Simply tweaking the screen size of a smartphone can change how much users trust advertisements, as well as their buying behaviors.
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"While people are using smartphones—and these days, smartphone screen sizes are becoming bigger and bigger—they may think that the larger screen sizes are actually enhancing their experience and increasing the amount of information they can take in, but this subtle difference in screen size can also affect them in ways that they may not realize," said S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory.
"Our study sheds light on how they may be processing information on these new larger screens."
In a study, people who viewed video ads on large screens tended to experience feelings of affective trust, whereas reading text ads on smaller screens created greater cognitive trust, according to the researchers.
"A simple way to put it is that affective trust refers to how you feel about something and cognitive trust refers to what you think about it," said Sundar. "The difference is between what you think and what you feel."
The researchers had expected that cognitive trust would be associated with behavioral trust and buying intention, but they discovered that affective trust was more influential. Participants who viewed video ads on larger screens were more likely to want to purchase a product.
Sundar added that one form of trust is not better than the other, but that they indicate different depths of thinking by mobile users.
"There is a change in the depth of processing. When users have a large screen, people are processing heuristically, which means they are processing information in a less systematic manner, which may make them more prone to influences from cues in the surroundings and, in general, more open to persuasion."
The feeling of immersion may prompt users who are watching videos on bigger screens to experience a media presentation as if they were inside it.
"If you feel like you're there, you may be more inclined to trust things more. You feel like you're almost in the environment, so it must be real." ■