Cognitive and emotional influences of encountering photos in back & white vs. color

Cognitive and Emotional Influences of Encountering Photos in Black & White vs. Color

Tim Ditzel

University of Amsterdam Bachelorthesis Social Psychology

Student number: 10000633 June, 2014

Abstract

Since the colorization of pictures is becoming a widespread used technique, black & white photographs can now easily be turned into color. It is implied people prefer color as opposed to color, but it is unclear why we have this preference. In this paper we will investigate if changing black & white photographs to color photographs also comes with a change in cognitive

processing and emotional experience. I will try to answer this question by applying the theories and research of psychological distance, construal level theory, global and local processing and processing fluency. According to these theories, black & white photographs will be perceived more globally and abstract, less fluently processed and will lead to greater psychological distance. This is assumed to make black & white photographs seem less true and familiar upon perceiving, making them less liked and reduce emotional experience as opposed to color photographs. This has widespread implications for museums, institutions, education, charitable fonds, photographers and editors.

Cognitive and Emotional Influences of Encountering Photos in Black & White vs. Color Since the invention of photography in the 1820s, which at the time only allowed for monochrome black & white photographs, people have been coloring pictures. Back then, photographs were often hand-painted with color, but people have always been inventing new ways to give photographs color. Non-experimental color photography emerged in the beginning of the 20th _{century (National Geographic Photography, 2009), with Kodak introducing it's first} color film in 1935 (Henley & Madupu, 2005). Because of improving color photography

techniques, people became more fascinated by it. This is why as early as 1909, Tsar Nicolas II of Russia sent Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, a pioneer in color photography, on a mission to document the entire Russian Empire in color photographs (Brooks, 2002). These photographs are of such quality that leading photography museums like FOAM in Amsterdam, are still exhibiting them today. Recently, 'colorization', a term which was introduced in 1970 for the technique of giving color to black & white film footage, but is now used for adding of color to monochrome pictures in general (Levin, Lischinski & Weiss, 2004), has gained a lot in popularity. The U.S. Library of Congress has colorized thousands of black & white photographic negatives between 1890 and 1910 (Library Of Congress, 2001). Also, for example, National Geographic has digitally restored and colorized huge amounts of second world war film footage which they used for the

Apocalypse: Second World War series (Smithsonian Network, 2009). In theory, with current computer software like Adobe Photoshop, everybody is able to colorize black & white pictures, as can be seen on social news site Reddit's colorization board

Figure 1. Author unknown. A colorized black & white photograph. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/112345594@N02/

Why are we so desperate to give old, non-colored photographic footage color? Looking at this at long tradition and current hype, this might reflect we, as humans, prefer color. The

findings that advertisements are better liked when in color (Gardner & Cohen, 1964; Hornik, 1980) demonstrates this preference. The preference for color could be because in comparison to black & white, it brings up more emotions, as clinical psychologist and freelance photographer Ellen Anon suggests in her book with Josh Anon.

“Also, by removing color, any emotional context associated with the colors or interactions between the colors goes away. Color accents draw your attention. (...) Color contributes a broader effect to an image, too, as it helps us judge time. Autumn leaves are yellow and red, as opposed to green in the summer. Early

morning and late evening light is more golden than midday light. Removing color de-emphasizes time (...).” (Ellen & Josh Anon, 2012, page unknown).

Also note her argument about color and time perception, which we will discuss later in this article. Dutch photographer Lana Prins also underlines the emotional aspects of color

photography in an online interview with C-Heads Magazine: “The colours are very important to me, because they can tell so much. Colours represent certain feelings or moods to me.“ (Prins, 2014) Color thus gives a lot of specific information which enable us to better recognize objects. Therefore, a color photograph is said to contain pictorial realism (Abell, 2007), giving accurate knowledge of the objects and events depicted on that photograph. Also, color photography gives more room for evaluation and in that way might make the experience of emotions more likely. (Elliot & Maier, 2007; Steidle, Werth & Hanke, 2011).

A lot of historical museums and institutions are still using black & white pictures, an interesting question is if these will become more intriguing when they are colorized. If this is the case, it probably creates more interest in the events or people they are depicting. In this way museums might attract more visitors. When this is applied to education, where black & white pictures are still common too, students might be engaged a lot more. As early as 1909, this was one of the main reasons Prokudin-Gorsky documented the Russian Empire in color in the first place (http://prokudin-gorsky.org/). The results also might give interesting insights for

documentary photographers, who often choose to use black & white photography.

In the following part of this article an answer will be sought to the question why color photography seems to emotionalize people more than black & white photography, and which cognitive processes account for this. This will be done with help of literature on global versus local processing (Navon, 1977), processing fluency (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2008), psychological distance and the construal level theory (Trope & Liberman, 2010).

Theories Applying to Perceiving Black & White Versus Color Photographs In this section I will discuss several theories, who together will make clear how we mentally process photographs. Therefore, the literature discussed next will give a cognitive view of looking at photographs, and why we perceive black & white and color photographs

differently.

