Are Not Necessarily More Persuasive
While on the way to get a cup of coffee, a solicitor approaches you. The solicitor is from a nonprofit. The solictor has information with pictures and stories. Would you be persuaded to make a donation to the nonprofit?
It may seem intuitive that a message will be more persuasive when presented in a vivid manner than a pallid manner. Using concrete language and pictures may grab our attention. The problem is that there is little evidence to suggest that the vividness of a message affects the persusasiveness of the message.
In their review of studies on vividness, Taylor and Thompson (1982) found little support for the vividness effect. Most of the studies reported in their review article found no effect of vividness on persuasion. This stands in contrast to our view that vividness messages are more persuasive.
Rather than trying to make a message more vivid, messages could be made more cogent. Solid evidence and a convincing rationale could be provided to support a view.
References
Taylor, S. E., & Thompson, S. C. (1982). Stalking the elusive
"vividness" effect. Psychological Review, 89, 155-181.