THE PSYCHOLOGY OF

STOCK PHOTOS
Nick Kolenda

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www.nickkolenda.com

COPYRIGHT 2016 KOLENDA ENTERTAINMENT LLC

 Introduction
Think you know stock photos?

Think again.

Like most people, you probably

dont overthink your blog images.
Once you find a relevant photo, you
probably just stick with it.

However, your choices might

be hurting your conversion
rate.

Even with my background in

psychology, Im always flabbergasted how smallseemingly irrelevant
changes can make a big impact.

and that goes for your stock photos as well.

In this article, I pull from academic research to explain the persuasive

impact of images. In particular, I explain how stock photos can
influence your perception and behavior without your conscious
awareness.

More importantly, youll learn which stock photos can

trigger a desire to convert (and why).
Lets dive in
 Three Types of Conversions

To explain how images inuence us (from a psychological

perspec7ve), I posted a video on the original blog post:
h@p://www.nickkolenda.com/which-stock-photos-convert-higher

In that video, I explained how images can prime concepts in your

seman7c network (which can then inuence your percep7on and
behavior).

and thats the key to choosing stock photos.

You should strategically choose your images based on the

associa7ons that they will ac7vate (and you should ac7vate concepts
that will trigger a desire to convert).

Which concepts will trigger a desire to convert? It depends on your

niche.

Certain niches have certain types of conversions. When choosing a

concept to prime, you need to choose a concept thats conducive for
your type of conversion.

ALer scouring the academic literature, I chose to separate the

recommenda7ons into three conversions:

1. Ra2onal Conversions People convert from a logical standpoint

(e.g., people subscribe to a soLware blog to receive useful 7ps)
2. Emo2onal Conversions People convert from an emo7onal
standpoint (e.g., people subscribe to a fashion blog to stay
updated on the latest trends)

3. Prosocial Conversions People convert from a moral standpoint

(e.g., people donate to a Kickstarter campaign or charity)

The remainder of the ar7cle will give you suggested images for each
type of conversion.

Note: Some of these suggestions will seem bizarre. In

fact, a lot of these suggestions will seem bizarre. I tried
to ease the bizarreness by including an academic
research study to back up each claim.
 Rational Conversions

When people convert from a ra7onal standpoint, you should prime

peoples concept for ra7onality. Once those associa7ons become
ac7vated in their seman7c network, theyll be more likely to no2ce
and appreciate the ra2onal benets of conver2ng.

Here are some images that can help:

a. Brain Images from MRI or fMRI

Not just any brain imageits important that you show brain images
from an MRI or fMRI. Youve seen these images before:

Dont underes7mate them. Those images possess a magical quality.

In one study, researchers found that those brain images (compared to
other brain images, bar graphs, and no image) inuenced people to
perceive a scien7c ar7cle to be more credible (McCabe & Castel,
2008).

The researchers concluded:

These data lend support to the notion that part of the

fascination, and the credibility, of brain imaging research
lies in the persuasive power of the actual brain images
themselves.

When you use an image of a brain (especially an image from an MRI

or fMRI), youll have a greater chance of triggering associa7ons with
analy7cal thinking. Once that concept becomes ac7vated, your
visitors will develop a stronger apprecia7on for the ra7onal benets
of conver7ng (and theyll also view your content to be more credible).

b. Business-Related

Your concept of business has many associa7ons, such as

compe77veness and selshness.

Researchers found that those associa2ons can inuence your

percep2on and behavior. For example, Kay et al. (2004) found that
exposing par7cipants to business-related s7muli (e.g., briefcases,
dress shoes, fountain pens) caused people to behave more
compe77vely.
If your conversion provides people with a ra7onal set of benets,
priming their concept of business will trigger a whats-in-it-for-me
mindset, which should help them appreciate the ra7onal benets of
conver7ng.

Luckily, stock photos are known for their cliche business images:

Are they clapping at a blank screen?

Bet theyre watching Nyan Cat.

 Is it just meor does this one look seductive?

c. Asian Males

It sounds crazy, but let me explain.

Just like other concepts in our seman7c network, gender and race are
associated with certain quali7es and characteris7cs. Even if we dont
believe in those stereotypes, the mere existence of those associa7ons
can inuence us.

Shih, Pihnsky, & Ambady (1999) examined that ques7on using a

group of people who belonged to conic7ng stereotypes: Asian-
American women.
 On one hand, theres a stereotype that Asians are superior at
math.

On the other hand, theres a stereotype that women are inferior at

math.

Before giving them a math test, the researchers asked them

ques7ons:

Some were asked ques7ons about their race (e.g., the languages
they spoke at home).