Global Processing of Black & White Photographs

When we look at a scene, in this case a photograph, we will automatically divide that scene into multiple subscenes using Gestalt psychology, creating a hierarchy of the information contained in the picture (Navon, 1977). Gestalt psychology describes the automatic human tendencies to organize our vision, wanting structured, complete and coherent information by using laws of proximity, similarity and good continuation. The more dominating, holistically organized information of the picture will be placed at the top of the hierarchical network and therefore will contain more globality, while the more detailed information will be found at the bottom of the hierarchy, being more local (Ash, 1998). When something is attended to globally, we will process it more global too, shifting our focus to the global information, ruling out local processing. This is called global precedence (Navon, 1977). Global prededence leads to greater perceived distances between the global picture and ourselves, resulting in abstract thinking (Liberman & Förster, 2009). In this way darkness lets individuals perceive a scene from a holistic perspective, seeing global contours, patterns and structures with lack of color, instead of detailed, local information provided by color (Steidle et al, 2011). The saying “seeing the forest but not the trees” applies nicely to this. When global processing is active we see the forest, when local processing is active we see the trees. One could say that perceiving black & white

photographs enables the same processes that are activated when seeing in the dark, since they do not contain color information but only consist of shades of gray. Black & white photography will therefore stimulate global perception, whilst color photography will stimulate local perception.

Psychological Distance

Local and global processing are closely connected to psychological distance, an

egocentric, subjective feeling of how close or far away an object or event is compared to the self in the here and now: our direct experience. When an object is processed globally, compared to locally, relatively more psychological distance is experienced (Liberman & Förster, 2009). Experiencing psychological distance is an automatic process, able to occur at all times mental resources are available, independent of current personal goals. Psychological distance can be created by four different dimensions: time (how far something is from the present), space (how for something is from here), social distance (how far you are or feel from someone else) and hypotheticality (how likely something seems to be). These dimensions are linked to each other, so that, for example, increased distance in time can decrease the perception of social closeness (Bar-Anan, Liberman, Trope & Algom 2007; Trope & Liberman, 2010). The sentence “A long time ago, in a far away place” is a nice example of this interrelatedness. Neuroscience has also given support for the interrelatedness of psychological distance dimensions (Liberman & Trope, 2008). However, Williams & Bargh (2008) are not convinced spatial distance is a dimension of psychological distance, because preverbal children already use this concept. They argue this is because spatial distance is not an abstract dimension like time, social distance and

hypotheticality. Therefore, we will not elaborate on spatial distance thoroughly in this paper. Temporal distance, or distance in time, however, is a very important dimension in this topic,

since it is a logical assumption black & white pictures are associated with the past, when they were the norm in photography. This has changed to color nowadays. Social distance applies too but is of lesser significance, since not all photographs contain people or objects whom we can relate to. Last, hypotheticality is also discussed briefly. Events depicted in photographs are of course always real (unless the photographs are photoshopped), but a photograph of a dog riding a skateboard is of course highly unlikely, making hypotheticality low and psychological distance high. Since these dimensions are interrelated, high hypothetical distance could account for high social distance. Assuming black & white photographs stimulate global processing because of their lack of color, they must also feel more psychological distant.

Processing Fluency & the Mere Exposure Effect

When the processing of information comes with ease, processing fluency is high (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2008; Mosteller, Donthu & Eroglu, 2014). The more processing fluency we experience the less psychological distance we feel, which makes processing fluency a driving force of experienced psychological distance. Objects and events that are disfluently processed feel further away and are more abstractly represented in our minds because of the increased experience of psychological distance (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2008). Because processing fluency applies to multiple cognitions, we can also speak of perceptual fluency, which of course applies to perceiving photographs. Interestingly, objects that are perceived fluently seem to be judged as more true than disfluently perceived objects (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2009; Koch & Forgas, 2012; Parks & Toth, 2006; Reber & Schwarz, 1999), in this case black & white photographs. This is effect is also referred to as “illusion of truth” (Begg, Anas & Farinacci, 1992). Fluent processing also increases feelings of familiarity (Parks & Toth, 2006; Whittlesea, Jacoby & Girard, 1990).

According to the mere exposure effect (Zajonc, 1968), which states that frequently perceived stimuli are more liked, this increased feeling of truth and familiarity which comes with perceptual fluency makes sense. The mere exposure effect implies that stimuli are processed more fluently when they are perceived more frequently and therefore become more favorable. We, as human beings, are used to color vision because of the fact we perceive color. Since frequently perceived stimuli are processed faster (Jacoby & Dallas, 1981) and more efficiently (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2009), it is proposed perceptual fluency underlies the mere exposure effect (Whittlesea, 1993). In this case the mere exposure effect reflects the constant perceiving of the world in color. Assuming black & white photographs enable global processing and therefore contain high psychological distance, perceiving black & white photographs should not stimulate processing fluency because we are not as familiar with black & white photographs as color photographs. Gilbert and Schleuder (1990) found black & white photographs, in comparison to color photographs decrease perceptual processing speed, which reflects a decrease in processing fluency. As a result, in comparison to color photographs, this should make black & white photographs more abstract upon perceiving. They argue this is due to the fact black & white photographs only provide intensity information. Color consist of wavelengths too, which makes color photographs make differentiating objects from the background more easy, enhancing processing fluency. In an exploratory study, Donthu, Cherian and Bhargava (1993) found contrary evidence, showing black & white billboards are better recalled, indicating they should contain processing fluency. This surprising effect could be due to the simple fact most billboards are in color, making the black & white ones stand out (Donthu et al., 1993). Also, billboards are mostly seen by road users, who should allocate most of their cognitive resources to road traffic. Since black & white images contain less information than color images, they could be better

remembered because less cognitive resources are needed to process them. This might be

reflected by the fact people spend more attention to color ads than colorless ads (Wells, Burnett & Moriarity, 2000, as cited in Detenber, Simons & Reiss, 2000).

