Digital images are hard to resist: Teaching viewers about the effects of camera angle does not reduce the camera angle's impact on power judgments

Abstract

Digital images on the internet are often designed to manipulate viewers' interpretations. Therefore, it is important to educate viewers regarding potential effects of such techniques. We investigated whether two interventions addressing potential effects of camera angle affect the technique's effect on participants' power-related judgments of depicted persons. In two experiments, participants were assigned to one of two conditions with introductory information that either included information about the effect of camera angle or did not include such information. In Experiment 2, we additionally varied whether participants engaged in a task practicing the detection of camera angles or not. None of the interventions affected how participants rated digital pictures of persons that were shot from different camera angles. However, both experiments demonstrated that the interventions were successful in making viewers aware of the potential effects of camera angles – as evident in the participants' responses to open-ended questions. Potential reasons for the lack of effects on the participants' power-related judgments of the depicted persons are discussed.

Keywords

• Instructional intervention
• Camera angle
• Power-related judgments
• Propaganda