Notes

Outline

Framing and Values Tom Nelson Department of Political Science Ohio State University Presented To: 2002 Summer Institute in Political Psychology

Framing the “Crime of the Century”

Cohen: Agenda-setting and Priming “The press is significantly more than a purveyor of information and opinion. It may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about…The editor may believe he is only printing the things that people want to read, but he is thereby putting a claim on their attention, powerfully determining what they will be thinking about, and talking about, until the next wave laps their shore.” Bernard Cohen, The Press and Foreign Policy (1963), pg. 13. Agenda setting: media attention to a problem racist public awareness and concern about the problem Priming: media attention to a problem raises the likelihood that beliefs and opinions about the problem will affect other political judgments and evaluations.

Three Views of Communication Effects On most domestic matters, about which elites often compete and provide multiple sources of information, the public can use its capacities to form opinions that are not only rational in our sense but also “authentic,” consistent with “true interests” - that is, opinions that approximate fully and correctly informed preferences. Benjamin I. Page and Robert Y. Shapiro.  1992.  The Rational Public.  p. 172 Put another way, political evaluation is subject to the availability heuristic. Judgment in politics, as in other domains, depends on which pieces of memory happen to come to mind. Donald R. Kinder, “Communication and Opinion.” in The Annual Review of Political Science, 1998, p. 181. Events and circumstances do not speak for themselves.  Whether they constitute a policy problem, or a particularly urgent one, depends on the meaning attributed to them.  Policymakers play a central role in this definitional process, interpreting events to suit their own purposes and predilections. Charles D. Elder & Roger W. Cobb.  1983.  The Political Uses of Symbols.  p. 24.

Defining Framing "A central organizing idea or story line that provides meaning to an unfolding strip of events, weaving a connection among them.  The frame suggests what the controversy is about, the essence of the issue." (Gamson) “To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation and/or treatment recommendation for the item described.” (Entman) Alternative ways of describing or defining the same issue or problem, with possible influences on: Beliefs about the causes underlying the problem Evaluations of possible solutions to the problem

Decision framing (Prospect theory) Imagine that the U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian disease, which is expected to kill 600 people.  Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed.  Assume that the exact scientific estimates of the consequences of the programs are as follows: If Program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved. If Program B is adopted, there is a 1/3 probability that 600 people will be saved and a 2/3 probability that no people will be saved.

Decision framing (Prospect theory) Imagine that the U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian disease, which is expected to kill 600 people.  Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed.  Assume that the exact scientific estimates of the consequences of the programs are as follows: If Program A is adopted, 400 people will die. If Program B is adopted, there is a 1/3 probability that nobody will die and a 2/3 probability that 600 people will die.

Types of Frames Decision frames (Kahneman and Tversky) Describing outcomes as “gains” or “losses” affects preference for risky or safe options News media frames (Iyengar, Price and Tewksbury) Generic story templates affect attributions for problems and preferences for solutions “episodic” versus “thematic” frames for social problems “conflict” and “strategic” frames for campaign and policy coverage sensationalism Issue frames (Gamson, Kinder, me) Political elites, interest groups, and others portray issues to win public support Goals frames: issue frames that specifically target competing values

News Frames: Horse Race Coverage

News Frames: Media Cynicism Journalists are excessively suspicious and critical of political figures and social institutions, especially in the post-Watergate era Actions of political candidates and elected politicians are attributed to ulterior motives The road to being a media star is to “take down” some visible public figure. Excessive criticism leads to political cynicism and feelings of inefficacy -- a “Videomalaise” (M. Robinson) Correlation among growth in critical coverage, rising political cynicism, and declining rates of political participation (T. Patterson) Media's defense: we're just reporting the truth. We shouldn't conceal the truth about corruption just to "protect" the public

News Frames: Sensationalism The constant need to gain or hold market share creates an incentive for media to devote (excessive) attention to sex, violence, scandal, and celebrities. The rise of “tabloid television” puts pressure on traditional news sources (e.g., TV network news) to adopt their style If It Bleeds, It Leads (Matthew Kerbel): Media exaggerate dangers in order to grab audience’s attention Previews of upcoming news broadcasts sometimes contain ominous warnings of imminent dangers. Viewers are supposed to tune in to learn more. Media defend themselves by blaming “public demand”. Are more noble “news values” sacrificed?

