AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 - text messaging contact picture

[caseyt88]

I just got the galaxy S4 today from at&t. In the conversations under messaging, for every single message there is a little picture beside the message. Is there any way to get rid of them? I don't want to add pictures to every contact, but even if I did I dont want them beside every message when texting. It was recommended to download a different messaging app but I'm not sure I believe that the picture can not be changed in settings somewhere. Any suggestions?