Effects of Health Responsibility Frames on Attributions, Emotions, and Social Support Intentions in the Context of Dementias

Abstract

ABSTRACT When news stories cover health and diseases, they often address issues of responsibility. These responsibility frames can affect recipients’ responsibility beliefs (i.e., attributions) and thereby affect emotions and motivations to support people affected by health problems. To date, it is not fully understood how responsibility frames affect these attributions, emotions, and social support intentions in the context of dementia. In an online experiment with N = 1,059 German participants, we tested the effects of different responsibility frames (individual vs. contextual) on social support intentions through responsibility attributions and emotional reactions in the context of dementia. Results show that responsibility frames affect responsibility attributions and social support intentions. Mediation analysis shows that the effect of contextual responsibility frames on social support intention is partially mediated by responsibility attribution and emotions (sympathy and anger). We discuss these findings considering framing effects research and media coverage.