Construal Level Theory

Construal level theory (CLT; Trope & Liberman, 2010) describes in which way psychological distance affects our representation of objects and events. As stated above, high psychological distance makes us represent stimuli abstractly (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2008). The abstract or objective processing of stimuli is an important part of the construal level theory of psychological distance. This theory states that we form high- and low-level construal of events and objects surrounding us. High-level construals are global, abstract representations, mostly of objects that are processed disfluently and therefore contain a high level of psychological

distance. Low-level construals, in contrast, are more local, objective representations of objects that are processed fluently and therefore contain a low level of psychological closeness (Bar-Anan, Liberman & Trope, 2006).

Since psychological distance consists of the dimensions time, space, social distance and hypotheticality, construal level theory applies to all of these dimension. These effects are bidirectional, meaning perceived psychological distance affects the valence of experienced construal levels, but perceived valence of construal levels is also able to influence experience of psychological distance (McCrea, Liberman, Trope & Sherman, 2008). In this review we will mainly focus on temporal distance and it's effect on construal levels, but will also discus social distance.

According to CLT, temporally distant objects and events should be perceived in more abstract terms. Being highly comparable to CLT, the temporal construal theory (TCT; Liberman & Trope, 1998; Trope & Liberman, 2003) describes this abstract, high-level representation of temporally distant objects or events. Demonstrating this effect, Förster, Friedman & Liberman (2004) showed priming temporal distance leads to abstract representations and stimulates abstract processing. Also, Fujita, Eyal, Chaiken, Trope and Liberman (2008) found that more attention is paid to high-level, abstract information when temporal distance is greater. This shift to abstraction can also be represented by category breadth. Broad categories contain a lot of examples and therefore are highly inclusive, “forest” is an example of a broad category. Narrow categories like “trees” are less inclusive and therefore are more objective examples. This is why objects applying to greater distance in time are placed in broad categories, in comparison to objects applying to a small distance in time. Preferences regarding temporally distant objects or events, in contrast to temporally near ones, are also represented as high-level construals (Trope & Liberman, 2000). Because of this, these preferences have been found to be more schematically when regarding temporally distant events, which means they are structured in a simpler, more abstract way than preferences for temporally near events (Liberman, Sagristano & Trope, 2002).

Temporal construal is seen as an often used heuristic (Trope & Liberman, 2010). Most of the time we do not have to think about temporally distant events and objects in concrete,

objective terms. This only gets important when the the temporal distance decreases and decisions have to be made. Thus, a link between temporally distant events and objects and high construal levels is automatically formed. Because of this heuristic, people will stick to their high-level construals of temporally distant events and objects and low-level construals of temporally near events and objects when information about these events and objects do not differ. This might

result in ignoring high-level, abstract information about temporally near events and objects, when at the same time low-level, objective information is overseen for temporally distant events and objects. Assuming black & white photographs are associated with the past, they contain temporal distance, which according to TCT, should make them more abstract upon perceiving, because of high-level construals. Spiers (2014) found exactly this in a study that compared black and white photographs to photographs of color. Black and white photographs were estimated as older than the same photographs presented in color, reflecting TCT.

Beside temporal distance, social distance is also of relevance to the topic investigated here. When we perceive people, those that we know for a longer time, relate to and are important to us, are perceived in a more concrete, objective way then unfamiliar people (Idson & Mischel, 2001). This is also seen on the group level: people view out-group members as more similar than in-group members because of abstract representation, which is also called the perception of out-group homogeneity (Jones, Wood & Quattrone, 1981). It is assumed this effect increases the abstraction of perceiving outgroups (Park & Judd, 1990). When persons are depicted on black & white photographs they should feel more temporally distant to the perceiver than people depicted on color photographs, because black & white photographs are usually associated with the past. This experienced temporal distance decreases levels of familiarity with these persons and results in high, abstract construal levels increases feeling of social distance (Stephan, Liberman & Trope, 2011). Noteworthy, as stated above, decreased perceptual fluency has also been found to reduce familiarity (Parks & Toth, 2006). Applying this to our topic suggests that people depicted in black & white photographs should feel less familiar and more socially distant than people depicted on color photographs. This hypothesis was also tested by Spiers (2014), but has not been confirmed. People depicted on black & white photographs did not feel more socially distant

compared to people depicted in the same photograph, but in color. This however was a self-reported measure, which is susceptible to subjectivity and bias. Another indirect test by Spiers (2014) of this assumption resulted in people donating more money to a charitable foundations when photographs of children donated for were in color, instead of black & white. A similar study by Small and Simonsohn (2008) also found social closeness increases the amount of donations. These results, independent of self-report, do reflect an actual shift in social closeness

Emotional Consequences

Building on these theories, it is assumed black & white photographs will be seen as more abstract than color photographs, because of the simple fact they lack color. This stimulates global processing, making the psychological distance larger, which decreases processing fluency and leads to high-level construals. These effects are all bidirectional (Liberman & Förster, 2009; Trope, Liberman & Wakslak 2007), which makes them robust and have common effects. This, however, does not show black & white photographs stimulate emotional experience in a lesser way than color photographs. In this section, we will use empirical evidence to prove this point. Williams, Stein and Galguera (2014) proposed a three-way conceptual model (Figure 2) of psychological distance and CLT effects on affective experience. Intensity (the magnitude of the response) and valence (positivity or negativity of affective response) are important

components. Path 1 of the model explains the effects of construal level theory and how psychological distance influences evaluation and behavior through abstract or objective

construals that make us focus on either the primary (central) or secondary (peripheral) aspects of stimuli. When primed with temporal distance, abstract, high-level features are judged as being more positive than objective, low-level features (Fujita et al., 2008).

