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sets of images because the amount of time necessary to create each computerized
survey prohibited employing a greater number.
Subjects completed all surveys on a computer using the research software,
“Media Lab.” Subjects first responded to a series of demographic questions
asking about their sex, race, income level, political party affiliation, and political
ideology. Following the demographic questions, the images began to appear. The
computer program randomly shuffled the images with each viewing of a
particular group. This ideally eliminated any potential effects of picture order. A
screen with a plain grid and the words, “when you are ready for the next picture,
please click on the screen” appeared between each picture. This screen was
inserted in order to give subjects the opportunity to return to a baseline emotional
state before viewing the next image. After the participant clicked on the screen,
the study proceeded.
A caption accompanied each photograph. The captions were also taken
from the AP Photo Archive. We chose to present captions with each picture
because, without the benefit of a textual explanation, many of the images would
have been indecipherable. Although we can not say definitively that the captions
did not have an impact on the way subjects responded to the images, we wanted to
replicate as closely as possible the real-world experience of viewing news images.
A series of scales appeared on the screen adjacent to each image, one
following the other. At the top of the screen, a statement appeared. One example
of such a statement was, “it made me happy.” Beneath the statement was a series
of buttons. Subjects were able to click on one of these buttons using a mouse.
Convention