Some were asked ques7ons about their gender (e.g., if the oors in
their dorm were co-ed)

What happened? You guessed it. Those ques7ons primed the

corresponding stereotypes. People who were asked ques7ons about
their race performed be@er, whereas people who were asked
ques7ons about their gender performed worse.
How does that nding relate to conversions?

When you want people to appreciate the ra7onal benets of

conver7ng, you can take advantage of that stereotype.

Since the stereotype of Asian is usually associated with superior

analy7cal skills, you can use images to prime that associa7on. Since
the stereotype of men is usually associated with more ra7onal
thinking, showing images of that gender should also trigger greater
reliance on ra7onale.

You may have thought the featured image was a teaser, but if your
conversions are based on ra7onality, then the image of the Asian
male might be your best bet.

As well see later, that photo s7ll isnt ideal. In fact, none of those
photos are ideal. All three images might actually hurt your conversion
rate. Ill give you a few paragraphs to think about the reason why.
 Emotional Conversions

When your conversions are based on emo7on, you should be priming

a dierent set of associa7ons. Rather than prime ra7onality, you
should prime concepts that will inuence people to use their emo7on
when deciding to convert.

Here are some images that can help:

a. Whimsical Cuteness

In a recent study, Nenkov & Sco@ (2014) presented people with

dierent Amazon giL cards and asked them to choose from a list of
movies to purchase.

Some movies were low brow (e.g., Bridesmaides, Hangover II, Ted)

Some movies were high brow (e.g., The Kings Speech, The Help,
Jane Eyre)
Take a guess. Which giL card made people more likely to choose low
brow movies. Give up? It was GiL Card A, with the circular designs.

The researchers found that whimsically cute designs can prime

concepts of fun, which will make people more likely to indulge in
rewards (e.g., by choosing low brow movies).

But how come the baby didnt make people more likely to indulge?
Wouldnt that image also prime the idea of fun and lightheartedness?

Not quite. As the researchers explained:

exposure to a cute baby leads to automatic trait

inferences of vulnerable and caretaking, which
should not increase indulgence in subsequent behavior.

In fact, other researchers have found a nega%ve eect from baby

images. Since images of cute babies can trigger the concept of
caretaking, they can make people less likely to indulgeand more
likely to do the responsible thing (Sherman, Haidt, & Coan, 2009).

When your conversion involves an emo7onal decision (or if your

niche involves some type of indulgence), you should incorporate
whimsically cute designs into your website. Those images will prime
the concept of fun, making people more likely to indulge.

and make sure to avoid images of babies.

b. Smiling People

When people are in a happy mood, theyre more likely to base

decisions on emo7on. That posi7ve mood creates a sense of naive
op7mism. We falsely assume that informa7on must be accurate, so
we dont spend as much 7me ra7onalizing.

How can you trigger that mood? Show images of people smiling.

Murphy and Zajonc (1993) subliminally ashed smiling or frowning

faces to a group of par7cipants. Even though par7cipants werent
aware of that exposure, they evaluated s7muli more favorably aLer
being exposed to the happy faces.

That principle takes advantage of the chameleon eect (Chartrand &

Bargh, 1999). When were exposed to nonverbal behavior, we
experience an unconscious urge to mimic that behavior (and that
subtle mimicry ins7lls that same emo7on within us).

In fact, the chameleon eect can explain the ques7on I asked earlier.
Do you know why the images of the three people could hurt your
conversion rate? It doesnt involve smiling (although I should award
even more bonus points to Person C who is smiling).
Look at their body language. What are they doing? Theyre crossing
their arms.

Uh oh.

Within our schema for crossing arms, we usually associate the idea
of closed-mindedness. In fact, Friedman and Elliot (2008) found that
people were able to solve more anagram puzzles when they were
coerced into crossing their arms (because it triggered a persistent
ahtude).

When you expose images of people crossing their arms, you

subconsciously prime people to become more unyielding (Bull, 1987),
which will make them less likely to convert.

Given that circumstance, its funny how common that pose has
become in stock photos. When choosing your images, pay careful
aBen2on to the body language of the models. Choose images where
people arent crossing their arms.

c. People Looking Toward Your CTA

This sugges7on will work with any type of conversion, but it will have
the strongest impact with emo7onal conversions.

In order to trigger a desire to convert, you should posi2on people in

stock photos so that they are facing your CTA.

You might have seen this heatmap before:

The content to the right of the baby received much more a@en7on
aLer posi7oning the baby toward it (rather than facing the website
visitors).

But why does that occur?