Figure 2. Overview of conceptual model. Williams, Stein & Galguera (2014).

Williams et al. assessed this question in an indirect measure, looking if people donate more money to a temporal distant cause (psychological distant), in comparison to a temporal near cause (psychological near). It was found people donated more to the temporal near alternative, indicating temporal closeness is preferred. Path 2 of the conceptual model describes how psychological distance influences evaluation by altering affective experience. They imply psychological distance influences our emotional experience directly. Independent from positive or negative valence of experienced emotions, the greater the psychological distance, the less affected we feel (Williams & Bargh, 2008). For example, feelings of temporal distance account for a low, less intense affect towards stimuli in comparison to feelings of temporal closeness (Williams et al.). And finally, path 3 of the conceptual model tells how abstract construal levels influence evaluation because of changing the valence, instead of the intensity of experienced affect. This effect is surprising: when abstract, high-level construals are activated, this leads to a

more positive response to both negative and positive stimuli, indicating that abstraction makes us focus on the positivity of actions (Williams et al.). This effect has been demonstrated by the fact that people generate more pros in contrast to cons about distant future plans (Eyal, Liberman, Trope & Walther, 2004) and positive instead of negative attitudes toward temporally distant courses (Fujita et al., 2008).

These findings supporting path 3 of the conceptual model, have only been found in studies on behavioral evaluation and therefore are not applicable to perceiving photographs and evaluating, which is a more cognitive process. Because of this, it is not assumed perceiving abstract, black & white photographs will lead to more positive valence overall. A study by Spiers (2014) supports this assumption by showing that people experience more negative as well as positive affect when perceiving black & white photographs in comparison to color photographs. Path 3 suggests perceiving an abstract, black & white photograph should lead to a positive shift in valence, ruling out increased negative affect. This implies path 3 of the model proposed by Williams et al. (2014) does not apply to perceiving black & white versus color photographs. The study does support part 2 of the conceptual model, because in comparison to color photographs, people were less affected by psychological distant black & white photographs. Path 2 is also supported by Winn and Everett (1979), who also found color photographs are better evaluated than color photographs. However, Livesay and Porter (1994) did not find significant evaluation differences between color and black & white photographs in their study. Literature on processing (or perceptual) also suggests different effects than path 3 implies.

As described before, perception can be made fluent by the mere exposure effect

(Whittlesea, 1993), which makes frequently perceived stimuli more liked. This strongly increases the preference of repeatedly seen objects (Zajonc, 1968). Accordingly, all stimuli that stimulate

perceptual fluency are more liked (Reber, Winkielman & Schwarz 1998). This positivity may emerge because of the efficient (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2007) and fast (Jacoby & Dallas, 1981) perception of the fluent stimuli which makes them fluent. In short: familiar stimuli become perceptually fluent, leading to positive affect. This is why perceptual fluency is often marked as having hedonic aspects (Winkielman, Schwarz, Fazendeiro & Reber, 2003; Reber, Schwarz & Winkielman, 2004). This is supported by research showing better mood amongst people who have repeatedly seen the same stimuli (Monahan, Murphy & Zajonc, 2000) and previously seen pictures are rated as more likeable (Harmon-Jones & Allen, 2001). When the stimuli are

perceived for a longer time, they are even more liked (Reber et al., 1998). Also, fluently processed stimuli stimulate muscular movement in zygomaticus major regions (top of the cheeks, right below the eyes), which are associated with positive emotions (Winkielman & Cacioppo, 2001; Harmon-Jones & Allen, 2001). Assuming color photographs are perceived more fluently because of our color vision, they should lead to a better mood and therefore more

positive emotions in contrast to black & white photographs. Also, fluently perceived stimuli (color photographs) are judged to be more pretty than disfluently perceived stimuli (black & white photographs; Reber et al., 1998)

Conclusion

In this paper an answer has been sought to the question how people process color versus black & white photographs and what effect this has on our emotional experience of these photographs. We have found multiple possible explanations. Black & white photographs are associated with the past, when they were the norm in photography. We process these stimuli less fluently, because we see more color photographs and also see the world in color. The association

of black & white with the past creates psychological distance, which makes black & white photographs feel further away in temporal, spatial, social and hypothetical distance. According to CLT (Trope & Liberman, 2010) this increase in psychological distance makes us form high-level construals, which results in perceiving and processing events and objects, in this case black & white photographs, in an abstract, global way.

Color photographs are more likely to be associated with the here and now because color photography is the norm nowadays. Also, we are simply more used to seeing color, because of our perceptual system. Our eyes make us see color, not black & white scenes. Therefore, color photography is high likely to be processed more fluently than black & white photography. This is why it is assumed color photography feels more close, resulting in less psychological distance than black & white photography. Low psychological distance, according to CLT, leads to low-level construals: objective, local perception, representations and processing.

The link between these cognitive aspects and emotional experience is easily made. According to Williams et al. (2014), who made a conceptual model of how CLT influences emotional evaluation, psychological distance directly reduces affective intensity, independent of valence. This is supported by Spiers (2014), who showed that psychological distant black & white photographs were rated as containing less positive and negative affect than color

photographs. Williams et al. (2014) also suggested negative and positive valenced emotions will get more positive overall when abstraction increases. However, this assumption has only been supported by studies assessing behavioral evaluations, which makes a generalization to photography problematic. Also, it has been found abstract black & white photographs lead to more positive but also more negative evaluations (Spiers, 2014), which implies path 3 does not apply to photography. According to processing fluency theory, black and white pictures are less

fluently processed because we are constantly exposed to scenes of color. Therefore black & white photographs will seem less true and familiar, which according to the mere exposure effect results in less liking. The opposite applies for photographs of color.

In short: because of global processing, high psychological distance, low processing fluency and high construal levels, it is assumed black and white photographs are perceived as less true and familiar, reduce emotional experience and are liked less in comparison to color photographs.

General Discussion

The theories applied above give room to make global predictions about how people will differently experience color and black & white photographs. Of course, this is a very global view of the subject. The expected effects of global versus local perception, psychological distance, CLT and processing fluency are constantly being influenced by other factors that could reverse or alter these effects. A photograph can affect us in many other ways than just the fact if it is in color or black & white. Nostalgia, complexity, aesthetic beauty, gender of the perceiver and emotional connection to objects or events depicted, for example, are factors that could have a significant effect on cognitive and emotional experience of a photograph. Also, objects depicted in photographs can give us a sense of temporal distance regardless of the fact the photograph is in color or black & white. Hence, these factors could lead to inaccurate predictions by the theories applied above. Here we will discuss this matter, using a photograph in color and black & white (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Ditzel, 2014. A photograph in black & white and color.

Nostalgia

First of all, nostalgia is expected to change the effects CLT and literature on processing fluency propose when perceiving a photograph. Nostalgia is defined as “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2014) and is considered a positive emotion mainly affecting older people (van der Pligt & Vliek, 2014). Nostalgia, for example, can be activated by a photograph of a car one used to have or a photograph taken on a nice, memorable vacation. Because of the clear connection with the rosy past, experiencing nostalgia leads to abstract, high-level construals, more temporal and spatial distance, higher ratings of authenticity

and, surprisingly, higher ratings of general positive affect. (Stephan, Sedikes & Wildschut, 2012). Since nostalgia is usually triggered by stimuli relating to one's personal past (Sedikides, Wildschut & Baden, 2004), it can be stimulated by either black & white or color photographs. In this sense, one person could be highly affected (in a positive way) by seeing the photograph in Figure 3 because he or she used to come to that particular place regularly and has good memories of it. Another person, however, could stay unaffected by the photograph because he or she has no relation with the particular place. This person would probably rate the photograph as less

positive because there will be no experienced nostalgia.

The experience of positive emotions when perceiving nostalgic scenes could be due to certain effects that come with CLT, which predicts the value of psychological distant stimuli could become more positive over time. This happens when the value linked to abstract, high level construals is more positive than the value linked to the objective, low-level construals (Liberman & Trope, 1998). Applying this to the photograph depicted in Figure 3, an abstract, high-level construal could be “a place where I used to spend a lot of quality time”. An objective, low-level construal could be “watering plants in the vegetable garden”. In this case, the high-level construal is more positive than the low-high-level construal (except when one finds watering plants highly enjoyable), which will make the photograph more positive over time, reflecting the effects of nostalgia. Assuming black & white photographs feel more temporal distant and result in high-level construals, feelings of nostalgia could be enhanced by black & white photographs because the experience of nostalgia also results in increased temporal distance and abstract, high-level construals. Therefore, nostalgia may reverse the effects of perceiving black & white versus color photographs expected by CLT and processing fluency literature, making black & white

photographs more emotional (in a positive way) than color photographs. More research on nostalgia in combination with CLT is suggested.

When one sees photographs of negative past events, like a soldier fighting during World War II, no nostalgic effects are expected. This is because photographs depicting negative events are not expected to stimulate “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past”.

Photographs of negative past events will probably stimulate negative experience of these photographs, ruling out a feeling of nostalgia. CLT and literature on processing fluency suggest seeing a photograph of a soldier fighting in black & white will lead to abstract, high-level, psychological distant construals like, for example, “this soldier is fighting for freedom”. Seeing the same photograph in color will lead to objective, low-level, psychological near construals like, for example, “this Dutch soldier is fighting the Germans with a rifle”. A black & white image thus seem to focus more on the underlying, internal motives of the person(s) depicted on it, in this case a soldier. The is reflected by by path 2 of the conceptual model of Williams et al., (2014), which indicates abstract representations lead to preference for central features. Zettl (2013) describes this effect of focusing on the internal lives of people in black & white

photographs in his desaturation theory, with desaturation meaning the process of removing color from color images. The desaturation theory, like literature on nostalgia, also suggests black & white photographs should lead to more intense emotional experience, in comparison to color photographs. However, nostalgia only applies to positive valence, but the desaturation theory also integrates negative valence. Because these desaturated images lack detail because of missing color information they will be represented in abstract, high-level construals. Therefore, the desaturation theory implies attention is drawn to the inner reality and central features of black & white photographs. When the inner reality and the central features of the black & white

