How taking photos increases enjoyment of experiences.
Experiences are vital to the lives and well-being of people; hence, understanding the factors that amplify or dampen enjoyment of experiences is important. One such factor is photo-taking, which has gone unexamined by prior research even as it has become ubiquitous. We identify engagement as a relevant process that influences whether photo-taking will increase or decrease enjoyment. Across 3 field and 6 lab experiments, we find that taking photos enhances enjoyment of positive experiences across a range of contexts and methodologies. This occurs when photo-taking increases engagement with the experience, which is less likely when the experience itself is already highly engaging, or when photo-taking interferes with the experience. As further evidence of an engagement-based process, we show that photo-taking directs greater visual attention to aspects of the experience one may want to photograph. Lastly, we also find that this greater engagement due to photo-taking results in worse evaluations of negative experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record
Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California.
Kristin
K
Diehl
The Yale School of Management, Yale University.
Gal
G
Zauberman
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Alixandra
A
Barasch
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010781:Photography; D057181:Pleasure / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult