New study shows how Nazi-era propaganda influences present-day attitudes

A recent study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology suggests that viewing historical propaganda that glorifies dictators tends to soften the negative emotions people feel about past atrocities. Scientists found that mixing images of a smiling, approachable Adolf Hitler with photographs of Holocaust atrocities lessened feelings of guilt and increased positive emotions among modern German viewers. These findings provide evidence that historical propaganda can still manipulate human emotions decades after its creation.

Museums and educators often struggle with how to present historical artifacts from dark periods of history. Some experts worry that displaying positive, everyday photographs of dictators might communicate distorted images of the past to younger generations. Other people argue that these materials are simply historical evidence without the power to influence modern minds.

Historically, the Nazi party relied heavily on propaganda to secure public support. A large portion of this propaganda focused on glorifying Adolf Hitler. He was frequently depicted as a relatable man of the people as well as a revered savior.

Scientists have extensively studied derogatory propaganda, which dehumanizes marginalized groups. But they have spent less time examining the psychological effects of glorifying propaganda. The researchers conducted this study to see if flattering portrayals of Hitler still affect how people process the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime.

Lara Ditrich, a postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, explained that the scientists started this work after a meeting with a museum curator. The curator mentioned that propaganda images glorifying Hitler were widely considered “vicious pictures” in his field.

“When we started looking into this statement, we were surprised to find that there had been no research on the effects of such images in psychology so far, despite the acknowledged role propaganda played in securing the Nazis’ ascent to power and the continued existence of the relevant propaganda materials,” Ditrich told PsyPost.

She added that the research team wanted to determine whether these images are truly vicious and, if so, in what way. Specifically, they wanted to know if these images impact group-based guilt.

Group-based guilt is an emotion people experience because of their membership in a specific group, even if they did not personally commit any wrongdoing. For example, modern Germans might feel collective guilt about the Holocaust, even though they were born long after World War II ended.

To explore this concept, the scientists first conducted two preliminary laboratory experiments with 66 and 77 participants, respectively. The researchers showed participants a slideshow of black-and-white photographs from the 1920s to the 1940s. In one group, participants only viewed 16 photographs depicting the atrocities committed during the Nazi era.

Other participants viewed a mixed presentation containing eight atrocity photographs and eight glorifying propaganda images. After the slideshow, the participants rated their emotions. The researchers found early signs that the mixed presentation reduced guilt-related emotions.

To build on these early tests, the scientists conducted a larger laboratory experiment with 172 participants. The participants were mostly university students answering questions in private computer cubicles. In this experiment, the researchers showed the first group 16 photographs of Nazi atrocities.

The second group viewed 32 photographs in a randomized order. This slideshow consisted of the 16 atrocity images and 16 glorifying propaganda images. After viewing the slideshows, the participants rated their current emotions on a questionnaire. The researchers found that participants in the mixed group reported feeling significantly less guilty and less ashamed than the people who only looked at the atrocity photographs.

Next, the researchers conducted a second confirmatory laboratory study with 114 participants. The setup was nearly identical to the previous experiment, but the scientists added new questionnaires. They wanted to test whether the propaganda was causing cognitive change. Cognitive change happens when people alter how they think about a situation to lessen its emotional impact.

For instance, participants might blame a few powerful leaders or blame the manipulative nature of propaganda rather than holding the entire group responsible. Once again, the mixed group reported lower levels of individual guilt and shame. However, the researchers did not find evidence that the propaganda changed how the participants attributed blame. The propaganda did not affect broader measures of collective guilt acceptance.

To see if these effects held up outside the laboratory, the scientists designed a large online study with 643 participants. This group was chosen to be representative of the modern German population in terms of age and gender. The researchers created a third experimental group for this study.

These new participants viewed the 16 atrocity images mixed with 16 positive, ordinary historical photographs. These pictures matched the propaganda in content, such as a regular man looking at a Christmas tree instead of Hitler looking at a Christmas tree. In this online format, the researchers did not find the same direct reduction in guilt across the groups. The different sets of images did not produce significant differences in the participants’ reported guilt or in their subconscious guilt-related thoughts.

Because the online study showed different results than the laboratory studies, the researchers combined the data from all the experiments into one large statistical analysis. This integrative analysis included 860 total participant observations. By looking at the combined data, the scientists discovered a broader emotional shift.

“Across the studies, we were surprised to see how broadly propaganda images soothed negative emotions evoked by reminders of the atrocities committed under the Nazi’s reign by past members of our participants’ national group,” Ditrich said.

She noted that while they originally assumed the images would primarily reduce guilt-related feelings, the overall data showed that the propaganda reduced an array of negative emotions and amplified positive emotions. Participants in the mixed condition reported feeling happier, calmer, more excited, and more relaxed. This combined effect makes these images “even more ‘vicious’ than we had anticipated,” Ditrich noted.

The researchers suspect that this emotional shift happens through attentional deployment. Attentional deployment is a psychological coping strategy where people direct their focus away from something upsetting to distract themselves. The smiling, positive images likely provided a distraction that diluted the emotional weight of the atrocity photographs.

One limitation of the research is that the online study failed to replicate the initial laboratory findings regarding guilt. The researchers suggest that participants taking an online survey at home might pay less attention to the images than participants sitting in a controlled laboratory setting. People in a laboratory might also feel more motivated to engage deeply with the material.

The researchers also pointed out that the study focused exclusively on 1930s and 1940s propaganda. It remains to be seen if contemporary political images produce the same results. Ditrich also addressed a potential misinterpretation of the findings.

“We want to emphasize that our results do not suggest that all of our participants started approving of Hitler and his actions simply because they saw propaganda images glorifying him,” Ditrich stated. “Our results are limited to showing effects on participants’ momentary emotions; we find no effects on participants’ attitudes towards National Socialism.”

For the broader takeaway, Ditrich emphasized being cautious with media. “Our work suggests that it can be dangerous to take images, even old ones, at face value,” she said. She noted that images are sometimes crafted for emotional impact and do not reflect the full truth.

While the average person might not see historical propaganda daily, they do encounter modern images meant to evoke or soothe specific feelings. She advised cross-referencing images with other sources. “This is particularly true with the advent of ever more sophisticated AI image generators,” she added.

The study, “Vicious Pictures? How National Socialist Propaganda Glorifying Adolf Hitler Affects Contemporary Viewers’ Emotions,” was authored by Lara Ditrich, Katharina Bernecker, Jonas Reinhardt, and Kai Sassenberg.