photograph are negative, emotional experience will be even more negative than when the same photograph is perceived in color. Thus, like gestalt psychology, people seek psychological closure upon perceiving a black & white (desaturated) photograph, which will make them more involved in the underlying, internal motives, stimulating emotional involvement, increasing emotionality. This is not in line with the proposal of CLT and processing fluency that states black & white photographs, because of abstract and high-level presentations will lead to less affection. However, the proposed effects of the desaturation theory have not been found (Henly & Madupu, 2005; Detenber et al., 2000), indicating negatively valenced photographs will not seem more negative when being in black & white instead of color. The photographs probably will contain negative emotional valence, because of the negative scene depicted. This implies that what is depicted on a photograph influences emotions the most, not the fact the photograph is in color or black & white. Future research on the perception of black & white & color

photographs depicting negative scenes is suggested.

Photographs Depicting Temporally Distance

Feelings of temporal distance could be increased when a photograph contains old objects like a street filled with classic cars or a person drinking from an old-fashioned soda can. The perceiver will most likely guess the photographs are old, because there are old objects depicted. Spiers (2014) also noted this possible effect, stating appearance, clothes and expression of people depicted on photographs could increase or decrease temporal distance. Applying CLT (Trope & Liberman 2010) to photographs depicting old-fashioned objects and events, these photographs will be perceived in an abstract manner because of the temporal distance, leading to reduced affection (Williams et al., 2014). Initially, this is not expected because as implied above, color

photographs are assumed to lead to objective, low-level construals instead. Figure 4 demonstrates the suggested effect of a color photograph containing old elements. The

photograph is from 1960 and shows the Leidseplein in Amsterdam. The layout of the square and neon advertising is completely different nowadays, which should create a feeling of temporal distance for people who are known with the current appearance of the square. Some old cars can be seen too, which will also increase temporal distance resulting in reduced emotional experience (Williams et al., 2014). However, as discussed above, when one experiences nostalgia upon viewing this picture, the effect might be reversed, leading to increased emotional experience.

Figure 4. Nationaal Archief / Spaarnestad Photo / Photographer Unknown (2014). Retrieved from http://www.spaarnestadphoto.nl

Thus, when manipulating temporal distance, one should pay attention to the objects depicted in the photograph regardless of the fact the photograph is in color or black & white. This is because the manipulation could fail when one can deduct the age of a photograph by looking at certain aspects of it. When recent photographs are used this is not an issue and expected effects of CLT and processing fluency will remain.

Complexity

As discussed above, color photographs seem more familiar and are expected to be processed more fluently. However, color might also decrease processing fluency because of the fact it increases image complexity. The complexity of an image depends on the number of elements (information; detail) and the way in which they are organized (Gilbert & Schleuder, 1990). Bousfield, Esterson and Whitmarsh (1957) suggest color could enhance the quantity of information, which is supported by literature on global and local processing, CLT and the desaturation theory. Of course, defining how complex a photograph is depends on the person and what he or she considers to be an element of the photograph. For example, when looking at the photograph depicted in Figure 3, one could count the greenhouse as one element, or count the iron frame and glass plates as separate elements, the latter being a more complex perception. Studies about image complexity mainly focus on the ease of recall of a visual complex or simple image (Coulter, Coulter & Glover, 1984). Assuming familiar images are better recalled because of fluent processing, they should be liked more (mere exposure effect; Zajonc, 1968) and

preferred. However, studies about the complexity and recall of an image have ambiguous results. For example, Peeck and van Dam (1978) and Gilbert and Schreuder (1990) found complex (e.g. color) photographs are not better recalled than simple (e.g. black and white) photographs. This

might show image complexity decreases processing fluency. Coulter et al., (1984) also found this effect, demonstrating the amount of image complexity in drawings does not have an effect on level of recall. Denis (1976) did find that detailed, colored drawings are better recalled than schematic black & white drawings, proposing detail and color are preferred, which is in line with literature on processing fluency and the related mere exposure effect.

It thus remains unclear whether color images reduce or stimulate processing fluency, making the link between processing fluency and complexity vague. This could be due to the fact it is hard to judge what precisely is a complex photograph, which elements in the photograph account for this and how this should be measured (Coulter et al., 1984). Because most studies dealing with this subject use human evaluations to assess image complexity, these evaluations are prone to subjectivity and bias. Detenber et al., (2000) argue self-report measures can also be influenced by certain naive theories people have of color. People might think color is better with no particular reasons at all. This could be the result of their cultural and social environment. New measures of image complexity can be done with digital techniques, using only the information contained in the image and thereby ruling out subjective influences on judgments, thus

measuring complexity in a more objective manner. Examples of these techniques are finding edge levels (Mario, Chacón, Alma & Corral, 2005; see also for illustrations), which are contours in images. When an image is very detailed there are a lot of (hard to perceive) edges, making edge levels high, which means the image is very complex. Rigau, Feixas and Sbert (2005, see also for illustrations) propose image complexity can be measured by certain groups of pixels in the image that are similar to each other and form separate regions (segments), which can be found by a technique called partitioning. Low segmentation of an image means it contains little complexity. These techniques of assessing image complexity seem highly useful when selecting

images for experimental studies, because of the absence of self-report, creating a more pure measure of complexity. When complexity is assessed in this way, it might lead to less ambiguous results. Interestingly, there is a close link between image complexity and aesthetics.

