Do Cold Images Cause Cold-Heartedness? The Impact of Visual Stimuli on the Effectiveness of Negative Emotional Charity Appeals
研究发现，接触冷物体图像会引发身体寒冷感，进而增强孤独感，从而削弱负面情感慈善诉求（如引发同情）的捐款效果，揭示了媒体中常见视觉图像对慈善广告有效性的影响。
Previous research shows that negative emotional charity appeals tend to be more effective than other emotional charity appeals because they evoke sympathy. However, feelings of loneliness reduce individuals' ability to sympathize with others. Based on grounded cognition research, we propose that exposure to images of cold objects will lead to feelings of physical coldness, which in turn will increase perceptions of loneliness, such that negative emotional charity appeals that are viewed following exposure to cold (versus neutral or warm) images will be less effective at eliciting donations. Findings from four studies provide support for this hypothesis and delineate the link between the presence of certain commonplace visual images in the media and their influence on the effectiveness of embedded negative charity appeals, and identify a new context effect that attenuates the effectiveness of charity appeals.