Sensationalism

Political Values Values: Preferences for, and evaluations of, social conditions or behaviors. Examples: equality, individualism, religiosity Value systems Rokeach Terminal values: “end states” Instrumental values: ways of behaving Hierarchical structure Schwarz Values connect with basic motives and needs Tension is built into the system “Circular” structure Value pluralism and value conflict Tetlock: value pluralism and cognitive complexity Feldman and Zaller: political culture of ambivalence Katz and Hass: racial ambivalence

Rokeach’s Value System

Schwartz’s Value System

Support for Democratic Values

Two Views of Values and Political Attitudes Simple “rational” view Values and interests are organized hierarchically. Values structure a hierarchical ordering of political goals. Political attitudes arise from beliefs linking policies to goal satisfaction. Political attitudes change when information alters beliefs or expectations about how policies will satisfy goals.

Values, beliefs, and issue opinions

Two Views of Values and Political Attitudes “Ambivalent” view Long-term values are not organized hierarchically. Values influence political goals, but there is no strict preference ordering among goals. Issues often expose conflicts among treasured values and goals. Political attitudes arise from beliefs linking policies to goal satisfaction and from judgments about the relative importance of political goals. Political attitudes change when information alters beliefs or expectations about how policies will satisfy goals and when we revise the relative ordering among political goals with respect to specific issues. So, preferences between policy options reflect long-term value orientations and contextual cues about goal priorities (goal frames).

Values, beliefs, and issue opinions

Issue Information vs. Issue Framing

Persuasion by Framing Goal Priorities

Types of Policy Goal Frames Goal Ranking Asserting the relative superiority of one goal or value over another (explicit or implied) "The Vice President is the one who has been pushing for this," an Administration official said. "He feels strongly that after a century of Federal forest management, it is time to give stronger weight to forest values like clean water, recreation and wildlife.” (John H. Cushman Jr., “U.S. to Suspend Road Building In Many National Forest Areas,” New York Times, 1/10/99) Policy Categorization and Labeling Assigning a novel issue to a familiar category where goal and value priorities are clear “The case against President Clinton is not about sex or privacy. It is about the very public, legal issue of perjury and obstruction of justice.” (Marge Roukema, (R-NJ), “A Vote to Impeach,” New York Times, 12/10/98)

Types of Policy Goal Frames Institutional Role Assignment Declaring that a specific goal or value is the special responsibility of an institution “Traditionally, the library has been a safe place for children. And librarians have long been the guardians of public virtue. While they have been firm supporters of the First Amendment, they haven't generally interpreted it to mean that they should acquire large holdings of published pornography and make such materials available to children.” (Roxana Robinson, “Censorship or Common Sense?”, New York Times, 10/19/98.

The Studies Laboratory and survey-based (question-wording) experiments Issues selected that have contemporary interest and expose a value conflict Two frames developed, representing the “pro” and “con” sides Participants randomly assigned to receive one frame or the other The frames attempted to manipulate goal priorities Objective information about the issues and policy was held constant Measures: Value or goal priorities Issue-related beliefs Issue opinion

Experiments

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Lab Experiment: Adoption Reform

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Survey Experiment: Doctor-Assisted Suicide

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Framing Effects: Adoption Reform

Mediational Analysis: Adoption Reform

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Involvement and Framing Effects

Findings and Conclusions Goals framing affected policy goal priorities (important judgments) Little effect of goals framing on beliefs about the consequences of policy change Policy goals framing affected policy opinions through affecting goal priorities Goal framing effects may be more powerful for those with greater involvement in issue What’s next? Legal analogies: issue categorization in the court room Guilt by association: de-legitimizing goals by associating them with discredited groups

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Two-sided Conflict Frame Norm of fairness and objectivity means editors try hard to avoid appearance of favoritism Fairness is achieved by seeking comment from “both sides” of the issue. E.g., broadcast of the President’s “State of the Union” address is always followed by a response from the other party Coverage is “indexed’ to the prevailing elite discourse Moderate, alternative voices ignored Exaggeration of conflict Crackpots are quoted in order to avoid appearance of bias Vince Price: two-sided format encourages readers to align themselves with one side or the other.

Two-Sided Coverage

News Frames: Ideological Bias? Liberal bias accusation Selection bias: journalists have an “activist” and “progressive” ethic that causes them to attack traditional institutions and ideas Evidence: surveys show journalists do tend to be more liberal, on some issues Status quo bias accusation Mass media are businesses, so they would never truly criticize the American capitalist system Evidence: newspaper endorsements favor Republicans, typically Cohen: journalist biases and owner/manager biases cancel out