Experimental Testing of Psychological Hooks in Short-Form Content: A Comparative Study of Stated Preferences vs Actual Engagement Behavior

Short-form video content has been competing for its viewers’ cognitive resources, especially attention, making initial engagement increasingly consequential to content strategy. This study investigates whether users’ stated preferences for psychological hooks and content align with their actual engagement behaviour online, examining the three most popular psychological hooks utilised: informational, curiosity-driven, and emotional. A mixed-methods quasi-experimental design was conducted, consisting of a structured online survey of 53 Indian participants assessing their conscious hook preferences, followed by a behavioral experiment in which nine original Instagram Reels were published and monitored using native platform analytics. Stated preferences data leaned towards informational content, with 41.5% of respondents identifying specific, useful information as their primary scroll-stopping trigger and 73.6% rating informational value at 5 or above on a 7-point Likert scale. When viewing the behavioural data, it showcased quite a different pattern with emotional hooks generating the highest reach (1,712 total views; M = 571 per reel), the longest average watch time (7.3 seconds), and the most likes (78), outperforming informational hooks by 55% and curiosity hooks by 73% in terms of average views. This also correlates with 74.5% of the survey respondents self-reporting a discrepancy between their stated preferences and actual consumption behaviour when consciously thought about. These findings are consistent with dual-process theories of persuasion and research on emotional arousal, suggesting that conscious content preferences in terms of psychological hooks are poor predictors in terms of actual engagement with content online when it comes to short-form video content.