Visual Aesthetics

Aesthetic is defined as “concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2014) and according to George D. Birkhoff consists of a ratio between order and complexity (Garabedian, 1934). When there is order and little complexity, this ratio is good and aesthetics are high. Machado and Cardoso (1998) propose artwork (considering photography as a form of art) consists of content and visual aesthetic value. These two properties are suggested to be interactive. The content of a photograph could be positive, whilst visually (aesthetically) the photograph could be negative, or vice-versa. They suggest aesthetic value depends on the complexity of the image (amount of information) and the complexity of processing that image (processing fluency). When processing is easy, the image will have more aesthetic value. Assuming an aesthetically loaded image will increase liking, this prediction is in line with literature on processing fluency (Winkielman & Cacioppo, 2001; Harmon-Jones & Allen, 2001) and the mere exposure effect (Zajonc, 1968). Also, when image complexity is low, aesthetic value becomes higher. This reflects global precedence and gestalt theories (Navon, 1977). However, as suggested by research of Gilbert & Schleuder (1990) and Peeck and van Dam (1978), image complexity also reflects disfluent processing because it makes them harder to recall. In this sense, processing fluency can be affected by the amount of information in the image as well as the fact if the image is in color or black & white. Black & white photographs are expected to decrease processing fluency because they seem unfamiliar, but at the same time

will increase processing fluency because they contain lower overall image complexity because of the missing color information. On the other hand, color photographs increase processing fluency because they seem familiar, but will also lower processing fluency because they contain higher overall image complexity because of color information. This means that black & white and color photographs can be just as aesthetic because image and processing complexity heave each other. What makes one photograph more aesthetic than another simply depends on the relation between image complexity (amount of information) and processing complexity (color or black & white).

Gender of the Perceiver

Little research has been conducted on gender differences in rating color and black & white photographs, but the few studies that have been conducted show gender might influence ratings of emotionality. This could alter the expected effects of CLT and processing fluency on perception of photographs. Winn and Everett (1979) found that males evaluated color

photographs more positive than women overall. For black & white photographs, no evaluative differences between men and woman were found. This implies path 2 of the conceptual model by Williams et al. (2014) will stimulate emotions even more when the photograph is in color and the perceiver a male. An exploratory study by Henley and Madupu (2005) that also addressed this question found women experience unpleasant photographs as more negative than men, which partially confirms the desaturation theory (Zettl, 2013). This could be due to the fact that woman are usually externalizers, communicating more about their feelings and internal states in

comparison to men, who are usually internalisers (Kring & Gorden 1998). However, the study did not find women experience pleasant photographs as more positive than men. More research on this topic is needed to get a more clear view of gender effects on perception of photographs.

Emotional Distance: Broadening Psychological Distance

Finally, I want to propose an extension of the psychological distance theory. As discussed above, psychological distance consists of four dimensions: spatial distance, temporal distance, social distance and hypothetical distance. In my opinion, a fifth dimension, namely emotional distance, should be added. This distance can be applied to any object or event one has a certain connection to. This could be a cherished watch, a trusted car, a loved painting or a memorable wedding. In this sense, the watch of your neighbor will emotionally distant and your own watch will be emotionally close. This can be demonstrated by the endowment effect (Kahneman, Knetsch & Thaler 1990). The endowment effect suggests that the value of objects people own are higher than the value of objects one does not own, showing a strong emotional connection to personal goods. I propose the endowment effect also applies to events, in the sense that your own wedding is personally more valuable than your neighbors wedding. When these personally valuable objects and events are depicted on photographs, they could account for feelings of nostalgia, or stimulate fluent processing because of familiarity, stimulating the mere exposure effect. By adding this dimension to psychological distance, the concept is broadened extensively. This makes talking about objects and events that have personal value in terms of psychological distance possible, which is not possible with the current framework of psychological distance. The addition also makes psychological distance more applicable to photography, because personally valuable objects and events are photographed a lot.

Implications

The studies collected in this paper give an extensive review of findings showing the cognitive and emotional differences in viewing photographs in color and black & white, as well as factors that could influence our perception of those photographs. The found effects could be highly important for advertising, museums, newspapers, literally any institution, company or editor that uses photographs. Drawing on the conclusions, it should be preferable to use color photographs, because in comparison to black and white photographs, they seem to be preferred.

This could have great effects for museums. When, for example, a historical museum of the second world war mainly displays black and white photographs, they might consider

colorizing them, to emotionalize people more, making the visit to the museum more memorable. Although color photographs might be better evaluated overall, it is suggested black & white photographs might seem more iconic (Messaris, 1997, as cited in Detenber et al., 2000), which might lead to more positive ratings of the photographs. This could be of importance for

photographic exhibitions of popular (iconic) photographers and, for example, the World Press Photo awards.

Also, using color photographs instead of black & white photographs might lead to a rise in donations (Small & Simonsohn, 2008; Spiers, 2014; Williams, Stein & Galguera, 2014). This fact might be interesting for charitable foundations, who not rarely use black & white footage in their campaigns. A switch to color footage might improve donations or lead to an increase in memberships.

From an educational perspective, usage of color instead of black & white photographs in lectures, lessons and books is expected to increase student involvement and grades because they

will be processed more fluently and liked more. A lot of educational books still use black & white photographs, which nowadays could be given color relatively simply.

