Influence of camera angle on evoked empathy different between sexes

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130320094848.htm

The article, published in the March 2013 issue of Mass Communication and Society, examines the way that different camera angles are used to film people in need and how these angles effect viewer perceptions based on their gender. The author discovered that women were more likely to empathize with a victim that was also female and was featured using close-up camera angles. Males were more likely to empathize with a male victim portrayed in a medium-shot camera angle.

"This area of research was important to look at because society is never short of social problems and natural disasters that threaten the welfare and survival of human beings in human history," Dr. Xiaoxia Cao, the study's author, said. "How best to elicit empathy and help for those suffering from these threats through the media is an important question to be addressed by communication scholars."