Turns out, we have a natural, inborn tendency to follow peoples
gazes. That tendency was an evolu7onary trait that helped us learn
about the world, and its s7ll ingrained in our amygdala (see Emery,
2000 for an in-depth review).

By posi7oning people in stock photos toward your CTA, your website

visitors will be naturally drawn toward those areas (and they will
have a stronger desire to convert).

Why will they have a stronger desire?

Although the increased a@en7on is due to gaze following, the

increased desire is due to processing uency (Alter & Oppenheimer,
2009). I explain that principle in this post, as well as in Methods of
Persuasion.
 Prosocial Conversions

What if your conversions are based on prosocial behavior, such as

dona7ng? Since those conversions lead to both emo7onal and
ra7onal reasoning, what types of associa7ons should you prime?

Here are some ideas.

a. Make People Self-Aware

By the end of this sec7on, youll understand why images of people

poin7ng can inuence people to act more ethically.

The answer involves self-awareness.

When were focused on ourselves, we experience a nega7ve

discomfor7ng feeling (Mor & Winquist, 2002). The feeling is so small
that were usually not aware of it.
Nonetheless, that altered state is enough to inuence our behavior.
How? When we experience that discomfort, we try to overcome it by
ac7ng in a responsible, moral, or socially encouraged manner
(Gibbons, 1990).

For example, one of my past professors examined self-awareness in

trick-or-treaters. Her team found that children were less likely to steal
candy when a mirror was present behind the bowl. Why? The mirror
primed the childrens self-awareness, which extracted more
responsible behavior from them (Beaman et al., 1979).

If your conversion involves prosocial behavior, you can prime peoples

self-awareness with the following images:

Image of Eyes

Just like mirrors, eyes can also prime self-awareness.

In one study, Bateson et al. (2006) provided customers with an

unsupervised honesty box to pay for their lunch. Over the course of
10 weeks, the researchers showed dierent banners behind the
counter: either a ower or a pair of eyes. Surprisingly, when images of
eyes were displayed, the researchers received 3x more money.

Although eyes can be eec7ve, they might be dicult to t naturally

into your content.

Lets face ittheyre pre@y creepy:

The next idea can achieve the same outcome in a more subtle way.

Images of Pointing

Now that you understand self-awareness, the image from the

beginning of the ar7cle might make more sense.

In addi7on to eyes, images of people poin7ng outward should also

trigger self-awareness:
Although I cant nd a study using that type of image, I would venture
a guess that those images might even be more eec7ve than eyes.

b. Avoid Business and Money

For ra7onal conversions, I explained how people usually associate the

concept of business with a whats-in-it-for-me mindset.

If your conversion is prosocial, you should avoid incorpora7ng

business-related images because they can make people more selsh
(Kay et al., 2006).

The same eect occurs with money. Researchers found that people
act more corrupt when they are primed with the concept of money
(Kouchaki et al., 2013).

So what concept should you prime? Besides self-awareness, another

associa7on that would help is religion.

c. Religious Images

Much like business, religion can trigger certain associa7onsnamely,

moral and ethical behavior.

In one study, people who were exposed to words related to God (e.g.,
spirit, Divine, God) showed more ethical behavior in an economic
game (Shari & Norenzayan, 2007).

Also, just like with stereotypes, you dont need to be religious to be

aected by concepts associated with religion. The mere existence of
those associa2ons is enough to trigger moral behavior. In fact, the
outcome from the previous study also inuenced Atheistspeople
who arent religious at all.

Whether you include images related to religion (e.g., crosses) or you

end your wri@en signature with a God Bless, those exposures will
make people more likely to complete your prosocial conversion.
 Summary

Hopefully this ar7cle has given you a newfound appreciate for stock
photos. Next 7me youre choosing an image, think about the
associa7ons that you might be priming. Always choose images that
will prime helpful concepts for your type of conversion.

To help you put all the pieces together, I created this summary table:
 Final Thoughts

Theres a funny thing about priming. The eects only occur when
youre unaware that theyre happening.

If you realize that someone is trying to inuence you, a reverse

priming eect occurs (Laran, Dalton, & Andrade, 2011). You react
against that persuasion a@empt, and you become less likely to be
persuaded.

That said, its always tough ending a post about inuence and
persuasion with a CTA. If I do one of the strategies, then Ill look like a
slimeball :)

So Ill resort to a simple, straightorward request. If you enjoyed this

post, then youd enjoy my book, Methods of Persuasion. I explain a
ton of other interes7ng and prac7cal persuasion strategies that you
can implement online.

Or if youre not ready to pick up a copy of the book, you can subscribe
to my blog to stay updated on new content.