image according to an article in the Journal of Advertising by Laurie Babin and Alfred Burns.

Why so? Some researchers believe a "positivity bias" is associated with imagery because people are not inclined to fantasize about negative outcomes. They took note that imagery processing most frequently connects to pleasant emotional or affective elements of the stimulus.

Lest you think words are not as important as pictures, Babin and Burns also find that text

...containing instructions to imagine also stimulated vivid and elaborate visual imagery processing and enhanced attitudes. Tests for mediation indicate that mental imagery processing explains all or some of the direct effects of the two imagery-eliciting strategies' influence on attitudes.

Visual information tends to be remembered over words because pictures presumably activate a visual as well as a verbal encoding process. In an advertising context, use of pictures in print advertisements has been found to lead to more favorable ad attitude.

Thinking of new mediums to communicate purpose as you blog, build a brand or make sales pitches?