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A camera in your hand heightens your emotions
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Photography is a great way not only to preserve the memory of pleasant moments, but also to relive those emotions, but, according to American psychologists, a photographer can also experience certain emotions during work, and the process of photographing can intensify them. For example, if a person captures pleasant moments, then the pleasure from the process increases, but if you have to shoot something bad, negative emotions are exacerbated.
A group of psychologists came to these conclusions after a series of experiments involving several thousand people. All the volunteers were engaged in some kind of activity – they went on bus tours to see the sights, went to concerts, museums or cafes. The participants were divided into groups – in one it was necessary to use a camera, in the other people simply enjoyed the process.
After the completion of the cultural program, each participant had to assess the degree of pleasure received and involvement in the process using a psychometric scale.
As a result, scientists found that people who photographed what was happening around them received more pleasure, for example, visitors to cafes or restaurants who photographed their plates directly during the meal, estimated the degree of their pleasure on average by 1.16 points higher, compared to those who simply enjoyed lunch or dinner. Also, specialists noted that the effect of the thought of a person who thinks about what kind of photos can be taken is similar to that which occurs to a photographer in the process of shooting.
In some cases, psychologists noted an increase in involvement in the process – an experiment in a museum showed that participants with cameras lingered longer near the exhibits and looked at them better (in this case, scientists were helped by special glasses with an eye-tracking function).
But experts also found the opposite effect - if a person did not like what he was forced to do or watch at a certain moment, then the need to take pictures only increased negative emotions. As an example, scientists described a case in a virtual safari, where the participants of the experiment watched lions attacking buffalos - as a result, the group with cameras received less pleasure from watching, compared to those who simply watched the process of the predators attacking.
The positive effect of holding a camera in one's hands did not manifest itself in the case of active involvement in the process, for example, when participants were asked to build some figures from marshmallows, spaghetti or waffles, the group with cameras and the group without them received approximately the same pleasure from the process.
As a result of their observations, American psychologists came to the following conclusions: a camera and the process of photographing what is happening around can have an ambiguous effect on pleasure. The experts plan to study whether the number of photographs taken affects perception, and whether the process of photographing can affect a person's memory.