Emotional and attentional influences of photographs on impression management and financial decision making

The use of photographs has become a key feature of corporate reporting in the last decades. As a form of impression management, photographs may be designed to influence investors’ judgments. Where a paucity of research on the use of photographs in corporate reports exists, this short communication discusses two important photographic features that can frame judgements – its ability to attract attention and convey emotions with simplicity. Usually, the non-creative content of photographs, such as size, is responsible for capturing our attention, while its creative content influences cognition and judgments through the elicitation of specific emotional responses. The use of photographs is now a norm and this letter will help open new avenues of behavioural research and methodologies.