I did an article a while back about colors and how they can affect our emotions. I found it fascinating that colors can create desires in us without us even knowing it.

But did you know pictures do the same thing?

In two studies, young Dutch children share more candy with others after being primed with attributes of Saint Nicholas compared to being primed with a dwarf in the control condition. In a third study, children evaluate sharing more positively after being primed with attributes of Saint Nicholas, and more negatively after being primed with the Toys R Us logo, compared to being primed with a dwarf.

If you didn’t understand all that I’ll try and clear it up a bit.

Kids wanted to share when they were shown a picture of Saint Nicholas and didn’t want to share when shown the Toy R Us logo.

Just like when picking colors, we need to pay attention when picking images for our website.

Images on your site will create a desire when the site visitor sees them, you need to make sure they create the desire your website desires.