The Role of Visual Imagery in Social Cognition

Abstract

We outline the history of theoretical beliefs about mental imageryʼs status as a representational tool, and we review evidence supporting the current predominant view, focusing on visual imageryʼs relevance to social cognition. According to the current predominant view, visual imagery is a legitimate form of mental representation that functions specifically in representing concrete, perceptual information. However, emerging evidence suggests imagery may also have the capacity to represent abstract information, and we propose modifications of the current predominant view of visual imageryʼs function. We explore how variation in imagery ability and use, as well as perceptual qualities of images (e.g., vividness, visual perspective), corresponds with variation in social information processing. Evidence demonstrates the function of visual imagery in a wide range of social processes including attribution, impression formation, memory, emotion, persuasion, communication, and judgment and decision-making; with implications for understanding phenomena such as addiction, false memories, supernatural belief, and cultural differences.

Mental Representations of Military Veterans: The Pictures (and Words) In Our Heads

“…When asked to picture a veteran, most respondents pictured someone white and male. Psychologists note the importance of visual mental imagery in everything from memory to emotion, persuasion to judgment (Libby & Eibach, 2013). Such homogenous visual mental imagery may be one reason women veterans report mistreatment from the public, including regular anecdotes about being accosted for parking in "veterans only" spaces (e.g., Associated Press, 2016; Foster, 2019), and even in Veterans Affairs facilities where they are greeted by an assumption that they are the wife or partner of a veteran rather than a veteran themselves (Steinhauer, 2019).…”

“…The human mind is complex and theories concerning memory abound (see Ashcraft & Radvansky, 2010). However, research has frequently underscored the importance of both semantic associations and visual mental imagery in social cognition, or how people think about social groups such as military veterans (Libby & Eibach, 2013;Monteith et al, 2013). Network models propose that memory involves a network in which nodes-or concepts-are linked via associative pathways (Monteith et al, 2013).…”

“…Visual mental imagery is the ability to call to mind images of people, places, and things in the absence of the actual object (Ashcraft & Radvansky, 2010). The images we call to mind when we think about other people can inform memory and social interaction (Libby & Eibach, 2013). To illustrate, when asked to picture a military veteran, different attitudes and emotions might be triggered when one calls to mind an image of a World War II veteran versus an Afghanistan/Iraq veteran, or a man versus a woman, or a homeless person versus a suburban neighbor.…”

The vividness of imagining emotional feelings in positive situations is attenuated in non‐clinical dysphoria and predicts the experience of positive emotional feelings

“…Thus, there is a strong argument for the speculation that vividness of imagery of emotional feelings may be also affected in dysphoria and depression. Furthermore, vividness of imagery has been considered an important cognitive process (rather a cognitive epi-phenomenon) involved in other psychological processes such as accessing memory (D'Angiulli et al, 2013), food craving (Kemps, Tiggemann, & Hart, 2005), optimism (Blackwell et al, 2013), judgment and decision making, attribution, (Libby & Eibach, 2013), coping related processes (Jing, Madore, & Schacter, 2016), and psychopathology (Pearson, Naselaris, Holmes, & Kosslyn, 2015). Thus, dysfunctions related to the vividness of imagining emotional feelings may be of special importance for processes related to emotional psychopathology.…”

'I Survived the Crisis!' - Using Real World Scenarios to Teach Crisis Leadership Skills to Undergraduate Engineering Students

“…These videos provided them with some necessary visual imagery that made the scenario more real, and that elicited some deeper emotional reactions. Libby and Eibach (2013) 11 point to evidence that "demonstrated the function of visual imagery in a wide range of social processes including attribution, impression formation, memory, emotion, persuasion, communication, and judgment and decision-making. "…”