A promising finding by Monahan, Murphy & Zajonc (2000) found that the better mood resulting from the mere exposure effect is diffuse and can be attached to similar, dissimilar or never seen before stimuli. Since we perceive the world in color constantly, it is perceived in a fluent way, which underlies the mere exposure effect (Whittlesea, 1993). The mere exposure effect in turn makes us experience positive emotions (Zajonc, 1968). Because these emotions are diffuse, these could easily be attached to color photographs we have never seen before. When one goes to a photography exhibition he or she has never visited before, the photographs might be liked better when in color than black & white.

Finally, we must not forget “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. This is why an answer like “I just like it” is commonly heard when asking someone why he likes a certain photograph. Preference for certain photographs will always be personal and can be affected things like composition, symmetry, objects or people depicted, contrast, use of light and of course color or black & white usage. However, the literature in this paper suggests that generally, people will prefer color over black & white photography.

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BACHELORTHESIS RESEATCH PROPOSAL

Date: 21-06-2014

TITLE OF RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Seeing the Forest or the Trees: The Effects of Black & White Versus Color Photographs on Level of Construal

PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH

The purpose of this study is to see if black & white and color photos lead to respectively abstract and objective perception of the depicted photo. Based on Construal Level Theory (Trope & Liberman, 2010), we expect black & white images will lead to high-level construal, which are abstract representations focusing on the central features of the photo. Color photos are expected to lead to low-level, which are objective representations focusing on the peripheral features of the photo. Because this assumption has never been directly tested, a study is designed to

investigate the effecg really takes place. When it does, this will have important implications for museums, photographers, education and charitable foundations.

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL 1 PROJECT DESCIPTION

Introduction

It is assumed black & white and color images are perceived differently. A black & white image is said to contain less information, because it only consists of shades of grey. A color image, besides shades of grey, is able to contain any color in the color spectrum, giving it a lot more specific information. (Gilbert & Schleuder, 1990). For example, when seeing a black & white photo of a tree, one cannot see the color of the leaves. This makes it harder to judge

whether the photo was taken in spring, summer or autumn. When the same photo is seen in color, information about the color of the leaves is added. When the leaves turn out to be yellow, orange and red, one could assume the photo is taken in autumn. This is why a color photo is said to have improved pictorial realism (Abell, 2007), giving more accurate, objective depictions of objects on the photo than black & white photos will do. Because color accounts for more detail and information, it is assumed to be processed in a local way, shifting our focus to objective, detailed and peripheral information upon perceiving a color image. A black & white image, because it is missing a lot of information in comparison to color, is assumed to be processed in a global way, making us focus on the abstract and central aspects.

When stimuli are globally processed, more psychological distance is experienced

(Liberman & Förster, 2009). Also, experience of high psychological distance is found to lead to abstract representations (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2008). Psychological distance is a subjective measure of how far an object or event feels from the self in the here and now. This distance can be represented by four dimensions: spatial distance (how far away something is objectively), temporal distance (how far away something is in time), social distance (how far you are or feel

from someone else) and hypothetical distance (how likely something seems to be). Because color photos will probably be perceived in a local, objective manner, they are expected to contain low psychological distance. However, black & white photos are expected to be perceived in a global, abstract manner and therefore will probably contain high psychological distance.

Construal Level Theory (Trope & Liberman, 2010) describes the effects above in terms of high- and low-level construals. High-level construals are abstract representations, caused by global processing and high psychological distance. Low-level construals are objective

representations, caused by local processing and low psychological distance. High-level construals will thus focus on the central features of objects and events, whilst low-level

construals will focus on peripheral features of objects and events. In this sense, color photos are expected to lead to low-level construals, and black & white photos are expected to lead to high-level construals. The sentence “seeing the forest but not the trees” demonstrates this effect: low-level construals make us see the forest (central feature) and high-low-level construals make us see the trees (peripheral features).

Recently, Spiers (2014) showed donations to a charitable fund increased when

photographs of children one could donate money to were in color instead of black & white. This indicates that the color photo reduced psychological distance to the child, reflecting CLT effects in an indirect way. This shows it is assumed people form abstract, high-level construals of black & white images, and objective, low-level construals of color images, but this has never been actually tested directly. This is why the current paper will investigate this assumption. Therefore, the following two hypotheses are formed.

H2: upon perceiving black & white photos, people will form objective, low-level construals.

2 WORKING METHOD

2.1 SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS

For the present study participants can be recruited in a lot of ways. However, because of ethical considerations, the minimum age is 18 years old. Participants could be students at the

UvA, who will be awarded research points for participation, 6th _{grade high-school students, or}

even a random sample from the street. The study could take place on site with laptops, or an online version could be distributed through e-mail and social media. Proper knowledge of the Dutch or English language is necessary to read the text in the study. To get reliable results, a sample of 100 participants is aimed at. These participants will be randomly assigned to either a condition with only color photographs, or a condition with only black & white photographs. The study will be a between-subjects design, with the independent variable being color or black & white photos and the dependent variable being level of construal.

2.2a OPERATIONALISATION & MATERIAL Material

A selection of fifty neutral color images will be made from stock photo internet sites (shutterstock.com, for example). A neutral image is considered to be free aspects that could influence emotions considerably, like depiction of violence, happiness, war, love, poverty, religion, politics and others. Using photo editing software, the photos will all be duplicated in