Examining the Effects of Photographic Attributes on Sympathy, Emotions, and Donation Behavior

We tested assumptions about emotional and behavioral effects of persuasive photography, exploring to what extent photographic attributes regarding expression, gaze, and the number of subjects in images influence sympathy. In addition, we examined whether sympathetic responses were associated with impure altruism, moral disengagement, and willingness to donate money to charitable organizations. We found that sympathetic responses were associated with sad imagery, moral disengagement (negative), feelings of altruism, and willingness to donate. We also found the emotions evoked by exposure to the sad expression of the child converged with negative affect after viewing the photos. However, participants who were exposed to the happy visage did not appear to generate significantly greater feelings of happiness when compared with feelings of sadness.

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