The Effects of Framing

The process that the figure illustrates is framing. Framing is the idea that certain

wordings of questions or information can have a large effect on people’s perception of that

question or topic. Often, framing can be seen in partisan news or by special interest groups.

Psychology Today, when discussing how framing changes the language used to present a topic in

a certain way, stresses the effect of this theory by saying “Language is critical in these

presentations because it serves as the cognitive framework in which we understand the world

around us and in the case of exposure to news make sense of a given event or story.” (Aalai,

2017).

By understanding that language can change our understanding of different stories, one

can analyze how and why there is such a large difference in percentage between the two groups

as is presented in Figure 1. By framing the question Group A answered to highlight the fact that

200 lives would be saved, the idea of saving people is subconsciously placed inside the minds of

Group A. This causes the people in Group A to view Program A as a good thing as it will save

lives. It is important that there is no mention of the death of 400 people because that would put

death into Group A’s subconscious. If this would have happened, then the respondents would be

more likely to weigh the outcome between 200 saved lives and 400 deaths. However, since the

idea of death was not introduced into their subconscious, the only thing in the respondents’ mind

was saving 200 lives which resulted in a high percentage of people wanting to implement

Program A.

The low acceptance of Program C by Group B can be explained in the same way. Since

the only consequence the reader was presented with was the death, the respondent becomes

weary of the program since it will lead to death. Again, it is important that the idea of saving 200

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lives is not presented because that would allow the persons of Group B to weigh the pros and

cons of saving 200 people and having 400 people die. In both groups A and B, placing the idea

of saving 200 people and killing 400 people, respectively, subconsciously causes them to come

to drastically different conclusions to a program that has the exact same outcome.

Framing can be used in more cases than just an outcome that results in gains or losses.

There are endless ways in which something can be framed in a better or worse light without

highlighting the gains or losses it will cause. Two examples which the government could

potentially apply the theory of framing have to do with concealed carry and drone strikes. Firstly,

when it comes to concealed carry many people, mostly liberal, associate it with right-wing

people taking their second amendment rights too far and putting more guns in public meaning

more risk. One way for the government to fight against this notion would be to reword concealed

carry to associate it with protection. For instance, if it were to be called “carry to protect”, maybe

this would drive people away from the idea of danger. If people associate protection to carrying a

gun in public, perhaps more people would be in favor of such a law. Admittedly, this word

change would more than likely come from a partisan source, but it could potentially be useful to

a republican-controlled government. Similarly, if the government decided to call “drone strikes”

something along the lines of “liberation strike”, I believe many more people would be in favor of

them. If the government said, “we’re launching a liberation strike on the middle east to free those

oppressed by ISIS”, I think the public would, in general, be more in favor of the strike.

In conclusion, framing is an effective way to present facts and ideas in order to increase

the chance of people approving or disproving. It can be used for good or bad, but if we recognize

its potential, framing could be used to persuade people to do things that are generally agreed to

be beneficial for all.

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 Citations
Aalai, A. (2017, June 21). Media Framing Effects. Retrieved April 24, 2018, from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-first-impression/201706/media-framing-
effects

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