{"id":17003,"date":"2019-06-27T01:30:08","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T01:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=17003"},"modified":"2019-06-28T04:39:48","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T04:39:48","slug":"how-much-power-can-one-image-actually-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/how-much-power-can-one-image-actually-have\/","title":{"rendered":"How much power can one image actually have?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nicole Smith Dahmen<\/a>, University of Oregon<\/a><\/em> and Paul Slovic<\/a>, University of Oregon<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

When the Associated Press published Julia Le Duc\u2019s photograph of a drowned Salvadoran man, \u00d3scar Alberto Mart\u00ednez Ram\u00edrez, and his 23-month old daughter Valeria, it sparked outrage on social media<\/a>. According to Le Duc<\/a>, Ram\u00edrez had attempted to cross the Rio Grande after realizing he couldn\u2019t present himself to U.S. authorities to request asylum.<\/p>\n

But beyond raising awareness via Twitter and Facebook feeds, does an image like this one have the power to sway public opinion or spur politicians to take action?<\/p>\n

As journalism<\/a> and psychology<\/a> scholars interested in the effects of imagery, we study the ability of jarring photos and videos to move people from complacency to action. While graphic imagery can have an immediate impact, the window of action \u2013 and caring \u2013 is smaller than you\u2019d think.<\/p>\n

A political catalyst?<\/h2>\n

Photographs and videos \u2013 through their perceived authenticity \u2013 can have an effect on people.<\/p>\n

Research suggests<\/a> that the graphic photo of slain Emmett Till in his open casket<\/a> served as a \u201cpolitical catalyst\u201d in mobilizing Americans to action in the civil rights movement. Similarly, news images have been credited<\/a> as playing an important role in ending the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

But not all scholars agree. A recent article argued that it was a \u201cmyth<\/a>\u201d that the iconic \u201cnapalm girl<\/a>\u201d photo swayed public opinion and hastened the end of the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Did the \u2018napalm girl\u2019 significantly shift public opinion on the Vietnam War?<\/span>
\nmanhhai\/flickr<\/a>, CC BY<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We must also look to psychology to understand the impacts of emotional news content. Research demonstrates that audiences need an emotional connection \u2013 and not merely a \u201cjust-the-facts\u201d reporting approach \u2013 as \u201cprerequisite for political action<\/a>\u201d when it comes to appreciating the importance of distant mass suffering. And imagery can trigger this emotional connection by overcoming the psychic numbing<\/a> that occurs when casualties mount, images blur and lost lives become merely dry statistics.<\/p>\n

Images from Syria<\/h2>\n

In April 2017, gut-wrenching images seem to have awakened the world to the human atrocities happening in Syria. Following a chemical bomb attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, graphic photos and videos documented<\/a> the horrific effects of the banned nerve agent sarin. Millions bore witness<\/a> to excruciating human suffering: gasping, choking, writhing and dying. More than 500 people were injured<\/a>, with at least 86 deaths, including 28 children.<\/p>\n

The vivid, closeup images of sarin attack victims were resonant enough to break through the complacency of people and politicians accustomed to bad news emerging from the war-torn nation. In President Trump\u2019s response \u2013 which included a retaliatory missile strike \u2013 he seemed to recognize the value of the Syrian lives depicted in the horrific photos and videos.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you kill innocent children,\u201d he said<\/a> during a news conference, \u201cthat crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line \u2013 many, many lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

The limits of an image<\/h2>\n

Nonetheless, even though the attacks may have briefly heightened U.S. concerns over the wars in Syria, the photographic documentation of the suffering in Syria wasn\u2019t new.<\/p>\n

The 2015 photos of a tiny Syrian boy\u2019s lifeless body<\/a> resting face down in the sand similarly stirred the world\u2019s collective consciousness. Within hours of its release, the photo had reached 20 million people through Twitter<\/a>, with many more millions seeing it on the front pages of newspapers the next day. Afterwards, government restrictions<\/a> on accepting refugees were loosened while private donations to organizations like the Red Cross spiked dramatically<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A year later haunting images of a young boy<\/a> in the back of an ambulance, caked in dirt and blood, galvanized the world.<\/p>\n

But the emotional and compassionate responses to both photographs were short-lived. The bombing of civilians in Syria continued. Refugees continued risking their lives to escape the war zone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
After a photograph of a dead Syrian boy went viral in 2015, the number of daily donations to a Swedish Red Cross campaign designated specifically for aiding Syrian refugees spiked dramatically \u2013 but only for a brief window.<\/span>
\nProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America<\/a>, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the publication of Le Duc\u2019s photo of the dead migrants, supportive politicians may feel emboldened to sound the alarm on the plight of Central American migrants. Donations to immigrant aid organizations might briefly spike.<\/p>\n

But it seems that a photograph, no matter how emotionally devastating, can only do so much.<\/p>\n

Yes, it can create a window of time when we\u2019re motivated to act, and we\u2019ll usually do so if we have effective options<\/a> to pursue. This could mean a charitable donation at the individual level or, collectively, a surge of political will. However, psychology research from the \u201carithmetic of compassion<\/a>\u201d suggests that sympathy for distant human suffering declines<\/a> when we\u2019re presented with rising body counts. Sometimes we\u2019re discouraged by the scope of the problem and this stops us from doing things that actually make a difference<\/a> \u2013 even if partial solutions can save lives. Other times, if the options for helping others seem too narrow or ineffective, we\u2019ll turn away and stop caring.<\/p>\n

Images can alert us to the horrors of violence, mass migration and poverty. But as we have seen time and again, photographs and news footage of human suffering generally precipitate a short-term emotional reaction, rather than a sustained humanitarian response.<\/p>\n

This is an updated version of an article originally published on April 13, 2017.<\/em><\/p>\n

[ Deep knowledge, daily.<\/em> Sign up for The Conversation\u2019s newsletter<\/a>. ]\"The<\/p>\n

Nicole Smith Dahmen<\/a>, Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon<\/a><\/em> and Paul Slovic<\/a>, Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nicole Smith Dahmen, University of Oregon and Paul Slovic, University of Oregon When the Associated Press published Julia Le Duc\u2019s photograph of a drowned Salvadoran man, \u00d3scar Alberto Mart\u00ednez Ram\u00edrez, and his 23-month old daughter Valeria, it sparked outrage on social media. According to Le Duc, Ram\u00edrez had attempted to cross the Rio Grande after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":17001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293],"tags":[2118,537,1336,6161,1586],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17003"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17003"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17009,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17003\/revisions\/17009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}