Heuristics and Biases in Audience Decision Making 213decide if statements such as “Osorno is a city in Chile” were true. Some of the statements were
printed in colors that were easy to read against the background color and others in colors that were
hard to read. Readers were more likely to judge a statement as true when it was printed in a color
that made reading it easy.^54
Legibility effects have shown up in other studies of decision making as well. Consumers who readdescriptions of two digital cameras were much more likely to decide to purchase a camera when the
descriptions were printed in an easy-to-read font than when they were printed in a font that was
diffi cult to read.^55 Teachers who read student essays written in more legible as opposed to less legible
handwriting evaluated the content of the more legible essays more positively.^56 Readers who read
descriptions of increasing or decreasing trends in an easy-to-read font were more likely to predict the
trend would continue into the future.^57
Readers also experience contrast effects when they encounter a less legible document beforereading a more legible one. For example, consumers who read an ad after fi rst reading a movie
review written in a diffi cult-to-read font felt the ad was easier to process and gave the advertised
product higher-than-normal ratings.^58
Visibility Effects: The Intuitive Appeal of Easy-to-See Images
Audiences are more persuaded by easy-to-see images than hard-to-see images. Larger easy-to-see
pictures of an advertised product produce stronger persuasion effects than identical but smaller,
hard-to-see ones.^59 The visibility of an image even affects the persuasiveness of the verbal informa-
tion associated with it. In a study of visibility effects, readers were presented with either strong or
weak arguments and either a high- or low-quality image of the person who wrote the arguments
(a sharp color photograph of the writer versus a degraded copy of the same photo). Readers who
received the sharp color photograph of the writer mistakenly judged weak arguments to be as
persuasive as strong ones. But those who received the hard-to-see photo correctly judged the weak
arguments to be less persuasive.^60
Viewers also prefer images that are prototypical, symmetrical, and simple.^61 Why? Because thoseattributes make images easy to process.^62 Readers prefer documents with a symmetrical layout for
similar reasons. Readers fi nd documents with a symmetrical layout to be more visually appealing
and personally relevant than the same documents with an asymmetrical layout. In addition, readers
are more likely to be persuaded by the arguments in them.^63
Audiences also have stronger emotional responses to easy-to-process images than to hard-to-processones.^64 When images are presented on big, easy-to-see screens, audiences become more aroused by
the images and like them better.^65
Audibility Effects: The Appeal of Easy-to-Hear Messages
Sound-related variables can infl uence the persuasive impact of messages. In a study of the
persuasive effects of sound quality, audience members listened to a message that contained six high-
quality arguments supporting a recommended position. Lowering message perceptibility with a
poor-quality audio recording signifi cantly lessened the listeners’ agreement with the recommended
position.^66 Conversely, enhancing the audio fi delity of a message can increase both audience atten-
tion and liking.^67 The fl uency of a speaker also has a persuasive impact on the audience. When
speakers are able to avoid disfl uent fi ller words such as “uh” and “um,” the audience is more likely
to believe them.^68