The Power of Pictures

This paper is about pictures. My focus is not the usual questions about how pictures represent or how to conceive of their depictive content. Instead, I focus on what pictures can do. In particular, I am interested in how pictures shape their audiences’ sentiments (by which I mean: affect-laden object-directed mental states such as emotions, desires, and also some feelings and pleasures). To this end I outline a model of pictorial persuasion and consider its application in areas as seemingly diverse as pornography, advertising, high art, and propaganda.