Draft 1: How photographs effect emotions

This topic submitted by Shannon Kisha and Margaret Skinner (Kishasn@muohio.edu) at 8:29 pm on 10/15/01. Additions were last made on Friday, April 19, 2002. Section: Myers

II. METHODS-
Methods in this research lab deal with research and surveys. The first objective was to find photographs of the terrorist attack that would evoke any type of emotion. Secondly, a decision had to be made on which type of emotion would most likely be induced. Compassion/sympathy/empathy are the three emotions thought to be felt most prevalently when the photographs are observed. There are six categories of photographs chosen to be displayed. The first category is a single picture of flight 33 flying directly into the second twin tower. The second category is three pictures in a collage of the attack physically effecting victims. The third category is a collage of three pictures of people emotionally effected indirectly, during or after the attack ( this could be viewing the scene from TV during or after the event, or even witnessing the scene from a few blocks). The fourth category shows three pictures of the volunteers during the crisis and their reactions. The fifth category is three pictures of Americans dealing with the aftermath of the crisis all over the nation. The sixth category is a series of three pictures showing the gradual change of the twin towers; both standing, in flames and finally a pile of rubble.
The next step in the lab was to do research. Similar studies were done, so comparisons were made and put into the introduction. Changes were also made to the first idea in the research process. From this research the proposal began to take form and a survey made.
The main idea of this lab is to have a group of 50 randomly chosen people put into a controlled setting and observe the six categories of photographs dealing with the twin tower terrorist attack. They will then have to fill out a survey. This survey will tell the research how much compassion/sympathy/empathy is felt when looking at the photographs. From this information ,which category of photographs induces these emotions the most will be figured out. Hence, media will know what types of emotions are evoked by such images and how they can use this information to manipulate the viewers. More specifically, the point is to make the media more aware of what they are showing and to let them know the effects. How they use the information is beside the point. This will be done twice in a period of a month, using two sets of 50 people. How we will randomly choose is not quite clear. Flyers may be put up around western campus. Doing the survey twice will show how people react to a situation over a long period of time and if it loses the emotional impact on people or not. It is thought that it will not lose impact, especially since it has been in the news for over a month and is still a huge issue and a war is raging.
The survey will have a ranking order of which categories induce the emotions the most, from one to six, and then each category will have specific emotions described and people will circle the emotion most similar to their own, as well as a number ranking of how much compassion/sympathy/empathy is felt (from one to ten).
The class will be taking the survey for us, as well as finding at least two other people to take the survey as well. We will have them meet at a certain place at a certain time, or schedule a time to meet us that’s convenient for them. The lighting should be soft and the atmosphere comfortable.
The survey is not yet complete. More research is being done, whether to use compassion, sympathy or empathy as the emotion thought to be induced the most. Pictures will not be posted as well, because the scanner is not working.

III. RESULTS-
After finding the numbers, they will be put into an anova table and put into a frequency distribution (histogram). The number of people and where they fell into how much emotion was induced in them for each category of the six, will be the variables. Other graphs and variable will be changed, depending on the results. There will also be a graph for how time changes the emotions of people. This will be a simple bar graph, comparing how much emotion was evoked both times and the increase or decrease of it. The amount of people will always be the same, as well as the setting. The percentage of increase will always change.

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